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How
one man's compassion started a major project...
It happened a long time ago, when Palestine was still a Turkish
province. One day the late Rabbi
David Weingarten, of blessed memory, was walking along the
narrow streets of Jerusalem. It was
the time when a typhoid epidemic was raging in Jerusalem, which
took a heavy toll of lives.
He noted a young girl of about six leaning against a wall.
There were no tears anymore in her
eyes, just an indescribable look of terror and bewilderment.
The girl had lost her father and mother;
both had died a short while before and there wasn't a soul
around to take care of the child.
He took the child to his house and she became part of the family.
During the following days and
weeks, people picked up more children and two small rooms had
to be rented. In 1912 there was
already a small building accommodating 50 orphan girls. Finally,
in l956, with the help of American
friends, a new edifice was erected which now houses 500 girls
- a model institution which provides
warmth and loving care-physical and spiritual- from early childhood
throughout the formative
years until marriage.
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