UPDATE:
The Aleph Institute, founded at the express direction of the Rebbe, announces the initiation of a BONUS ROUND for its Charidy campaign.
Now every dollar, up to 200,000 will be doubled through the generosity of the Nash Charitable Foundation, raising the campaign goal to 1.2million. With an annual budget of more than $4 Million, and over 1000 requests for help every month fielded by Aleph’s team of over 35 staff and 300+ volunteers, your partnership will help ensure Aleph can continue its vital work. Less than 2 hours left! Visit www.charidy.com/aleph to double your contribution!
The Aleph Institute was founded in 1981 in the chambers of the Honorable Jack Weinstein (former chief judge, Eastern District of NY) by Rabbi Sholom Lipskar, under the express direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Video: Rebbe and Honourable Jack Weinstein
A wife, whose husband is in prison posted this message in response to the campaign.
I would like to share a bit about the last three years of my life, so as to publicize the incredible work of the Aleph Institute, which they conduct with total devotion and care.
My name is Rachel* and I am a 47 year-old mother of 5.
We are what you can call an average family, living in California; I am homemaker, raising an Jewish family, and my husband works. Life is good, no complaints, thank G-d.
One dark day three years ago, my world collapsed. They arrested the best father a child could hope for, the best husband in the world, and the sole breadwinner of our family. My husband, a distinguished person, was framed by those trying to take him down, and landed in the courtroom.
I was shattered into a million pieces. I lost a lot of weight, and could not function – I could not discharge my motherly duties toward my children or anyone.
We were left with no certainties and many questions, suddenly we had no income. Who would pay our bills? Tuition for the kids, which can be an enormous expense, and we were facing a million problems and no solutions. I didn’t have a professional skill to put to use; I had always been a homemaker, looking after my children and caring for them. What now?
But in the midst of all this darkness, there is enormous light to be found, and our light was Aleph. We were also fortunate for the loving friends and community at large who supported us and helped us, but let me tell you just who Aleph -my angel- is…
Aleph is my second family. Aleph gave me the emotional strength and financial support to get back up and keep going. Aleph helped me provide for my children’s education here and in Yeshiva; they enabled me to continue giving my children the upbringing I’d always given them.
They sponsor a weekend with airfare included for my kids and myself to go and visit my husband at least once a month. I personally have Rabbi Shua Brook – I cannot even begin to explain his selfless devotion around the clock. With every little problem I can possibly encounter, I give him a call and he- like my guardian angel from Hashem- helps me to rise again.
He is actively and intimately involved in every detail of my life and the lives of my children. Don’t take this for granted… this is an enormous financial undertaking. I have tried to imagine how I would have coped with this enormous challenge with them, how I would have covered our expenses and mustered the strength to keep going. At any hour that I call or text him, he always makes sure to respond, even if he cannot answer a call immediately, he asks me if the matter is urgent, to consider whether he should stop whatever he’s doing and turn his attention to me right away. And bear in mind that there is a considerable time-difference between New York and California…
We’ve even spent a Shabbat at Rabbi Brook’s house; they welcomed us in like family, and their hospitality and warmth made us feel like we belonged.
Sometimes the help we need is a prison related issue. The Aleph team are expert advocates and skillfully walk their way around that maze. Whether it is a big or small problem, they tackle it and see to it that it gets solved immediately, down to the last detail. My husband’s problem becomes their problem.
Incarcerated Jews in this country have a standing miracle in Aleph’s presence and work to preserve and defend each inmate’s rights and wellbeing.
As I am writing these words my eyes well up with tears… how long can one family be on the receiving end?!
And I know it isn’t just us; I hear the same story from so many others experiencing this torture with a spouse or parent in prison.
Aleph entire mission is just to make it a little easier for us, and to help us without judgement. They do their work without ever expecting anything in return; if it weren’t for them, I don’t know where I’d be today…
I want to bless and thank every contributor to this campaign, and want you all to know that every dollar you donate is going directly for incredible things!
May you all be blessed with only good things, and kindly donate as much as you can to this amazing organization!!
To donate to the campaign log onto: charidy.com/aleph
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The Aleph Institute is launching its first ever crowdfunding, all-or-nothing, campaign, with the aim of fundraising one million dollars in under 24 hours. The campaign runs from Wednesday, Sept. 14th 2:00pm EDT – Thursday, Sept. 15th at 2:00pm EDT.
The Arora Nash Foundation, Mr. Howard Jonas, and a group of donors, including financier Mitch Julis, have each agreed to match all funds raised within 24 hours, resulting in a three to one ratio. Every dollar donated will be quadrupled! Their commitment is conditional on Aleph raising a total of $1,000,000 in their all-or-nothing campaign, by Thursday, September 15 at 2 p.m. EST. This campaign, if successful, will result in a one million dollar infusion for Aleph to continue its lifesaving work.
Donations can be made by accessing the campaign page at Charidy.com/aleph.
The Aleph Institute, founded in 1981 by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Lipskar, at the express direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is the nation’s premier Jewish organization providing critical spiritual, emotional and financial assistance for people in limited environments, including thousands of military personnel in the United States armed forces; isolated men, women and adolescents who are incarcerated or institutionalized; and for their families. Aleph’s Project Tikvah helps transform young lives who are in (or facing) prison, as a result of untreated mental illness or addiction.
Living up to it’s mandate, “No One Alone, No One Forgotten” The Aleph Institute’s team of over 30 staff and 400+ volunteers extend a loving hand and a warm embrace to these human beings, who often need it the most.
Since its founding, Aleph has provided 3 main functions, family services, prison services and military services. Acting as an ecclesiastical endorsing agency for the Department of Defense, the Aleph Institute hosts an annual military shabbaton and regular ongoing trainings for military chaplains. Aleph’s prison services division maintains ongoing communications with prison chaplains regarding Jewish practice and holidays and its prison advocacy branch acts to protect the constitutional religious and human rights of its constituents. The advocacy branch, which fields over 1,000 requests per month, also engages in alternative sentencing work and at-risk youth programs (through its Project Tikvah program) that include diversion from prison and securing treatment. One worried mother, whose worries were addressed by Aleph’s team, wrote: “You…. have brought me air when I didn’t know where my next breath was coming from. You have picked up my pieces when I felt feeling whole again was useless. I am not alone because of you and [the] Aleph Institute.”
For the hundreds of families struggling at home, Aleph’s family services division provides financial, emotional, and professional assistance, facilitating much needed stability for the children and spouses of inmates. In addition to sponsoring trips -often across country- for families to see their loved ones, Aleph sent nearly 100 children (with a parent in prison) to summer camps for a meaningful and fun-filled summer.
As a part of its religious services, Aleph distributes thousands of religious items through the year to families, military personnel and prisons, including holiday materials for the High Holidays, Sukkos, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach and Shavous and religious items for year-round. More than 1,000 people participate in Aleph’s Jewish correspondence courses and Aleph’s team of rabbinical students visit over 500 prisons in 45 states in the summer each year. They also arrange and conduct High Holiday services in institutions nationwide.
A recent elderly man who gets no visits from family, and recently received a visit from Aleph volunteers, sent in a moving letter: “Two young students came to visit. With them they brought compassion, kindness, [and] a love that lit up a darkened place. They lit the candles that existed in each of us. They motivated the unmotivated. They made the uninterested become interested. They reminded us by their actions of our great fortune to be G-d’s children. They lifted us up and gave us more to think about. They shared their knowledge on a wide range of subjects. They made me smile so many times..”
“Aleph is, at its core, a reflection of the mission that no one shall be left behind. Whether the need is spiritual, emotional, financial or social, Aleph is the single resource to help those in our communities who are often the most forgotten and alone.” says Rabbi Aaron Lipskar, the executive director at the Aleph Institute.
Says Rabbi Sholom Dovber Lipskar, Aleph Institute’s founder, “ Aleph’s mission is to bring light to the darkest places, where no one else dares to go. We become their extended family for whatever they need from emotional support to financial support to spiritual support…”
much luck
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and thank you for doing what ever it takes to make “all” our programs a reality.
Rabbi Shalom Lipskar! “What would we do without people like you…!!!???”
[email protected]
EVERYONE DONATE THEY ARE AN AMAZING CAUSE!
Marvelous Work! ‘Hatzlacha Raabah!’ ‘Todah raabah’ for the newsworthy article. The Torah doesn’t believe in jail & jail is a very cruel system. People get tempted to steal. Non-violent crimes (& others) are not thwarted by fearsome punishments, so the criminal doesn’t feel great fear & they don’t believe they’ll get caught. They might also believe that, with a good lawyer, they’ll not be incarcerated. Many have escaped ‘justice’ and even escaped from jail. So the criminal is lured into committing a crime. Jail, for the non-violent, is certainly evil. Here are five results. A. Jail takes away a person’s… Read more »