The Young Man Providing for Dozens of Families: "It’s Not That Complicated, Just Requires Willpower"

During my conversation with Aryeh LeBron, I found myself stopping several times to ask, "Wait, how old are you?" The answer didn’t match reality. I found it hard to believe that the young man describing a wide-ranging operation that includes distributing food baskets to the needy and issuing purchase vouchers, is merely seventeen and a half years old.

"The truth is, it all began when I was about fifteen," says LeBron, who lives in Elad and studies at a yeshiva in Jerusalem. "During those days, I was learning in the first year of one of the city's top yeshivas, but during the 'winter session,' I began to feel the evil inclination lurking and weakening me. There wasn't anything particularly wrong, G-d forbid, but I started to look outside and seek thrills. Thank G-d, I managed to stop myself in time. I come from a good home and a supportive family. I realized I had a keen business sense and quickly understood that if I searched for myself in the streets, I could easily veer off course and find unsuitable activities. However, I sought something I could engage in on the side that would provide me with spiritual fulfillment.”

After several weeks of such a search, a friend told him about a charity in Elad that distributes Shabbat meals and food baskets to the needy. "He suggested I volunteer there, and I felt it would definitely suit me," he says. "So, I started coming every Friday to the association's offices, taking the food boxes from there, and delivering them to the homes of the needy, following the addresses provided to me."

The Painful Side of Life

LeBron pauses for a moment in his speech. It’s clear that sensitivity speaks from his throat. "Every week, I was exposed to very difficult stories anew. Until then, I had never personally met poverty and need. I thank G-d I never lacked anything, I always had everything I wanted. So it was tough when I encountered families that had nothing and relied entirely on the boxes I brought them. If I brought boxes, they had something to eat; if not, the fridge remained empty.

"I regularly visited the family of an avrech, one of the well-known scholars in the city. It’s a very blessed family, and I saw firsthand how the children walked around in sandals and without coats in winter because they couldn't afford the most basic equipment. The father told me in one of our conversations that they open cans of tuna and corn on Shabbat, and that’s what their meal consists of. When organizations help them, they receive a bit more, but when no help is given, their Shabbat table is made up of canned food. 

"I also encountered a story that still shakes me – a beloved Jew whose financial condition is unbearably difficult. His wife is not working because she suffers from a disability, and every month they have expenses of tens of thousands of shekels on medicine. He is the sole breadwinner who must also fund the medicine and raise their six young children. He works multiple jobs all day but is burdened by the load, and the family’s situation is dire. The children return home daily and are sent to the neighbors to eat lunch there simply because there’s nothing to feed them with. And these are just two examples out of the very difficult stories I've met. There are many more," he says with sorrow.

What does a 15-year-old feel when he encounters the painful side of life like this?

"It completely rocked me," admits LeBron, "but since by nature I'm very proactive, I felt that it's not enough to just sit and cry, but I also needed to take action. Initially, I collected all my savings and pocket money every week, stopping at the supermarket on the way to families to buy them a bit more food – another bag of milk, another bottle of grape juice, or a treat for Shabbat for the kids. Later, I also collected money from people close to me, allowing me to buy more and more products. At that stage, I had already parted ways with the association and began organizing food products myself, mainly with the help of the neighborhood kids."

How do you get the children to help? What do you mean?

Aryeh explains that every weekend, when he returns from yeshiva on Thursday, he gathers the neighborhood children and sends them to collect food products between the buildings. He rewards them with prizes from ‘everything for a shekel’ and small treats. So, in a short time, he collects a considerable amount of food products that he can deliver to needy families. "This, of course, requires a lot of logistics for organizing the products, storing them, and distributing," he says, "but I found this to be the most convenient and cheap method because I hardly need to pay for it."

Additionally, he also set up a donation system in which he collects money amounts, which he converts into purchase vouchers at the 'Yenot Beitan' store chain. "I buy the vouchers at a relatively low price so that donors can know that their donation was worth more than the basic amount donated," he explains. "Once a month, I take the donation funds and purchase 100-shekel vouchers. In months where the sums are high, I manage to, thank G-d, distribute such vouchers to dozens of families. People are very happy with this because even if they are needy and lack, they want to feel they can go to the supermarket and buy what they want, not use just the items donated to them," he explains.

And how do you decide which families to donate to?

"Many families contact me, but unfortunately, I can't help them all. I forward the names to my father and the rabbi whom my family consults with. They review the data and guide me on how much to give and to whom. Everything is conducted according to their decision."

Giving Up the Shoes

LeBron notes that many people who hear about his charity activities are amazed; it seems odd to them that a young man like him leads such an empire, but from his perspective, he sees it as natural. "I believe there is so much room for doing acts of kindness, and even the younger generation can help with this," he argues. "People think you need to have vast connections to set up such arrangements, or you need to dedicate many hours every day, and I can clearly say – all you need is willpower and the power to give. If you have these things, you can go far."

Can I ask where this tremendous willpower came from?

He ponders for a moment and quickly declares: "I was privileged to have a very righteous grandmother – Mrs. Shoshana Puran of blessed memory. She was a woman of unimaginable kindness and passed away a few years ago. In fact, my activities are for her merit, her heritage, and the elevation of her soul. One of the aunts told me about a time when my grandmother traveled from her home in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood of Tel Aviv to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. When she returned in the evening, she was without shoes on her feet, and when asked where her shoes were, she replied that she met a poor woman without shoes at the Western Wall and immediately gave her the shoes she wore, returning home barefoot.

"In general, she couldn't see a poor person on the street without helping. In such situations, she could open her wallet and empty all the money inside, sometimes amounting to thousands of shekels. Her house was always open wide, and anyone who entered when hungry would leave full. Even from her sickbed in the hospital, she cared for the needy, often telling us, ‘Take 500 shekels and give it to Ms. So-and-so, I know she has nothing to eat for Shabbat...’ or: ‘Give 200 shekels to Mr. So-and-so, he’s getting his son married and has no money...’ "Grandma had incredible acts of kindness," he concludes, "and it’s no wonder I chose to work in the field of charity in her honor and for the elevation of her soul."

To contact Aryeh LeBron: zy0556771146@gmail.com