About a year after Rabbi Moshe Shainfeld died suddenly, leaving behind a sick widow and five young daughters, a major public effort helped rebuild the family’s ruined apartment in Bnei Brak. Photos at the time showed a cramped 50-square-meter flat with leaking rotten pipes, exposed electrical wiring, peeling walls, and a kitchen unfit for use. Donations from Israel and abroad funded months of work by activists from Vaad HaRabanim and professionals, who replaced the infrastructure, installed new plumbing, added a safe electrical cabinet, built new doors and windows, and painted the walls white.
Now, however, the family says the apartment is still empty and cannot yet be lived in. The daughters, the oldest of whom has not yet had a bat mitzvah and the youngest of whom is a baby, have arrived to find no beds, no closets, no table, no chairs, and no refrigerator. The campaign says the rebuilding cannot be left half-finished.
For the past year, the girls have been shuttled from home to home with relatives, carrying bags and suitcases, without stability, routine, or a proper place of their own. They miss their father and long to return to their home, hang his photo on the white wall, and rebuild their lives with privacy and dignity.
Organizers say the remaining task is to buy four youth beds, a baby bed, wardrobes, kitchen cabinets, a countertop, and a refrigerator. They describe the cost as impossible for the sick widow alone, but a small final step for the public, and they are again asking for donations to complete the home.
