Chesed 24/7 Event - Full Coverage

[Music] this very special night to show our support TOA 24/7 a very unique organization that really very rarely do you see an organization that their full description is in the title I wasn't really planning to speak tonight but if I was to describe 247 it pretty much says it all in that title it's an organization that caters to families in a hospital again not the family although they do work with the patients as well they work very close with the families that have loved ones going through different challenges and different treatments they have what they call rooms in I think 30 hospitals throughout New York City they do a tremendous tremendous work unfortunately you have to really experience a full Hospital situation to really understand the full scope of what they do but but they really are an organization that is open to all in the most pureed way 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year including the holidays R yur and so forth of course I'd like before we do anything I have to thank our host and Hostess the AAL family Vicki and Sammy aala opening up their home a special thank you to them you know when Sammy was asked to host this event he didn't even think twice and of course he spoke with his children all of them very special and unique as we see the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree but all them all the boys got involved read ready to go and ready to really helped this very very special cause a very special thank you to all them to Albert to Sal to Jacob to Richie to Isaac that I leave anyone out to the sisters to everybody the son-in-laws Hashem shall bless all of you for the that you're doing tonight and for the organization that that we're raising money for this home should always be a source of for many many years to come Sam you should have many more grandchildren great grandchildren for many years to come amen I'd like to call up first Jacob AAL who's going to be speak on behalf of the family and say a few words Jacob kav where are you I'm going to keep this very short because I only got like a 30- second notice so uh just want to welcome and thank everyone for coming of course for coming together for 247 thank you to Mom and Dad and the AAL family for opening your home to host such a beautiful magnificent event and thank you for everyone who help make this happen from something as small as the invitation and everything getting things done I just met Rabbi Sanders I would say like a few weeks ago and I didn't know much about 247 this was all new to me and and within one night of sitting with the rabbi I learned so much that it just inspired me to want to just do more and of course help with this and make it happen and just watching the rabbi and seeing how how calm and and and easy everything was to just this is not some something like this could take a few months to do this was all in within like a few weeks and it was so calm and easy and the rabbi with such a smile he just does it all with such and and really that was that was is really the main key of making this happen doing it nice calm and easy and of course for the rabbi and all the work he puts into 247 without asking he just wants to help he just wants to do and uh with us hopefully he should keep continuing to uh do the that he does with with full Open Arms the name 247 really says it all we're talking about an organization that 7 days a week week 24 hours a day is just helping people whether for good or for bad or for anything the the the organization is always there you could see on the cards if you just take a little Glimpse or if you saw the video we're talking about 30 hospital rooms from serving in here in NYU to all the way in Israel so that's just amazing how we're able to see how they're able to spread in so many other places and and a lot of people who said oh you're doing something for 24/7 oh they help me with their baby oh they help me with my one of my grandparents and and everyone has such a good story and so many good things to say about K 247 I'm not going to touch so much on this but the world was built on so with your support 247 can keep continuing to do what they do to make powerful impacts in people's lives so enjoy the delicious food and drinks and get ready to hear more about whated 247 does not just for this community but for many many more around the world thank [Applause] you thank you Jacob for those very warm words you mentioned Rabbi Sanders you know him a few weeks I know him a couple of years now to know him is really to love him no I mean I mean it if they have to put one person to really be behind this organization it would be Rabbi Sanders he does everything with warmth with a smile with real care he really def helps if you had to put a face with the name he is the perfect person I'd like to call up the rabba just to say uh some few a few words thank you how RAB I'm I'm very grateful for all the nice things that people just said none of them are true not a word not one word hasem I'm just a front man uh shortly Rabbi Mrs Greenberg Mrs Greenberg was the founder of this organization together with her friends and she was the one who first went the first big hospital that caved in and let us have a room was columia and then from there down to Cornell and she she's coming in simma backrack who many of you know from Mount Si who's work with so many families she's coming and um I I I I want I want to ask kaboto Rabbi Rabbi ha to come up because my job today is to give I would like we're going to give a every time we we we meet at these things we try to do something of of meaning and when I'm talking about meaning I'm talking about I have here something that the AAL family you you just heard Jacob speak the sami's idea was was that Jacob should speak and that the kids should should be involved and it's so beautiful to see and we try very hard when we thank people to give something not a plaque but to give something that will be Masia is coming this is a letter from moru I Rabbi how do what should I say to Rabbi Ben his best friend who they were friends from when they were in Yeshiva till their till they lived together their whole lives and this is a special letter that he wrote himself it's signed by him it in his own holy handwriting I'm even scared to touch it I'm honestly scared to touch it this is something from him and I I I want the rabbi please cuz I you know Rabbi if you could read it and translate it um you know he's saying the great Rabbi the ga the rabbi and the leader of in New York Shalom only blessing I know we're praying for his peace and his strength we hoping to know his that everything is going well with him it should be's we only good things only salvation he's blessing him to have tremendous long life and healthy life and only this is this letter is written so that is approximately 50 years ago this letter was written we so it's about 50 years ago a little less than 50 years ago this letter is written to from so this letter was when Rabbi benim was not feeling well and the rabbi the wanted to wish his friendu and and and he wrote this letter and I thought it was so appropriate it's a rare letter obviously and uh and there are and and I'd like to ask the a to come up is there any lighting here is not so much I'd like to ask the Y to come up and if we could take a picture that would be nice I just want to say that when our rare book dealer found this letter I said it belongs in the AAL home this is a home of kadus a home OFA and a home of of of and this is where it should belong a heirloom for the Mish to show you the extent of the that 247 does somebody approached me earlier and said I have an amazing experience he'd like to share I'd like to call him up to speak good friend of mine who does a lot of good work in the community to know him also really he does tremendous work I'd like to call up Mar son thanks good evening everyone I didn't come here prepared to speak but I thought it's important to give you some real life experience my father May rest in peace spent months and months in Mount sa hospital and when we were there we were really lost so when simma backrack walked into our room offering help we thought it was for a bit of food some kosher food it was helpful and eventually we found ourself to their 24/7 room on the second floor maybe 10 times a day constantly stock with food and when you have your mom that you're worried about and your siblings Round the Clock and others it's tremendously helpful to know you have kosher food somewhere nearby but then they really kicked into action and my father had many many difficulties and between simma and all their connections at the hospital my father was spared no U no attention no doctor refused us when we worked on our own we were told it'll be two weeks before a doctor can speak to you when we spoke to 24/7 there was a doctor in our house in in our room that evening in his coat before he went home procedures happened anytime they were needed and I'm going to tell you that I believe my father's life was extended certainly in Comfort due to the help ofessa 247 if you speak to any of my siblings we all feel the same way that's why I dragged my daughter and her friend here on the W for ice cream because we needed to stop here and tell our story this organization is essential you should never need it but when you're sitting in a hospital lost in the Health Care System there's nothing like someone that can show you the way they're a wonderful organization the rabbis become a very very good friend and they're they're really leem sham anyway thank you to the host as well for uh having them is a very special [Applause] group if everybody can please uh thank you if everybody can please please put your attention to the screens we have a very short video to give you an inside look at the great work that they the torat talks in detail about the vessels in the betam mikdash and now rabbis ask a question why do we need to know all of that and why so much focus on the different things that the vessels were made of and I saw a beautiful answer it's also referring to the three levels of a giver the first level iset copper I'm going to give but I'm going to give because of my reputation the next level up is K which means that I'm afraid I'm afraid I need to give then there's the level of zah that's a giver that just gives for the sake of giving and I'd like to say that 24/7 is the level of gold they don't know the receiver on the other end but they have no idea what they're doing for the people that they are giving to [Music] anyone that wasn't in the hospital would have no way of understanding what 247 does for you we were in different hospitals One hospital after the next for 6 or seven years we did Sloan we did Columbia we did Mount Sinai we did Cornell we went from one hospital to the next and the one constant was that you had this room that you could go to not only for food for coffee but to see people that were going through similar things to what you were going through it was about the feeling the warmth the care I called it an infusion you would go down to that room to get infused with how lucky we are to be part of this nation and one M Shabbat as we were leaving we passed the rabbi in charge of 24/7 and I said to him Rabbi I have to share with you what my Shabbat was about I said it was hard but the love and warmth that that room gives I said you can't compare it to any medicine that that you can anything it's it's nourishment no matter how much food you bring you want that warmth and that extra food that you get from the 24/7 I probably owe them a lot of money by now because we went there I would go there just to take food just to feel good everything you wanted they have by the sadim they had Seda Plates Full Seda plates made with every part of the kada that you needed they had that set up with Saran wrap on it you took it to your room and you and you had the the grape juice every single thing you can e the room is stocked better than any kitchen I know there's freshly cut salad checked lettuce before PES I thought I came with a fully stocked meal ready to serve the K and then I go downstairs and I see juice lettuce in the fridge of Cornell down to the tablecloth you would have tablecloths you could set up every sday or every Shabbat meal tablecloth my mother would take the hot plate we would use that for the food we all I think felt this way that you're sitting in your room it's Friday afternoon and you lost track of time you're waiting for the doctor to come in the nurse to answer you and you lost track of the day of the week and suddenly someone walks in with a bag of food with a box with the candles in it for Shabbat and the tablecloth for Shabbat and the grape juice all things that you had no time to think of but as Shabbat is going along you realize wow look I feel normal I feel like I have Shabbat like a Jewish person in the hospital and therefore on behalf of all my siblings and of course my Mother we'd like to say a tremendous tremendous thank you hakar because you would like the warmth and the hugs and the kisses and the little tap on your back that you're not alone when I think about 24/7 the first feeling I have is warmth and I think on top of that it's appreciation when you press those numbers the combination with the Hebrew letters you suddenly feel like someone cares about you let's give them our support and let's understand that of course they have a lot of volunteers who will come with stuff but it also takes support and it takes funds and that's what they need from us we all try to forget about what happened in the hospital but the one thing we don't want to forget is 247 I don't want to forget it and you shouldn't forget it [Music] either uh Rabbi Rabbi Haver is a little is a little late I therefore will dispense with all the encomiums that he deserves which are endless and I just want to say that he's been such a friend to us as well that we were to find the the actual handwriting of the one of the most famous post gim in history and we're pleased to present it to the rabbi and without further Ado he has to move so Rabbi first of all thank you very much for this this is incredible can those of you by the food can we have your attention please for three minutes first of all RBI Sanders this is not necessary at all I owe all you you all the thanks but this is incredible and I'm not going to mind bringing this home having the actual handwriting and the actual words of the excuse me of the is an Incredible Gift okay so my speech is going to be shorter than expected because I can't see one word literally not one word okay do we have your attention in the back there are many things in life that we are prepared for that means when someone gets M time so when they're ready for marriage they took lessons and classes and hopefully they're ready for what's in store when someone's about to have a child by definition it takes nine months for that child to come into the world you have 9 months to prepare if someone's going to buy a house you go into contract and then you close you're ready but when someone gets a call that their mother has to go to the hospital or their father or their wife or God forbid their child you don't have any preparation it's usually hi Daddy's got daddy's not doing well hatah is coming to the house right now who's going are you going or I'm going I'm going mommy's also going to go we're going to go too are you sure could you drop you have a class to give don't give the class grab something from the house and get in the car you're going to follow the a lot truck and you're going to go and then you get there and you're so not ready for anything you barely know the doctor you're going to speak to and you for sure don't know what you're going to do my family and I have been through about a 7year jour Journey that ended sadly 3 months ago and on that Journey we've been in and out of hospitals and had nowhere to turn and at nights we'd sleep on Floors at nights what you slept on the flo yes yes not my father at nights we didn't know where we were going to get food from because it was so urgent no one even knew we were there enter said 247 and all of the sudden the whole experience changes and I'd like to give you explanation why and give you a few keys if I can that the people in the back are okay with listening for two minutes the says of of consolation we speak you speak about the heart of Jerusalem because our sins have been forgiven what do you mean our sins have been forgiven yesterday was sitting on the floor because our bash was destroyed what changed today what changed today is the recognition of Le the recognition of the heart of the Jewish people and the Heart of the Jewish people is so powerful and so unique and so captured and 247 when we walked into the hospital we didn't know them and they didn't know us and before you know it they were our friend and I'm going to give you three components of how they help number one is food you might say we don't need food we could like afford food I hope you've never been in a hospital if you have try Uber eating to a hospital it's so annoying cuz when you U eat to your house you could say drop it off outside the the door and you go pick it up in 10 minutes or 20 minutes or an hour whatever it takes which door are you going to drop it off to outside the hospital so where do you go so you keep tracking on your phone and then the guy came already and then he left and he went to the other Hospital door and he went to the front he went to the back the front in the back is not the front in the back of your house it's three blocks away the front in the black and you're starving and your and your patient eats food and you need food and the hospital gives you some food you can barely look at it and then 24/7 my siblings and I were in and out of that room and we'd go get a piece of cake we'd go get something to eat we go get some vegetables we go get some candy we go get some snack we go get some real food we go get soup on Shabbat we get KH we get great ju they give you a little box they walk into your room even if you could afford the food even if buying food for you isn't hard you feel so desperate and so poor in that moment and the last thing you have time to do is say ma dad tell the H doctor to wait I'm going to go to the store and get food that's number one number two is holidays my father was in out of the hospital like I said over 7even years it was probably 200 300 days that he was in the hospital 300 nights that he was there we had a couple of PES in the hospital PES 24/7 sent team the night before PES to clean the room for p then they sent the team to set up the room for p like my brother mentioned on the video PES said there they [Music] had everything you need the whole set up and for each and every holiday they are there for you to make you have whether it's Shabbat holiday make you have exactly what you need and the third and final thing if you never in a hospital you would think you don't need it but if you did in a hospital you desperately hold on to it and that is a friend to hold your hand in our journey we were in Two hospitals predominantly Mount Si and Cornell I still remember the day when simma walked into our room I think we were in the waiting room and she walked into wa me she says hi and we're like who are you she said I'm 24/7 and she told my mother I'm going to hold your hand every day we were in Mount Si for approximately 70 days I'm not sure if it was everyone or almost everyone every single day simma came to the room and sat with my mother what do you need what can I get you when you're there and you almost feel like you're in jail it's incredible what they do and then we were in Cornell and simma is right here tonight with us thank you Sima so much for all that you done for my family and then we were in Cornell and in comes Y and Y is there for our family and she's watching us and she's there with us every single day and we were there also for weeks and months my point here to tonight ladies and gentlemen is this I hope you never have to walk into a hospital but maybe I hope you do because it means your parent lived a long life and it means you have a chance to be there for them and in the haste and in the energy that you're putting in to be there for your parent or be there for a spouse you don't realize how much help you need and the people you need to be there for you so you don't get warning and I hope it doesn't come for another hundred years but when that day comes you're not going to get a collar class you're not going to get a groom class you're not going to get driver's headed and you're not going to get some L that's going to teach you how to give birth to a baby you're all of a sudden going to be there and you're going to be lost and then you're going to hear about this room and you're going to get their Hebrew combination and you're going to walk into the room and you're going to feel like you're home and you're going to see other people just like you people in our community and people from other communities and you say what are you here for one time my sister walked into room there was a man there who was sitting shiver but his wife was giving birth so he was in the hospital during the seven days and my sister was able to cons my family was able to console him and he was able to strengthen us our nation is incredible because of the heart that we possess because of the strength that's inside of us because of the unity of Jews around the world that no matter how many people are our enemy we are brothers and sisters and there's no place on the planet that you will need it and that you will feel it more than in the 247 room I hope you don't need it for a hundred years but when that day comes you will be so glad that tonight you supported the heart of our nation thank you