Many poor families struggle to marry off their children, but nowhere is the situation as dire as it is for orphaned families. In addition to their devastating poverty, they also lack the traditional parental support of borrowing and raising the funds needed. It has even reached a point where some young adults and their surviving parents push off listening to shidduch suggestions because they can’t even begin to think of covering the costs.
Enter Rabbi Shisha of Tov V’Chesed, who this predicament gave no rest. The tearful pleas for help made him determined to solve this conundrum once and for all – and solve it right.
An ingenious and forward-thinking plan was hatched by Rabbi Shisha and immediately set into motion. Without fanfare and with the quiet support of generous donors, construction began on two magnificent wedding halls built side by side in the city of Beit Shemesh. Recently completed, each hall serves and presents as a regular hall but there is a twist: only one wedding is paid for by the family. The profits are then used to cover all expenses of the second wedding: hall, caterer, musician, florist, photographer etc. With both halls being interchangeable, no visitor can know which wedding is being held free of charge!
It is expected that this ingenious project will cover approximately 150 weddings every year. For the rest of the weddings, Simcha Fund works with generous mechutanim sponsor a wedding night of an orphan at the same time as they marry off a child of their own. Additionally, chosson and kallahs around the world can raise the necessary $8,000 from friends and family during their time of simcha. This brings about HKB”H’s incredible guarantee that those who bring joy to His children will see simcha by their own!
The magnificent halls are already in use this winter. Every night, the tearful chuppah is followed by the jubilant sounds of simchas chosson v’kallah, all enjoyed by the family with dignity and complete peace of mind!
A number of leading Rebbes and Gedolim who are intimately familiar with the chesed efforts of Rabbi Shisha and his group have visited the new space in the early months to put up a mezuzah and make a L’chaim, sharing warmest hatzlacha wishes for this paradigm-shifting venture.
Despite the difficulties of travelling to and from Israel, some of the generous donors who contributed large sums to the project came to Israel to witness firsthand the fruits of their labor and see the world of chesed they had a hand in building. As they toured the impressive facility, they were overwhelmed with emotion realizing that this gift will keep on giving for years and decades to come.
For his part, Rabbi Shisha insists that he is just the messenger helping serve the orphaned children in our nation. “The credit goes to our amazing team and the kindhearted Yidden who made it all possible,” he remarked.
