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26 Tishrei 5767 - October 18, 2006 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Mesila: Family Money Management for Chareidim

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

Philanthropists and askonim from the U.S., England, Canada and Israel joined hosts Melach Lehman of Jerusalem and Kurt Rothschild of Toronto on Wednesday of Chol Hamoed Succos at a Simchas Beis Hashoeva sponsored by the Mesila organization in recognition of its supporters and friends.

"Mesila's financial revolution owes its success to the generosity and vision of its supporters and friends, and we wanted to show our hakoras hatov to those individuals," explained Mesila Chairman Shmuli Margulies.

Mesila is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families and businesses in Israel achieve permanent financial stability and independence. With over 25 chapters across Israel, Mesila is changing attitudes towards financial responsibility and rescuing hundreds of families and businesses from the cycle of poverty and debt.

Mesila's three-pronged approach of Education, Counselling and Financial Assistance is revolutionizing the way people look at financial responsibility and combating the negative poverty trend in Israel's underprivileged Jewish communities.

Rabbi Zev Leff, the evening's guest speaker, expressed his admiration for Mesila's work in particularly compelling terms. "There are not too many things in the world that I am envious of," he said, "but when I heard about what Mesila is doing I was envious. This is a fresh idea, something that is extremely important and necessary for Klal Yisroel.

"When you lend or give someone money without providing them with hadrochoh, you're throwing money down an empty pit. It is just going to regenerate the need over and over again. But when you give people guidance and teach them how to use what they have without squandering it and how to budget properly — that is real tzedokoh."

Held in the spacious succah of Melach and Elaine Lehman in Bayit Vegan, the Simchas Beis Hashoeva included divrei brochoh from HaRav Ezriel Auerbach as well as musical entertainment by the Neilander brothers.

HaRav Ezriel Auerbach described how Mesila brings simchas yom tov to many needy families who think that the only way they can make Yom Tov is by taking tzedokoh. Ein simchah kehatoras hasfeikos — there is no greater joy than resolving doubts, he said. Mesila assuages people's financial worries by guiding them to discover that they can indeed manage on their own, which results in tremendous simchah.

 

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