Rabbi Asher Gruber was a very quiet man, with almost no social connections. He traveled a long way until he reached Rechasim, where he lived for the last several years Born as a non-Jew in the area of Kazakhstan, he came to Israel after meeting Jews in the Ukraine
Rechasim residents sadly walked behind the mittah of the gertzedek Rabbi Asher Gruber zt"l, who was niftar at the age of 54 after undergoing intense suffering from five years of struggling against the machala.
Rabbi Asher Gruber was born in the area of Kazakhstan to a Christian family. He ended up in the Ukraine, where he met Jews and began to be interested in Judaism. He finally decided to convert, and moved to Eretz Yisrael.
In Eretz Yisrael he met and married his wife Chaya Rochel, who suffers from different medical challenges, such that the burden of running the household and raising the children fell on Rabbi Asher's shoulders.
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For a number of years the couple and their children lived in Modi'in Illit, and later moved to Rechasim.
"He was a very quiet person," said the residents. "We barely knew him. He lived in absolute, abject poverty. But he didn't ask for anything. He always said thank you to whomever did anything for him, even for the smallest and most insignificant things."
Five years ago he contracted the terrible machala, and from then on warred against it with almost superhuman strength: he'd return from a day of enervating treatments in the hospital to his home, where he'd stand and wash the dishes and do the laundry.
The family has been living for five years off the negligible national insurance stipends, without any additional source of income.
"He was a Jew who was all heart, who embodied modesty and humility, negating himself before everyone. A true oved HaShem who dedicated himself and everything he had for the purpose of raising his children to Torah and yiras Shamayim," his few acquaintances shared.
According to them, the poverty in his home was indescribable: "They were literally hungry for bread. This is not an exaggeration or just a phrase said about people in difficult circumstances. In their case it was literally true. They went hungry. They had nothing. The house was empty, with the most basic, minimal furnishings and even less than that."
The Rechasim tzedakah activists united to help the family, but the financial situation of the community as a whole is not particularly good, to say the least, and they are compelled to ask the wider public for assistance.
"This is an opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah with great hiddur: the deceased z"l was a convert, also orphans- the children of Rabbi Gruber were left orphaned- and also a widow- the wife of the deceased."
"HaKadosh Baruch Hu said that 'If you cause Mine to rejoice- the convert, the orphan, and the widow- I will cause yours to rejoice'- this is a rare opportunity to fulfill all of these mitzvos with one single donation."
Click here to contribute to the orphans and widow of the ger tzedek