“He was my air. Now my oxygen has been cut off.” The story of Zlata and Isaac.

Why we opened this campaign

Just a few days ago, the man you see in the photo passed away after a long and severe illness. He left behind his family — a wife and a child — and debts that his widow cannot possibly manage alone. They urgently need our help.

Zlata and Isaac met when they were both around 40. Each of them had gone through painful divorces, difficult previous marriages, and between them had eleven children from earlier relationships. Yet they both shared the same dream — to finally find their person. And that dream came true.

Life was not easy financially. Isaac worked 11–12 hours a day at a factory to support the family. In order to marry off his sons, he was forced to withdraw his pension savings. Zlata also worked until she finally became pregnant with their long-awaited shared child.

One day, on his way to work, Isaac collapsed on the street. An ambulance was called, and the hospital conducted extensive examinations. It turned out that he had serious problems with his heart, lungs, and blood vessels.

Isaac had to stop working. For some time, the family survived on his disability allowance and Zlata’s modest salary, while she struggled to care for her husband — who often could not even walk to the kitchen by himself — work, and simultaneously manage rehabilitation for their child on the autism spectrum.

Isaac followed all doctors’ instructions, strictly observed his diet, and never complained. Even before his illness he devoted much of his life to Torah study, but during this time he went further — he supported young yeshiva students from Belarus, invited them to Shabbat meals, and tried to give them a sense of family far from their parents.

A few days ago, Isaac was returning home after a Torah lesson when his heart suddenly stopped. Doctors did everything they could, but a miracle did not happen. Zlata was left alone — with a child, debts for municipal taxes (arnona), a bank loan, and an overwhelming rent.

At the time of publishing this campaign, Zlata is sitting shiva. She urgently needs help to understand how to move forward. Funds are needed to cover arnona debts and bank loans, to move to a more affordable apartment, and to pay for basic living expenses while Zlata finds a suitable school for her child on the autism spectrum. These are enormous sums for her — and without us, she cannot cope.

As Zlata herself says:

“It’s not about the money. I can’t even comprehend that he’s gone. I breathed him — and suddenly the oxygen was cut off.”

But life goes on. And it is within our power to give this child and the widow of a достойный человек a future with dignity — and the right to hope.