We met Pinkus about two years ago. Over the years we have celebrated Shabbat with them, laughed with them and recently cried with them as they laid to rest Edna’s mother.

To experience Shabbat at there home is an experience I am fortunate to have had more than once. With Shabbat being the biggest and most elaborate meal of the week, for some who have fallen on hard time it is not as elaborate as they would like. Over the years I have celebrated Shabbat with friends that you could not see the table cloth because of the food.

I have never celebrates Shabbat in a home (that I believe), that is more pleasing to YAH then at his house. With singing of songs of praise to YAH, reading Torah and YAH being the only topic of discussion until it is time to walk home; it is absolutely wonderful!

Pinkus is from India and made Aliyah some thirty years ago. He and Edna have been marries for twenty years and they have four children. Six years ago someone came to town with an investment scheme. Pinkus was one of eight who mortgaged they homes and were then swindled out of their money, only to loss his home.

He asked the normal questions of YAH, like ,why? Today He is not mad at YAH but has come to understand that his faith in YAH has increased. He does not see it as a punishment or a judgment but rather as a tool to come face to face with YAH. To that he says he would be willing to loose it all again to obtain the faith he has today in YAH.

Life is not and has not been easy for him or the family as bill mount up and Edna’s employer fails to pay her on time and in totality. Pinkus receives a small stipends for attending yeshiva, it almost enough to starve on. Add tuition for four kids and you can see why he is in the shape he is in.

He has been looking for work, realizing that this is the only way his situation will change. He will take any job he can find, even as a dish washer if need be.

Life is hard for him and his family but most of the time he still has a smile on his face and  when my phone rings and its him one of us is always singing “Shalom Chaverim ” (Peace or Hello my Friends). If you ever come to Sderot and stay with us and it is on a Shabbat he will welcome you into his home just as one of the family we have all become.