 Just One Life Printed with permission from "The Chesed Boomerang" by Jack Doueck www.judaicapress.com The following are excerpts from speeches I have given about an organization called Just One Life. My good friends, Rabbi Martin Katz, the Executive Vice President, and Jack Forgash, Founder and Chairman, operate Just One Life and they have allowed me to raise funds and speak publicly for them. No modern book on chesed can be complete without a description of organizations such as Just One Life, that enrich and enhance the lives of others on a daily basis. Friday, April 19, 1991. A young couple, I'll call them Joseph and Mazal, were living in Jerusalem with their four year old son. Joseph lost his job and hadn't worked in months. After repeated attempts to find work, he was starting to lose hope. Teaching in school during the day and babysitting at night to help out, Mazal stood by her husband's side. But they just couldn't make ends meet. Joseph was overwhelmed by his debt, and was gradually losing his self esteem. A once somewhat successful photographer, he now felt like a total failure. To make matters worse, he had to serve in Israeli army reserve duty. He was leaving his family on Monday and would have to be away for three weeks. It was a cold, wet, rainy Friday morning in Jerusalem when this little family was evicted from their apartment and thrown out on the street. Joseph held his young wife close to him. She cried to him. “What are we going to do now?” Joseph had nothing to say. “Where is our little boy going to sleep tonight? What is going to happen to us?” She turned to him again and whispered, “I didn't want to upset you Joseph, I love you so much, but I need to tell you — I'm expecting a baby!” Joseph was speechless. Years ago, when Mazal told him these words for the first time, he was overjoyed. Now, the thought of another child felt like a nightmare. With no one to turn to and no one to call, they decided to knock on the door of a neighbor. The Jewish neighbor took the small family into his tiny, cramped apartment so they would not have to be on the street for Shabbat. On Sunday, a friend suggested they call an organization called, Just One Life. Within hours, a Just One Life volunteer met with Joseph and Mazal. “We love our children,” Mazal said. “Our baby is the joy of our lives. Yet we are desperate,” she said. “We think we have decided to have an abortion, but we are very upset about it. Can you help us?” Just One Life provided immediate funds to support the family. Just One Life had a special worker help them cope with their fear. Just One Life obtained government aid for them. They set them up with an apartment of their own. Within two months, through its connections, Just One Life found Joseph a job. The counseling and emotional support and financial aid continued through Mazal's pregnancy. Just One Life volunteers at her side, Mazal gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Joseph now feels his family has a second chance. Thanks to Just One Life, their nightmare turned into a dream. Thanks to Just One Life, a young Jewish girl is now alive. This year there will be almost 30,000 abortions in Israel. Since 1948, more than half a million Jewish children's lives were aborted. One of every four women in Israel aborts her child. Seventy five percent of those aborting are healthy, married women with children who just can't afford to have a baby. Since 1988, Just One Life has given women a choice and has saved over 1,700 lives. That is, over 1,700 times a Jewish woman was able to say: “I know that without Just One Life, my baby would not have been born. They saved my baby.” I recently spoke to a Just One Life client, a Sephardic woman named Miriam. She was also once in a desperate situation. Yet, in November she gave birth to two healthy twin girls. Dr. Mel Shay who is a Just One Life board member delivered Miriam's children. I spoke with her for a few minutes. She told me, “I am embarrassed that I have nothing I can return for their kindness. There are no words for me to thank Just One Life. These are beautiful, sincere people who helped my family in every way. They took care of everything for me. But most of all, they gave me hope.” “I was about to make a serious mistake,” she confided in me. “Now I just look at my two babies and say, 'what would I have done if Just One Life hadn't been there for me?' Thank God for these people.” Unfortunately, there are so many worthy causes to donate to. There are so many chesed organizations and projects. Yet, how many causes do we know that take life about to be killed and save it? We lost one and a half million little innocent children in the holocaust. How many more can we afford to lose? When a mature, healthy woman decides to end the tiny life that is just beginning inside her, before it has a chance, it is a horrible tragedy. When this woman really wants her baby and the only thing standing between life and death is money, what should our response be? Just One Life turns nightmares into dreams. They turn misery into joy. They literally turn death into life.
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