Meah Shearim, Israel – Inspired By His Own Hunger As A Child, Jerusalem Man Feeds Hundreds Of Families

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    In this Undated file photo 30 year old Yakov Shisha founder of Tov Vchesed standing center directing his volunteers with the package packingMeah Shearim, Israel – A Jerusalem resident who, due to extreme poverty, was forced as a young child to take on the responsibility of bringing home food to feed his parents and siblings, has spent over a decade on a personal crusade to feed the hungry.

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    “I was the oldest of thirteen children and Baruch Hashem, my parents worked very, very hard to bring parnassa home,” Rabbi Yakov Schisha told VIN News. “The money went for the rent, for schar limud for the children One month we pay the electric and telephone bill, one month not. When it came to food, there was no money left. At eight years old, my job was to bring food home.”

    Schischa, who lived near Meah Shearim, would go to the shuk and ask for donations from merchants, oftentimes picking up fruits and vegetables that had fallen on the floor and were no longer saleable.

    “I went every Friday to Brezel’s bakery to take home the leftover challahs and mezonos before they closed,” recalled Schischa. “In the middle of the week I would go to different organizations to pick up food.”

    The wait for food at these distributions was frequently hours long and generally accompanied by pushing and shoving.

    “I saw that the family was so happy when I brought food home,” said the thirty year old Schischa, who is now a father of seven. “But I also felt the embarrassment when I would have to stand there for a long time to get food. I decided that when I was older I would find a good business and I would try to feed a hungry family.”

    Schischa got married at 19 and shared his plans to feed another family with his wife just one week after they completed Sheva Brachos.

    “I went every day in Shul and collected money, one shekel here, one shekel there,” said Schischa, who used the funds to purchase food for his parents and for a needy family.

    “Every week it was one more family. And then one more family. And then another,” explained Schischa.
    In this Undated file photo 30 year old Yakov Shisha founder of Tov Vchesed talking to one of the volunteers  with the package packing.
    A few weeks later, Schischa received a $1000 contribution that was earmarked for Chanukah oil for the poor. Schischa bought 200 small bottles of oil which he distributed to needy families, and seeing the happiness the donated oil brought, he started a small organization to help the indigent, doling out supplies for Purim and Pesach.

    “I didn’t have a name for the organization yet, but I was just 20 years old and I had Kimcha D’Pischa for 200 families.”

    Ten years later, Schischa’s small organization has evolved into Tov V’Chesed, which has offices in Jerusalem, New York and London. Packages are distributed weekly, monthly and for holidays to needy families in various neighborhoods in Israel including Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Beitar, Kiryat Sefer/Brachfeld and Beit Shemesh.

    “Right now we distribute food for the holidays for 2500 families,” said Schischa. “Every year, every two years, we open up one more place.”

    Having experienced firsthand the difficulties that accompany poverty, Schischa prides himself on preserving the dignity of his recipients. Food is delivered directly to the recipients front door in a plain unmarked box, looking no different than a grocery delivery from a local store.

    “There are no signs on the trucks,” reported Schischa. “I put one small letter on the outside of the box and the workers know that the letter needs to be placed next to the door so that only the family can see it and know that the box is from Tov V’chesed.”

    In the letter, Schischa gives each family names of people to daven for.

    “There are two reasons why we do this,” explained Schischa. “One is that we know that if you daven for someone who has the same need as you, your tefillos are answered. The other is that by giving them someone to daven for, we are giving people their dignity by making them feel that they aren’t just taking, they are givers as well.”

    Schischa, who now has two successful businesses, ReserveKosher.com and YES Management, to his credit, relies on donations to fund Tov V’Chesed’s annual budget of $2.5 million. He estimates that he sends out weekly packages, consisting of fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, cake and grape juice to 85 families and monthly packages of staples such as canned goods, sugar, flour, oil, lokshen and farfel to 300 families. Additionally, Schischa distributes 2,500 packages of food for the yomim tovim and food coupons to another 900 families, in addition to offering assistance with medical issues, bar mitzvahs and weddings.

    Schischa, whose warehouse is currently located on Rechov Yirmiyahu in Jerusalem, hopes to be moving to a larger facility shortly. Despite the many families he feeds on an annual basis, he hopes to continue expanding his operations in order to accommodate the one thousand plus families currently on his waiting list.

    “When a family calls me to say thank you, I think about me when I was a child in my parents’ house and the simcha there would be when we would have food,” said Schischa. “I remember also the days when I went to sleep hungry, and when I would stand up in the morning and go to cheder with no food. When families are happy, I am happy.”

    Online:
    www.tovvchesed.com.


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    46 Comments
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    10 years ago

    Thanks Vin. With all the sickness in the news, this was an inspirational story.

    Thanks again for sharing it.

    heissezali
    heissezali
    10 years ago

    i know him. he’s a very nice person. additional to all this he hosts 40 – 50 bochurim for the shabbos meals every week and serves very generously

    My2Cents
    My2Cents
    10 years ago

    Beautiful story and a beautiful soul. Kol Hakavod

    10 years ago

    מי כעמך ישרא-ל

    The_Truth
    Noble Member
    The_Truth
    10 years ago

    Wow. Brings tears to my eyes, reading how at 8 years old he would try support his family. Kol Hakavod for getting so far and supporting so many.

    sheepheadsbayyid
    sheepheadsbayyid
    10 years ago

    great story great guy

    10 years ago

    KOL HAKAVOD!

    10 years ago

    Charedi does not mean chassideshe.

    ALTERG
    ALTERG
    10 years ago

    Where are all the jew haters comments from every day?

    remusi
    remusi
    10 years ago

    Thank you VIN for this inspiring article about R’ Yakov Lazer Shisha. Just goes to show what one determined person can do to make the world a better place…

    And thank you to the dedicated volunteers who are behind the scenes enabling R’ Y.E.S. to do this amazing work for Klal Yisroel!

    YID41
    YID41
    10 years ago

    I know him personally, he’s one of klal yisroels hidden gems, a real emesdiga yid, loves everyone equally, great guy running a great worthwhile organization. I wish him success in everything he does.
    I’m happy VIN picked up on his story.

    10 years ago

    Great story, but there also has to be a system where men provide for their families. Learning in kollel and getting a measly stipend cannot support 12 children.

    Refyok
    Refyok
    10 years ago

    Great story. What would be even better is if there were no need for so many families to go hungry without tzedakkah. Unfortunately the charedi system is designed to produce people with little opportunity to get decent jobs since they are denied the needed education from the time they start school. To add to that they’re encouraged to have children even when they can’t afford to feed, educate and clothe them. An even better story would be to see a change in the lifestyle which will continue to necessitate such stories.

    10 years ago

    Good job. But it would be an even greater Kiddush hashem if he fought hunger via jobs. I am still waiting to see one of these guys open up some job training organizations (like PCS) to fight hunger.

    Rut24
    Rut24
    10 years ago

    What a chesed! May we only hear more good stories!

    kiri49
    kiri49
    10 years ago

    I know Yaakov Lazer for many years and I’ve been supporting this organization for a while. It is indeed a wonderful organization worth supporting. I’m glad VIN put him in the spot light.

    destro613
    destro613
    10 years ago

    Let’s see you profile Leket, the #1 food bank in israel also only started in the last decade

    MAYERFREUND
    MAYERFREUND
    10 years ago

    Where are the ones that always criticize the chariedim of meah she’orim that this is bitul torah etc.?

    sissel613
    sissel613
    10 years ago

    If only there were more like this young man–the story is inspiring–I plan to look this up and send in a donation. מי כעמך ישראל

    chaimme
    chaimme
    10 years ago

    very inspiring story. However what i found disturbing was how he went out to find food etc for his family who all worked very hard but could not make a parnasa. I wonder how the world would look if those that could work and support families did work and support their families and we were left with only supporting the real neady, those that simply cannot make it through work or are sick.

    Zeidy
    Zeidy
    10 years ago

    I know him personal he loves giving people to eat. He has 30-35 guests every Shabbas. He is an amazing person

    Buchwalter
    Buchwalter
    10 years ago

    I wonder if he is related to the Schischa family from Vienna who had a large grocery store in Vienna and we used to buy there items Pessach or rather erev pessach

    themima
    themima
    10 years ago

    Instead of complaining that THOSE people don’t get jobs and need food etc. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT YOURSELF! open your own organization that helps fellow jews.

    Erlich
    Erlich
    10 years ago

    Even better would be for all the poor to have a parnasa and get a secular education.
    Teach a man to fish and he has fish for a lifetime.

    Refyok
    Refyok
    10 years ago

    How is it muttar to take his time away from torah? And all the volunteers look like bochrim who should be learning too. It’s not Tov V’chesed thats really providing the food anyway. It’s all min hashamayim.
    Oh wait….I forgot….that argument only works when it’s used to avoid the army.

    skenvenzan
    skenvenzan
    10 years ago

    This man is amazing. We need more people like him.