The Neighbor Become a Donor

By COLlive reporter

From neighbor to donor.

Sam Boymel, a Holocaust survivor who has been living in Cincinnati for over 60 years, paid a random visit to the local Yeshivas Lubavitch High School for boys earlier this year.

The businessman and philanthropist “shepped nachas” from what he saw, and returned to the Yeshiva on a weekly basis to see the bochurim daven and learn.

Born in the Polish town of Turzysk, the sights of Torah learning has remained with Boymel, despite being sent to a Nazi concentration camp at the age of 13 and later living in a refugee camp.

Boymel arrived in Ohio with his wife Rachel and a child, with only $7 in his pocket, the gift of American soldiers. And while he knew no English, he went on to build an elder care and nursing home network.

Seeing the 13-17 year-old bochurim’s sincerity and commitment to learning, Boymel began giving his financial support to the Yeshiva, and soon became directly involved in the institution’s needs.

And when the RITSS Girls High School became available, he offered the Yeshiva a large donation to purchase the building and property to be used for the upcoming school year, beginning September 2013.

“It is a small nurturing community and environment, without the distractions of the big cities,” Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Gershon Avtzon explained about why he decided to open the Yeshiva in Ohio’s third-largest city.

“The standard of living is cost-efficient and that helps us draw the best teachers to our school,” he said and named among them Rabbi Eliyahu Simpson, Rabbi Zalman Baras, Rabbi Eliyahu Morrison and Rabbi Levi Fuss.

In addition to their regular studies, part of the Yeshiva’s curriculum is regular community service, such as the Friday Mivtzoim outreach visits and one-on-one learning with residents.