a worthy cause

Ariella already wrote about this on her blog, but in case you didn’t see it, I'll give it a quick mention too In addition to buying my son, who will be bar mitzvah in a few weeks, his own tefillin (which his grandparents get a thank you for getting), we decided to donate to Yad Eliezer’s program which sponsors the purchase of tefillin for bar mitzvah boys from needy families. We were very surprised to receive back from Yad Eliezer not the usual form letter and receipt, but a hand written note telling us the name of the boy who received tefillin through our donation and something about his background. In addition to making us feel good, I think that says something about the attention and care Yad Eliezer puts into what they do. See p. 13 of the winter edition of Kallah Magazine for details on their wedding sponsorship program for poor couples, and take a look at www.yadeliezer.org for the other charitable work they do providing food, loans, and job training for those in need.