by Yoni Schwartzman
This November, the Israel365 Charity Fund, in collaboration with Israel-based nonprofit ‘Building Hope’ (also known as Tenufa Bakehila), is continuing to enrich the lives of Holocaust Survivors by providing repairs to three Survivors’ homes throughout the month.
“This is such special work and we need support from all our friends from around the globe to make it happen,” says Israel365’s Kalman Lebovitz, “our current campaign focuses on raising the funds we need to break ground on this project.” Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder of Israel365, asks Israel365’s extended family to “help bring forth the beauty” in the land of Israel so “that they, too, can reap the rewards of the land’s blessings.” His call to action echoes the words of Proverbs chapter 9, verse 22: “The generous man is blessed, for he gives of [what he has] to the poor.”
The Mission
Israel365’s endeavor to give dignity and peace of mind to Holocaust Survivors, which is one of several of their ongoing missions, continues this month as they begin renovations on Holocaust Survivors’ homes in Ashkelon and Jerusalem, Israel. Israel365 founder Rabbi Tuly Weisz is ecstatic about the project. “We have found an incredible partner in Tenufa Bakehila” says Weisz, “their professional volunteers are the perfect vehicle to turn our dreams into reality.” Tenufa Bakehila Director Gabi Nachmani is also excited about the team-up: “Our goal at ‘Building Hope’ has and always will be to rebuild lives through urgent home repairs,” says Nachmani, “our efforts create safe and respectable homes for deserving, underprivileged families all over Israel, from North to South and everywhere in-between.” The two nonprofit organizations have already assessed three homes and shared their plans to rebuild them so that people all over the world can appreciate the work that must be done to make them habitable again.
Helping Jerusalem resident Eva Hoilzer
93-year-old Holocaust Survivor Eva Hoizler is currently living in an apartment that is hardly livable. “My mother’s sink is leaking into her neighbor’s home,” says Eva’s daughter, Chana, “her kitchen sink is broken and it is” really taking a toll on Eva and “on those living around her.”
Tenufa Bakehila and Israel365 assessed the damage and found that they will need to replace Eva’s broken sink and install a new drainage system in order to remedy the problem. But the renovations do not end there; Eva’s kitchen needs to undergo several other repairs in order for it to be functional again. “Our team will work to repair her dilapidated kitchen cabinets by installing new wooden boards and the brackets,” says Gabi Nachmani. “We will also help her neighbors by fixing the water damage in their apartment that was caused by Eva’s broken sink.”
Eva Hoilzer’s kitchen is not the only cooking space that needs Israel365’s attention. Sakajo Dov, 84, a lonely widow and Holocaust Survivor living in the coastal city of Ashkelon, desperately needs her kitchen to be renovated after a fire devastated the room. Says Nachmani: “her apartment needs extensive plasterwork and a total repainting” in order to return it to its original, functional condition.
Many people take functional electricity in their homes for granted while Sakajo can hardly plug anything into her home’s electrical outlets. “The fire destroyed eight sockets and switches throughout my apartment,” says Sakajo Dov, “they need to be replaced before I will really be able to use the space again.” Just like Sakajo Dov, 79-year-old Mria Amar-Shapira is an elderly widow and Holocaust Survivor living in deplorable conditions in Ashkelon. She too requires a totally new paint job on all the walls and ceilings of her apartment and needs her electrical outlets replaced in order for her to live a dignified life there.
Rabbi Tuly Weisz and the Israel365 Charity Fund are requesting a helping hand from all who have the means to give. “With their help,” says Weisz, “we will build a brighter future for these destitute people.”