[COMMUNICATED]
It was a scorchingly hot Shabbos afternoon last week, when a young man in a shtreimel & bekishe came walking into the Belz neighborhood of Ashdod. He had travelled by foot along a long stretch of highway, under the blazing sun. Tears streaked down the young man’s cheeks, as he prepared to bring an important piece of news to the community.
He arrived at the door of the Einhorn family, and a young woman quickly ran to greet him, surrounded by 9 children. They saw from his face all the answers they needed to know. Mrs. Einhorn collapsed onto a chair. Wordlessly, the family began to embrace each other, and cry. Their father, R’Aharon Einhorn was gone.
Aharon Einhorn had a tremendous legacy throughout the Belz community as a cheder rebbi, who relished in the opportunity to expose talmidim to Gemara for the first time. His passion for others did not end there. Einhorn volunteered retrieving old fruits and vegetables discarded by growers & stores, even sometimes pulling them from dumpsters, and distributed them to poor families.
Recently, when R’Aharon was diagnosed with stomach cancer, family say he “always smiled” and “never complained” despite agonizing symptoms. He insisted so whole-heartedly that he would be fine, his children came to believe it. Wife Mrs. Malka Einhorn left her job to be by his side, and 18-year-old daughter Esther heroically stepped in to run the home and take care of her younger siblings, until things returned to normal.
Shabbos morning R’Einhorn had been rushed to the hospital. When the knock came on their door that afternoon, they understood that there would no longer be a “normal.”
Donations are being collected to help the Einhorn family, who are now in a serious & dangerous financial situation. R’Einhorn’s illness & leave from work has put them into insurmountable debt. Mrs. Einhorn, now without a job, must raise a large family without her husband. Daughter Esther wrote a moving tribute to her father, as she once again takes responsibility far beyond her years.
CLICK HERE TO READ ESTHER’S LETTER
