{"id":4471,"date":"2018-03-21T12:28:43","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T16:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/?p=4471"},"modified":"2018-03-21T13:10:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T17:10:01","slug":"behind-the-scenes-at-ezer-mizion-with-its-founder-chananya-chollak-part-3-of-a-three-part-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/behind-the-scenes-at-ezer-mizion-with-its-founder-chananya-chollak-part-3-of-a-three-part-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes at Ezer Mizion with its Founder, Chananya Chollak Part 3 of a Three Part Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"chananya<\/a>
Rav Chollak speaking at a retreat for cancer patients and their families<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The many tragedies that Rabbi Chollak, founder of Ezer Mizion, is exposed to in the course of his work did not immunize him against the personal tragedy that struck: About three years ago, Leah, his wife and the mother of his sixteen children, passed away after battling cancer<\/strong>. She was 57. From the start, the doctors had said that for her kind of cancer, you can usually stretch things out for about eight years. Sadly, it did not take even that long; she died a little over a year later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been asked difficult questions,\u201d says Rav Chollak, \u201cFor instance: You and your wife took care of so many sick people, and now, she herself succumbed to the illness. Do you feel any anger?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy answer is: \u2018Look, I don\u2019t know any more than you do. Hashem (G-d) does only good, so it cannot be that He did something not good to me. We are merely human beings and it is clear to me that there are things that cannot be understood by the human mind. It\u2019s our job to be good people. Nothing more. Nothing less.”<\/p>\n

Rav Chollak idolized his wife. \u201cIt is important for me to stress that Leah z\u201dl<\/em> built Ezer Mizion together with me, with her own hands. I didn\u2019t do anything alone. She was a great woman, full of life wisdom. If she had not dedicated herself to this project \u2013 it definitely would not have been able to grow and develop with the systematic, all-embracing programs that help the patient from those first terrifying moments to the happy ending that they pray for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt often begins with a woman becoming ill. She needs medical counseling, a caring professional to \u2018hold her hand\u2019 to determine what to do next. Sometimes she can be confronted with an appointment for a crucial test being made for three months hence. We make it our job to change that absurd appointment to something closer.<\/p>\n

\"pr<\/a>
Jeeping trip for cancer patients and their families<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe children at home are going through a difficult time with their parents unable to be there for them, physically or emotionally. We try to take over in many, many different ways. A Bar Mitzvah where there would otherwise not be one\u2026 a trip to buy school supplies\u2026someone to do homework with the kids\u2026a center with professional therapeutic activities\u2026 family retreats\u2026and, most important, someone to talk to. I give my cell phone out to a lot of kids who need it and tell them to call me whenever they like. They know I care so they\u2019re not shy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have programs for the parents, everything from professional therapy<\/strong> and support groups<\/strong> to fun days and trips.\u00a0 Having personally experienced this challenge of a sick spouse, I know exactly what it means to see the person closest to you suffering and fighting a battle for life<\/strong>. It tears the heart to the core,\u201d he sighs.<\/p>\n

\u201cServices are provided to all applicants,\u201d Rabbi Chollak stresses. \u201cThe entire range of the Jewish people comes to us \u2013 secular, religious, Chareidi<\/em>, everybody.<\/p>\n

\"pr<\/a>
Yeshiva man saves a life of young boy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou see it tangibly at the meetings of stem cell donors and their recipients. They embrace emotionally \u2013 a secular fellow who saved the life of a Chareidi, <\/em>a Dati-Leumi who saved an irreligious person.\u201d And you see it very powerfully at our summer retreats, how everyone spends time together in amazing unity. We are all brothers in times of misfortune.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Chollak recalls how, at one of the retreats<\/a>, a mother from a kibbutz said defiantly, \u2018I am irreligious and an extreme Leftist. When I came to the retreat, I was afraid that you\u2019d try to convert me into a baalat teshuvah (a religious Jew)<\/em>. Now I see that all you want is that we should enjoy ourselves at the retreat. Excuse me, I just can\u2019t understand \u2013 why is it important to you that I should be happy?\u2019<\/p>\n

Perhaps Rav Chollak has found the key to bringing the irreligious closer to their own heritage: caring, sensitivity, understanding and a deep desire to give to others.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The many tragedies that Rabbi Chollak, founder of Ezer Mizion, is exposed to in the course of his work did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1031,4,7,1029,1030],"class_list":["post-4471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ezer-mizion","tag-battle-for-life","tag-cancer","tag-israel","tag-professional-therapy","tag-support-groups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4471"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4477,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4471\/revisions\/4477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}