Creating Miracles

by Shalvi Weissman

0 Comments | Monday, March 18, 2013 under Widow and Orphan Fund, Holiday Fund

"Mommy, are we going to have meat on Pesach? Last pesach we ate meat. Mommy why aren't you answering me?"

"Yes mommy, I also want meat, and my friend Yosef got new shoes and clothes for pesach. My shoes have had holes since before Purim. Can I get new shoes also Mommy?"

"If Moshe gets new shoes, I also want! Mommy? Why are you crying? Mommy!"

What can I tell them? That matza costs ten times as much as bread? That I don't know how we will have enough wine and grape juice for each of the kids to drink four cups at the Seder? That if I spend the little money that I have on meat for Pesach our electricity will probably be cut off before the holiday is over? Should I tell them that I borrowed some cleaning products from a neighbor so that I could clean for Pesach because I had no money to buy them, and I'm embarrassed every time I see her because the list of things that I have borrowed and not returned is growing? But how could I tell them? Pesach is such a beautiful holiday. I want them to grow up with warm sweet memories. I don't want them to remember Pesach as a time of hunger and embarrassment. But what can I do? My meager salary is stretched to the limit just to cover the rent and a few bills. As the debts accumulate, even the smallest extra expense threatens to topple me. But I can't tell my children any of that. Next week we will sit down at the Seder table. I will tell my children that Hashem took us out of Egypt. Maybe by then I will somehow have had my own miracle... Maybe my celebration will be with joy and not shameful humiliation.

As most Jewish families prepare for Pesach with joy and the usual amount of stress other families approach the holiday with dread. Whether it be because of illness in the family, the loss of one of the parents, or one of the other many scenarios that can plunge a family into a financial abyss, without your help, children who are hungry all year long will be hungry on Pesach as well. This year lets make sure that every Jewish child can celebrate with joy.

Pesach is a time of miracles.

At Yad Eliezer we create miracles every day.

Join us.