Tens of thousands of families in Israel suffer from food insecurity. Many of them cut back on the variety of staple foods they serve. Others skip meals or have a hard time even putting food on the table, and their children go to bed with an agonizing, piercing feeling of hunger. Israel is not a third-world country, there are no hungry children roaming its streets with bloated bellies. And yet, the daily reality of so many families is a painful one, bereft of the assurance that sufficient and nutritious food will be available to their family in the near future.
Food Security
For many fathers and mothers, making ends meet has become the ultimate goal in life, as they are forced time and again to forego truly essential commodities in order to sustain their families on a daily basis.
Birkat Hashem seeks to break the cycle of economic doom, and prevent it from worsening. Receiving adequate, monthly support for a set period of time is frequently sufficient for families to rescue themselves from their predicament. With their basic, essential needs guaranteed, the father or mother are freed to pursue stable sources of income, get out of the debt spiral, and attempt to get back on their feet.
Through the close and devoted backing of the Birkat Hashem volunteers, who are always available to offer guidance and direction, the families are able to overcome the crisis and sometimes even go from being beneficiaries to benefactors.
Is there a greater act of kindness than setting families back on their feet, while ensuring that they lack nothing in the process?
"If your brother becomes destitute and falters, you shall support him" (Vayikra 25:35).
The Torah commands us to sustain the poor before he collapses. We are enjoined to give him all the support he needs to allow him to recover and return to normalcy.