When Tzviki Goodman* met Shalom Shotland after joining the same Kollel, he knew he was in the presence of greatness. Shalom was respectful, thoughtful, and dignified. He was a yarei shamayim who exuded the purest of humility.
So when he saw the condition Shalom was living in two years later, he was completely shocked.
It all started two years ago, when Shalom started experiencing a bizarre symptom: He fainted after every time he stood up. After several tests, the father-of-four received a rare diagnosis. He had Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, one of the most uncommon diseases in all of Israel, which left him wheelchair-bound. It is so rare, in fact, that his expensive medications are not covered by Israeli insurance.
Now, two years later, the Shotland home, once a simple yet well-kept home, has become an unrecognizable shell of its old self: Paint peels sadly from the walls, the cabinets lie bare, and the children constantly scurry out of the way so their now wheelchair-bound father can maneuver himself through the narrow hallways of their cramped home. The Shotland home still exudes simchas hachaim and shalom bayis, but the desperation of poverty hovers knowingly in the air.
Despite Shalom’s humble protests, Tzviki insisted on filming the following:
“The dirah that they’re living in now, with four children bli ayin hara obviously does not suffice for their needs…” he explains.
“And for him to reach the bathroom and the shower is down a few steps…It's very difficult for him every time he needs to go to the bathroom…We even need to redo the dirah or we need to get him out of this dirah and into a bigger dirah… We need to save the family so the family doesn’t fall under. We need to save the family and help them out…In the zechus of helping them out we should be zoche to hatzlocha, briyus hanefesh and briyus haguf…”
*Name has been changed for privacy purposes