He might look like any other Kosel schnorrer, but Reb Avrum Lipschitz-Brizel has spent 30 years secretly supporting dozens of indigent Holy City families ,Wall of Blessings,He might look like any other Kosel schnorrer, but Reb Avrum Lipschitz-Brizel has spent 30 years secretly supporting dozens of indigent Holy City families
“If I were a bluffer” says Reb Avrum “I would tell you that my brachos really work” (Photos: Eli Cobin)
Night descends on Judaism’s holiest site as a golden light bathes the stones that have survived two millennia of wars political upheaval enemy regimes — and even the weather. Until the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt they serve as a haven for the deepest secrets of Jews as well as others who’ve come from all over the world to press their hopes and dreams and requests into the cracks of the Wall.
But there are also living stones not the ones from the Holy Land’s ancient quarries but carved out of vibrant Yerushalmi spirit — steadfast and rock solid against the elements having also lived through wars regimes… and the weather.
One of these “stones with a human heart” as the iconic Israeli song about the Kosel goes is Reb Avrum Lipschitz-Brizel and anyone who’s visited the Kosel in the evening or late at night anytime over the last 30 years has surely run into him in his low chair at the entrance to the lower plaza. You’ve probably even given him a few coins or more — but what were you thinking? Just another schnorrer? In truth Reb Avrum doesn’t really care. He’s on a mission and no amount of bushah over the last three decades has been able to stop him.
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