Elisha Serchi, laundry man Radiating through the thick fog of steam that permeates the noisy premises of Jerusalem's Levanon Laundry is the smiling face of 48-year-old Elisha Serchi. Elisha greets every stranger with a warm handshake. He is never too busy to share a kind word with one of the 150 men and women who work for him in one of Israel's largest laundry facilities. Levanon Laundry takes in the wash of hospitals, prisons, military bases and hotels. It also washes, starches and irons the soiled linen of Yad Eliezer's wedding hall at which the poorest brides and grooms celebrate weddings at little or nor cost. But the laundry of Yad Eliezer is a mitzvah, a labor of love. Week in and week out, thousands of colorful napkins and table cloths arrive bearing the stains of soup and fish, of wine and cake, only to emerge spotless and crisp for the next celebration. Elisha does not charge a cent. Which means Yad Eliezer saves 8,000 shekels every month ― money which can be spent on food and other necessities to distribute to the poorest of the poor.
Nuriel Shrim, of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture   Tova Menachem, mother of eight   Moshe Danino, a farmer in the Negev   Irena, cancer patient   Ido Marak, bank manager in Jerusalem   Moshe Zahav, wheelchair-bound   Morris Sarfati, owner/manager of auto repair centers   Yossie and David, neighborhood grocery store owners   Chagit Binyamini, mother of ten   Nir Baram, volunteer truck driver