Malka Sontag couldn’t help but let out a grunt of exertion as she lifted Aliza Birnbaum out of bed. It was time to help Aliza with her daily walk up and down the hospital corridors.
“Malka, motek, you are young! Why are you sighing? You’re not an old Savta like me, not yet!” chuckled Aliza with a raspy voice and a wrinkly wink.
Aliza smiled back goodheartedly. She held Aliza’s hand on her walk, bearing her weight most of the way and lifting her back into bed when they were done. But after they said their mutual goodbyes, Malka began to reflect on her own life.
She and her husband Boruch had always lived simply. When they decided to take their hard-earned savings and invest in an apartment in chutz laaretz, they felt confident in their decision. This way, they would be able to rent the apartment out and eventually save up enough money to marry off their 7 children.
But two months later, they were horrified to discover that the man who sold them the apartment had them scammed. All too quickly, the money that they spent years compiling was gone. They were devastated.
Malka began to work 8-hour shifts in the hospital just to try and put food on the table. But with seven kids, two of whom require pricey monthly medical treatments and one who has recently become engaged, it has started to become too much.
“It’s all becoming much more than we can handle,” says Malka. “Now our landlord is threatening to evict us. We simply don’t have money for rent. I don’t know what I will do if they throw us out. I can’t be homeless with 7 children. We have nowhere to go. I am gone all day at the hospital. I don’t know where to turn.”
An emergency fund has been set up to help the Sontag family pay their rent when they need it the most. Join the initiative to help them keep their home by clicking here.
