Original letter published by Mishpacha Magazine in PDF format

It’s not a year, yet I feel compelled to express my feelings of hakaras hatov to the staff of Mishpacha and Shalvat Chayim, an adult residence in Yerushalayim. The real journey we took together started Erev Purim more than five years ago.
Approximately two weeks before Purim of that year, I read an interesting article in a special supplement magazine that Mishpacha published describing the many community chesed organizations that exist in the US and in Eretz Yisrael. The article was about a wonderful group home called Chein V’Chesed V’Rachamim (now known as Shalvat Chayim). The article described a unit that is run by Rabbi Edery for the benefit of the most needy, neglected, and “hidden” population in our community here and abroad, housing and working with victims ofthe most difficult of mental illnesses.

At that point, my adult son had been living on the streets of Brooklyn for close to six months as his mental illness continued to progress and his refusal to seek proper treatment deepened. He barely lived through the winter, sleeping on park benches, running out of city shelters, and seeking temporary shelter from the “outside” in hospital emergency rooms, because in his words, “I am a frum man who needs a frum place to be without being afraid that I will be hurt while I sleep.”

The Jewish agencies that work with the mentally ill in Brooklyn could not legally handle my son because he was also an addict in addition to his severe schizophrenia and deep anxiety disorder. These organizations unfortunately (but caringly) rejected my son, but could not provide me with any suggestions for “safe harbor.”

After reading the article, I called my mother (who lives in Yerushalayim) immediately after Shabbos. She sighed and said that she, too, had also read the same article and was waiting to call the organization’s number. She placed the call the following morning, and the rest is history.

I want to express my sincere thanks to Rabbi Edery and his wife for providing not only a “safe harbor” for my son, but for also providing him with an atmosphere that was as close to “home” as possible. I also want to express my hakaras hatov to Tamir Shefer, who went out on a limb to accept my son into the program and went above and beyond the call of duty to make him feel like a special person, all the while detoxing him from dangerous and addictive substances. Yaakov, my son’s direct caregiver, was like an older brother as he dealt with his serious needs. Most of all, I want to express my ultimate appreciation to the staff of Mishpacha for having had the prophetic foresight to publish these articles l’tovas haklal.

May you all be blessed!

It’s not a year yet since my son was niftar unexpectedly in his sleep while he was in the hospital in Yerushalayim for medical treatment. Tamir Shefer, Rabbi Ettinger, Rabbi Edery, and Yaakov made his tortured life in the hospital bearable. They helped as my brother dealt with all of the funeral arrangements as I “watched” from America. No, I was not at my son’s levayah, because I couldn’t make it without withholding his kvurah for more than 24 hours. I will be eternally grateful for the kindness of my brother, nephews, and staff of Shalvat Chayim. May they all reap the rewards that accompany the mitzvah of levayas hameis.

An Appreciative Mother in Klal Yisrael