Just One of Ziv Tzedakah Fund's Many Stories…..

It might be seen as one of the most desirable streets in Jerusalem…a winding road through the Jewish Quarter. Most definitely a holy place so near to the Kotel. Anyone living here would surely have some wealth and means.

We knock on the door and wait to be let in. Within a minute the door is cracked and there stands Levi, a tall man with a likeable smile. He leads us through the anteroom to the one room he calls his bedroom, living room, dining room and kitchen—what a surprise. It is almost quite literally a hole in the wall! The furnishings are sparse, a thin mattress, some shelves and a cupboard. In the corner stands a refrigerator, a hot plate and a microwave. A couple of chairs and a seemingly out-of-place treadmill finish up the furnishings.

As we listen to Levi tell his story we cannot help but note that while he is somewhere in his 60's, his hands are those of a man much older.

And what a story it is…..after listening to him for only a few minutes I was relieved to remember that Levi is blind and therefore could not see the tears that were gushing from my eyes. He is clearly an educated man (he talks about his days at university and his championship swimming feats). Trained as a mechanical engineer, he speaks many languages and loves to converse in Yiddish.

He only survived the Holocaust by running from place to place with his family, eventually landing in France where he received his education. He does not know where any of his family is—he has no contact with them.

In short order we learned that Levi loves to study Torah and, despite his blindness, manages to do so several times a week with the help of some of the Yeshiva bochers nearby who pick him up and take him to morning services and an occasional shiur. We also learn that he believes in and loves God and knows that God will help him. When asked if he is saddened by his present life, he looks surprised…..what was to be sad? He has friends who care for him, his room, food, his cell phone (which runs on pre-paid cards which cost 70sh and is his only means of communication from the room) and his ever-present CD player and collection of classical music CD's……is there more?

Levi ended up in Israel because of his deteriorating vision. He believed that the doctors at Hadassah Hospital could restore his sight and despite good care, they have not been successful. Aside from his blindness, Levi recently suffered a heart attack. As he tells the story, he awoke one night with a crushing pain in his chest. All he could manage to do was to walk outside his room into the narrow alleyway of a street and yell for help. No one came. At six the next morning it was the yeshiva boys coming to get him for Shacharit who found him on the ground, and brought help. After hospitalization for the attack, Levi returned home where he has since been plagued by continuing respiratory infections. The source of those ongoing infections? The ever-present mildew in his room……..Because of that it is now imperative that he find another place to live, one that he can afford on his meager income.

 What is his meager income? He receives 1800sh per month from National Insurance and his “fancy” room takes almost all of that—about 1500sh. His food, medications, cabs and all other needs must be covered by the balance. Impossible, you might say? It is only through the generosity of some who have met him and fallen in love with his sweet face and gentle voice that many of these other needs are met. In fact, when we asked him what he would really “like” the following conversation took place:

I asked Levi what he wants/needs. Wow! What an answer. He delineated his
expenses (lots for taxis) and then said that he wants 300NIS a month -
10NIS a day - for just 'stuff'. He said that that is what he misses - being
able to just have 10NIS in his pocket. (You know, “pocket change”)

His face lit up when we suggested that perhaps he could use some clothes,
particularly Shabbos clothes. He said he would like to go to shul looking
like a mensch. Perhaps a couple of shirts, a pair of pants and a pair of shoes?
He just wants to live, as he says, his 'small life' quietly and peacefully.

Our plan is to make Levi's life a little easier (despite the fact that he doesn't really think he is missing much), to provide him with some of life's other small pleasures.