The teachers at one particular school in Beitar were used to receiving middle-of-the-night phone calls. It was a yeshiva for “teens at risk” and it seemed there was a new crisis every day. Boys recovering from abuse, struggling with addiction, and questioning their lives knew there was one teacher they could always turn to: Rabbi Poryes. Levi Poryes was known in his community as a charismatic and warm young teacher, a beloved mentor who was happy to lend a helping hand. The boys whose lives he transformed never dreamed that one day his family would be in need of their help.

Last Sunday morning, a group of yeshiva bochurim sat in a classroom waiting for Reb Poryes to arrive and teach his 8:30 shiur. They were surprised he had disappeared like this. The rosh yeshiva appeared in the door, his face ashen. “Boys, there will be no class today. Rabbi Poryes was niftar.” 

Friday morning, surrounded by his four little children, Rabbi Levi Poryes suffered sudden cardiac arrest. He passed away at the age of 32. Early the next week, his students embraced & wept at his levaya, watching Rabbi Poryes’s children say goodbye. 

Relatives are extremely concerned as to the safety and future of his kids, 9-year-old Libby, 7-year-old Yanky, 5-year-old Sari, and 3-year-old Berel. Without Rabbi Poryes’s income, they have no safety net for their needs to be met.

An emergency fund has been started by those close to the family to help them during this extremely painful time. Money raised goes toward helping the four Poryes kids.