Just over a month ago, Nevut (an amazing organization that supports lone soldiers), posted in their WhatsApp chat (created for welcoming back chayalim at the airport) about a couple coming into JFK who had recently gotten married. They were originally set to be married on Oct. 18 but instead, Avi was fighting, defending klal Yisrael.
As a Nevut volunteer, I had only been going to Newark to welcome chayalim back, but I was inspired and wanted to be a part of their simcha, so I decided to make the trip and bring my kids to greet this couple at JFK. It was an incredibly special experience. Such sweet and kind people. I really wanted to do something extra special for them. I started collecting money to get them a gift from the klal. In total, 160 people/families who they don’t know, from over 40 communities, contributed toward their wedding gifts.
Over the last seven months Am Yisrael has been donating essential supplies for klal Yisrael, whether for the IDF or refugees, but this was different. They didn’t necessarily “need” the gift. The purpose was to show our achdut, to show them how much we love, support and care about them, to show them how much we appreciate their sacrifice for klal Yisrael.
My family and I delivered the wedding gifts to them in the Five Towns on Chol Hamoed. There are really no words that can properly express what my family and I experienced. There was so much love and achdut in the air, something which everyone there will always remember.
The gifts consisted of two matching personalized pillow cases (for leaning at the Seder) that read “Avi and Rena — remember that you always have your brothers and sisters to lean on and that we always have your back!” The second part was a check for $5,785, representing our yearning that the next Jewish year be a better one — a year where we see the ultimate redemption. We wanted this gift to be as personal and meaningful to them as possible and felt that seeing the actual faces and smiles of those behind the gift would be a really sweet and nice added touch. So the last part of their gift was a photobook of pictures of all those who had contributed toward their gift.
Avi and Rena were so amazed and appreciative of the gifts. However, the real gift goes beyond these physical gifts. The real gift is the lifelong message that they will forever take away from this chesed, which is how much they are cared about, supported and loved by their extended Jewish family and how extraordinarily strong the achdut of the Jewish people is.
Seth Huttel lives in Springfield with his wife Rivki and kids Moshe, Leora and Shoshi. Seth has a strong passion and love for chesed and always enjoys finding opportunities to do chesed for others.
