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Keren
Toras Chesed Matat Mordechai In
the name of Matisyahu Mordechai ben Moshe ז"ל Many Activities One Organization Financial help for needy families Support for the
abandoned and neglected Help for the emotionally distressed Loan fund for those in need Finding appropriate yeshivos
for teens-at-risk Teaching and tutoring
children with learning difficulties Helping the very needy to marry off their children Marrying off orphans Financial assistance for Jewish holidays The
Matat Mordechai Charity Organization was established more than 30 years
ago. Thirty years! How can we count them? How can we count the thousands of those in need, the hundreds of homes that were established, and the hundreds of teens-at-risk that were saved? Thirty years have gone by…and as we look back at all the people that were helped by our services and at the joy and happiness that were brought to so many lives, we are inspired to carry on.
ע"ר
580418986 Ephraim Auerbach 12, Tel: 02 623 6667, 02 623 5830
Mobile: (from the US) 011 972 50 419 3401, (in Israel) 050 419 3401 Fax: 15326235830
142 Rodney Street, Brooklyn, New York 11211 US Tax Exempt EIN: 204266983
Any questions? You can email us here.
The purpose of our organization is to locate those unfortunate people who are suffering terrible difficulties, poverty and want, and who don’t have a supporting hand to help them in their hour of need. Unfortunately, these types of families are very common—families that live like us, that look like us, but that suffer from the terrible isolation of not having a brother or friend to help them. When forced to contend with life’s difficulties, these families are liable to fall apart very quickly. Faced with some of life’s most difficult challenges, these families turn to Matat Mordechai to help them get through the roughest of times. Our
help is multi-faceted: Financial
help for needy families We give financial supplements to families that are unable to manage and have no other source of support. The families who receive our assistance suffer from an appalling depravation that often effects their children. It is a tremendous source of joy for them to receive financial assistance on a monthly basis and/or before the chagim and during other times of special need. Help
for the emotionally distressed Funding is available for professional counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists for the emotionally traumatized (including post partum depression) who have a true need for psychological help. Helping
the needy to marry off their children Weddings are happy times, especially for the chasan and kallah. But unfortunately, there are those who find themselves depressed and unhappy at these times. These families suffer from humiliating poverty. Many of them are baalei tshuva who have no one at all to help. They cannot manage to cope with the many expenses of a wedding and when the fridge is always empty they can’t even think about the special expenses involved in marrying off their children. It is then that Matat Mordechai takes some of the heavy burden off their shoulders by providing a wide range of financial assistance to save these families from the shame of having their poverty stand out at such events. We provide the chasan and kallah with all of their needs from A to Z, including buying furniture, electrical appliances, etc. The expenses for such a project are of course very high, but there is no greater satisfaction than helping to build another holy Jewish home and sending another couple on their way.
Assisting in the marriage of orphans One of the most crushing feelings to contend with is the bitter state of aloneness! An orphan who has to move from one foster home to another can never fully erase the emotional pain of loneliness that comes from knowing that he is not really part of any family. Our organization has helped to marry off many orphans; orphans who were left alone and homeless at very young ages. Matat Mordecai has made it a top priority to try to alleviate their childhood suffering, trying to erase the look of sadness and worry from their faces, by escorting them as their wedding day approaches and taking care of all of their needs. Our goal is to bring them to their chupah with feelings of real joy and plenty and to help them to start their married lives without being deprived of basic needs. We do everything in our power to help them so that they will not feel so alone! It is written that he who brings joy to a chossen and a kallah, it is as if he has rebuilt one of the ruins of Yerushalayim. How much more so when the bride or groom are themselves a part of the ruins of Yerushalayim, as their homes and their security were snatched so tragically from them at such tender ages. How great and precious a mitzvah it is to help these Finding
appropriate yeshivos for teens We help find suitable learning programs for teens-at-risk that have dropped out. We find them the right yeshivos and provide them with private tutors if needed until they are integrated into their new frameworks. In the merit of this service, many teens-at-risk have been saved over the years from spiritual decline. Teaching
and tutoring children with learning difficulties Families who have children with learning difficulties are forced to cope with an additional burden apart from their daily struggle for existence: they have to find the necessary funds to pay private tutors for their children. Many children have been able to remain in regular learning frameworks in the merit of the educational and emotional assistance which was subsidized by Matat Mordechai. Donors can specify how their donation will be used. Are you interested in marrying off orphans? Supporting a broken family or helping the sick? Our
volunteers will allocate your donation for whatever you wish to support. In
the name of thousands of the lonely and the broken-hearted, we turn to you
to join the family of Matat Mordechai. Weekly
package: $100 Weekly
tutor for a child: $60 Support
for needy families: $400/month Participation
in marrying off orphans and the impoverished: $250 For
every donation of $150 or more, special prayers can be requested which
will be carried out for 40 consecutive days at the kosel. Salvation
is on its way Our organization happily reaches out to those who have helped us, trying to help them in return. Therefore, we send a great talmid chacham and yireh shamaim to pour forth prayers and pleas for the immediate salvation of our donors at the holy sites of the Jewish nation: the Western Wall and kivrei tzadikkim. The combination of prayers at these holy sites—the kotel, the place from which the holy shechina never leaves, and the kivrei tzadikim—together with the merit of the talmid chacham will certainly reach the throne of our Creator to bring about yeshous. The greatness of tzedakah along with the prayers of a talmid chacham at holy sites will surely bring about true salvation for our supporters. When there is a special need for a yeshua, like an older boy or girl still not married or sickness in the family, G-d forbid, we then ask the recipient to pray on behalf of his benefactor, paying special attention to his specific problem. Hopefully, the cries and prayers of these poor people who were deeply touched by the outstretched arm of their benefactors will have a powerful effect in heaven and bring great salvation. Who doesn’t need a yeshua? And who does not have to cope with difficulty or distress?
And who in truth would not want to support an organization that for dozens of years has sacrificed itself for their brothers who are forced to deal with enormous difficulties… Prayer
and charity together surely will bring salvation! Precious
brothers! Stretch out your
hand and grab a part of our wonderful circle of chesed, which
touches on almost every aspect of life. In the merit of the charity which
you have sent forth to help your needy brothers, surely the prayers of
those who you have helped will accompany you wherever you go and whatever
you do. And most importantly,
remember that there is no despair in the world at all! Always, in every
situation, an immediate salvation can come. Going
from darkness to light It is 12:00 PM. The sun is in the middle of the sky and shines on the whole world. On the whole world? No. On the threshold of her house it does not shine. Her home is so dark that a sun as big as the whole universe couldn’t shine light into it. Soon the children will arrive from school and she is still in bed. She has no strength to get up, no strength at all. She glances up at the ceiling. An hour. Two hours. How many tears will she shed today? She can never count them. Just bear witness to her utter collapse, to the tears that dampen her pillow day and night, to the cries that strangle her insides, to the pleas… “Hatzilu!” She wants to shout, but no one will hear. No one knows her; even the neighbors in the building always go up. Always up. No one looks down at the floor of the storage rooms and thinks that maybe, there, in the tiny one and a half room apartment that she calls “home,” there is someone in need of aid. Within all of this awful darkness, despair rules. Suddenly she hears a knock on her door. She is embarrassed to open, but they are knocking persistently. They knock again and again but will not go away. She opens the door to find a woman, refined and wise, and welcomes her into her home. This was one of the “women of chesed” sent by Matat Mordechai. How they were informed of the situation, she doesn’t even know. But as soon as they heard about her plight, they immediately sent a woman to verify the details. This family’s real situation was much worse than had been told to Matat Mordechai. The house was in a complete state of disorder, the fridge was disconnected from the electricity, completely empty, the children were expressionless, and the mother in a state of depression. If there were a need to give a name to the sight of the home and its residents the expression “the pit of hell” would be completely fitting. And the children looked dismal—enough to break your heart. For every person has a sensitive place in his heart for children, and to see them so small and suffering so much—it was impossible to bear. How could these unfortunate children live under such conditions especially since some of them were asthmatic? How can it be? How did they fall to such a state? Poverty. Severe poverty, unbearable, frightening. Poverty and deprivation that is almost unheard of. But this is something that is often discovered by Matat Mordechai. Again and again the same type of destitute souls are discovered, individuals that no one knows about and no one looks at. And she, the “woman of chesed” of Matat Mordechai, who discovered the situation, took it upon herself to begin a campaign to save this family. In great faithfulness and with tremendous pain and while crying the cries of this family, the “woman of chesed” of Matat Mordechai did not rest until she was able to get substantial donations and government assistance for this family which enabled the family to move to a true apartment with windows and air. The woman received support and encouragement, and it was quickly clarified that her depression was the result of her situation. Once the conditions improved and became humane, her strength returned. And the children…the children that until that time wandered around in the streets and almost were expelled from school due to their state of dejection, suddenly found a home. Their house finally had toys, books and notebooks. Their former state had become a relic of the past. What would have been if the organization had not arrived in time? What would have happened to the children who were asthmatic and their siblings who wandered about aimlessly in the streets? What would have been with the mother and the whole wonderful family that almost collapsed? Today, one year later, Matat Mordechai is still with them, accompanying them and guiding them, encouraging and helping, worrying and loving. They are still with them and well as with many other families with Matat Mordechai put back on their feet. “In
this world, there are wonderful people.
In this world, there is Matat Mordechai.” I
want so much to write, and I don’t know how to start.
I remember: there I was, a young girl engaged to be married. I
received a note from my Chasan’s family, that an unfortunate
mistake had occurred and that the wedding wouldn’t be taking place on
time, and maybe not at all. And I, who never complained about anything,
suddenly found myself faced with the reality of my situation. I was a girl
who had been raised in institutions, bereft of concerned and loving
parents. I was broken, crushed, facing the pit. The
hope that kept me going, that gave me the strength to hold myself
together, was my dream that the day would come when I would eventually get
married and build a wonderful home. It would be the first time in my life
that I would merit feeling that I belonged somewhere—the sweet taste of
happiness. But
everything had fallen apart. I looked at myself, young, but so tired from
life. Why was this happening to me? And then everything became clear. I
was almost without an identity, without anything at all. What would I
bring with me to the wedding? Just
the remains of the past? With what would I come? The boy, in comparison to
me, had parents and a family to care for him and had someone to help
support him during the beginning of his marriage. I had nothing, not even
a dowry. How
did you, such true messengers from heaven find me?
How was it that you came just then, at the most critical moment of
my life, and dragged me out to go shopping—clothing, bedding, towels,
furnishings, household items, and as if that wasn't enough, you then gave me a generous sum
“for starting my new home.” You
literally gave me back my hope. Today
I am writing to you from within my own home.
Yes, I was able to build my own home in the merit of your help and
your support. I didn’t have to start out as a deprived kalla, a
pitiful orphan. No! I started my married life in an honorable way, and I
was never so happy in all my life. Your
kindness and support I will never forget for the rest of my life, and
perhaps the day will come when I will be able to return to you something
and have a part in your wondrous good deeds! In
this world there are wonderful people.
In this world there is Matat Mordechai. From
the Recommendations of leading Rabbanim and Gaonim זיע"א “Everything
is run by a committee of yireh shamayim and talmidei chachamim.
When I checked out the organization, I saw that everything was done
quietly and with modesty…Anyone who has the merit to have a part in this
holy gemach is truly fortunate, and he will be blessed from heaven
with the finest blessings, long life and length of days, and all the good
in both the spiritual and physical realms.” “With
this I turn to our merciful brothers for help…that I have heard
from faithful sources that this chesed organization is run in an
honest and faithful way regarding all matters of tzedaka and chesed.” “The
praiseworthy, well-known marriage fund Matat Mordechai displays tremendous
mesirus nefesh in marrying off orphans and giving them
substantial support, in families of baalei teshuva and other
unfortunates…”
In
this merit, you should merit to marry off your own children and
grandchildren and all of your descendants until the end of time with
happiness and wealth, with Torah and greatness in one place.” “And
so with this I request from our brothers of B'nei Yisrael in each and
every place, to receive them nicely and to help them by taking a part in
this great mitzvah with generous donations.” “It
has been made known to me and I recognize that this gemach is a holy and
lofty organization and is an anchor and hope for many yireim and shlamim
keeping them from collapsing altogether, chas v’shalom. So,
anyone who has a portion in this gemach’s activities is truly
fortunate, and it is worthwhile to help them with significant
donations.” “I
personally know of many families in extremely difficult
situations—situations that are almost unheard of—and this organization
alone has helped with all their needs for weddings, etc. and
rehabilitating these families completely. They do not take any portion of
the money whatsoever, but use all of it l’shem shamayim
(for the sake of heaven) for these families.”
HaGaon
Rav Yehuda Silman, שליט"א “And they have already married off many orphans and also helped many poor families on a regular basis and all this without taking any of the money at all.” HaGaon Rav Meir Sirota, שליט"א “I
know of many cases where, with great mesirus nefesh, they have helped many families to get on their
feet.
And there is simply no way to describe how many people have already
been saved though their multiple activities for individuals and groups.”
The
Admor Rav Yosef Yoel Hacohen Kahn, שליט"א |