Aleph was founded at the express direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in 5741/1981.
The post of a mother, left in the comments on a previous Aleph charidy campaign, along with an 18$ donation, caught the attention of several Aleph staff:
“To my son, suffering from the disease of addiction, may you find your inner spark and know that you are loved.”
Her only child, whom she brought up as a single parent working long hours, was languishing in a county jail, facing years in prison. He was an addict who was entrapped in a vicious cycle of drug abuse and incarceration.
On the night before team members of Aleph’s Project Tikvah reached out to Jonathan’s mom, Jonathan turned to G-d in his prison cell, and prayed desperately for a miracle.
Project Tikvah, a branch of The Aleph Institute focused on youth who are in prison due to addiction/mental illness, worked tirelessly to advocate within the court system for an alternative sentence for Jonathan*, and helped secure a bed for him at Chabad Treatment Center (CTC).
Together, with immense support from Jonathan’s mother and a support system put into place by Aleph and CTC, Jonathan turned his life around and has now been clean for over a year B”H. He is now employed, B”H and has been working for a printing company for several months while his life continues to get back on track.
This year, Jonathan is proud to be on the other side, volunteering his own time for Aleph’s charidy campaign so that others can get the same second chance at life that he got.
Jonathan’s mother recently wrote the following to Aleph:
It was my broken heart, crushed by my son’s struggle with addiction and my grandson in foster care, that finally shattered me. My neshamah had had it. I was done. I prayed for it to be over. The shame and isolation that gets the addict also gets hold of the family. My bitter tears and painful screaming did not stop the endless grief process for my addicted child. I didn’t want him to die.
I felt the desperation that I could lose my entire family. I picked up the phone to make the last call I was ever going to make to try to help my son. I called Chabad Treatment Center in Los Angeles. I was led to Aleph and pleading for assistance, they helped my son get released into treatment there.
For the first time in over a decade of addiction, my son has been free of drugs for over a year. I get to hug my son without glass between us. He knows he is loved. That is all I wanted.
No momma should have to bury their child. Sadly, many do. It is our responsibility as Jews to save a life. I plead with the Jewish Community to help Aleph continue saving lives and reuniting families. No one alone, no one forgotten.
B”H, Jonathan’s story is in no stretch an isolated incident.
Aleph recently received a moving message from Jacob* (whose great grandfather was a world famous Rabbi who selflessly and tirelessly saved many, many lives during the Holocaust through bribing the Nazis).
Jacob remembers coming home from school every day, anxious to find out if his mother (who was very ill) was still alive. After he witnessed her die, at age 16, Jacob slipped into a deep depression and began a vicious cycle of drugs, prison, psych wards and homelessness. His bereaved father watched, painfully and powerlessly, as his precious son deteriorated before his eyes.
One Friday afternoon, the director of Aleph’s Project Tikvah got an urgent call. Jacob was being discharged from detox and he had nowhere to go. Within hours the director was able to secure a bed for him at the Chabad Treatment Center.
Aleph’s team worked closely with Chabad Treatment Center (where lives are saved on a daily basis) to provide comprehensive spiritual and emotional support to Jacob for over a year, including ongoing support from Aleph volunteers and mentors and critical financial assistance to ensure Jacob could continue to have whatever he needed to turn his life around. Thank G-d, today he is clean and thriving! There are no words to describe the joy this brought to his father.
Jacob’s recent message, which speaks for itself, is a testament to the impact of those who generously support and partner with Aleph/Project Tikvah.
“I’d like to go around the country speaking on behalf of what you guys did that helped change my life and got me to where I’m at today, which is becoming a drug counselor and living a life of sobriety beyond belief and it wouldn’t have happened without the Aleph Institute.”
Please help Aleph respond to the cries of so many young lives – and their desperate families. Aleph is currently running a Please Partner with Aleph in saving lives. Every dollar will be tripled. Charidy campaign. Every dollar you give during this campaign will be tripled BEH. Please help us reach out goal. May HASHEM bless you many times over!
Please watch these videos to see an inside look into the work Aleph does around the world:
Give Hope with The Aleph Institute from The Aleph Institute on Vimeo.
Give Hope! from The Aleph Institute on Vimeo.
Please Partner with Aleph in saving lives. Every dollar will be tripled. Charidy.com/Aleph
we rarely think about how many innocent lives are affected when people are incarcerated. or how difficult and lonely it is to be away from home in unsafe military settings for yomim tovim and other special days.
give whatever you can. aleph can’t exist without outside generosity. the people/families they service aren’t usually able to be a source of help any time soon…
IN AWE