The widow of the “chessed man of Bnei Brak” Rabbi Yehuda Sha’ivi zt”l tearfully recounts the earth-shattering moment of her personal tragedy* “I’d prepared him a cup of coffee to drink”*”He always used to say ‘I want to see the grandchildren running around the house'”* “The paramedic came to me and said ‘I want to let you know- Baruch Dayan HaEmes’”

In a quiet voice that belied the bottomless grief behind it, Orit Sha’ivi shared her story- the story of her shocking and especially painful family tragedy. Her husband, the “chessed man” Rabbi Yehuda Sha’ivi zt”l, a mezakei es harabbim with all his pure heart and soul, was taken from them completely unexpectedly just last Shabbos.

“My name is Orit Sha’ivi,” she begins. “On Shabbos morning, we got up in the morning, and I prepared a coffee for my husband to drink. He went out on the porch to sit in the chair he always liked to sit in, and about 20 minutes later after I finished getting ready, I went to the porch and I saw him lying flat on the floor- his head was facing downwards.

I started to call him and shout to him- ‘Yehuda! Yehuda!’ He didn’t hear…

I screamed to my daughters and I woke them to get them up. The girls got up; my oldest called Magen Dovid Adom, and they told us to start resuscitation. I didn’t know exactly what that was. Then my 16-year-old daughter said to me,’Ima, I know!’ And she started to do resuscitation on Abba and she cried, ‘Abba, get up! Abba, get up!’ And they weren’t successful.

The Magen Dovid Adom EMT came to me and said, ‘I want to let you know-Baruch Dayan HaEmes.'”

To donate to the widow and five orphans click here>>>

Orit describes the personality of the man who was so universally loved and who was taken from them so suddenly: “He was such a devoted husband, a loving father; he always concerned himself with the children. I have, baruch HaShem, five children- the oldest is 23 years old; he didn’t merit to see her married.

All his life, he so much wanted to see her under the chuppah. He always used to say, ‘I want to see the grandchildren running around the house…’

My youngest is barely 12, and the bat mitzvah we wanted to celebrate with her- also for this, he won’t be there. But from Shamayim he will see her.”

Left without any other options, and much to her chagrin, Orit requests the public to help her start a fund for her daughters and son so they can get married joyfully and respectably when the time comes bez”H: “I’m asking if you could help us so we can marry off my daughter and take care of all the children, so they won’t be lacking anything.

Like their Abba would always say- my children won’t lack anything. He always made sure to give- that they should have, and not he. Tizku l’mitzvot.”

To donate to the widow and five orphans click here>>>