Hi,

I’m Rabbi Yisrael Weingarten. In 2002, my wife Miriam passed away from Cancer. During those trying times, I saw firsthand a system with many holes in it and realized that even with Israel’s advanced medicine, many life saving treatments are not covered by national insurance, leaving victims who couldn’t afford them to die. l also saw that a support system for cancer victims was lacking, while support for their suffering family members was non-existent. For a child afflicted with the “dreaded disease”, his family’s support is no less important to his recovery than the medicine he takes. However, for parents of the sick, tending to their child can become a full time job, taking a financial toll due to their inability to work. This leads to stress in the home, especially during the Chagim, which hurts the other kids of the house who need their parents to be healthy for their own upbringing. I started Darchei Miriam, in my wife’s honor to fill in that gap to save cancer victims and their families!

Seeing cancer specialists can mark the difference between life and death. Though Israel has some of the best experts in the world, most have a waiting list many months (if not a year) long. Some victims don’t have that time to spare. We created an innovative medical referral program that allows cancer victims to bypass lengthy waiting lists to see top specialists, getting them appointments in a moment’s notice.

We provide free, door to door, private transportation for victims so they can have peace of mind that their physical needs will be taken care of.

Darchei Miriam also helps the silent victims: the family members of cancer patients. To ease the financial hardship on families, we provide cash gifts, grocery store gift certificates, baby sitters and other help. During the Chaggim, when the stress is at its greatest, we provide extra help to families, from getting them their arba minim to building a sukkah. We also started “Care Corners”: tables stocked with coffee, tea and snacks to help ease the psychological burden of victims and their families.

Darchei Miriam continues to save lives and rebuild families.To be able to continue our unique work, we need to raise money. This is literal Pikuach Nefesh as many lives depend on us. Rav Chaim Kanievsky writes that all who donate to this important organization should merit material abundance, contentment and that no member of their household should become ill.

Here is the letter written by Rav Chaim:

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