Pashimo: A Gift of "Warmth, Dignity, and Love"

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Pashimo is an 83-year-old woman who is kind, loving, and soft spoken. She is very poor and is bound to a wheelchair because her legs are completely paralyzed—the result of the removal of a brain tumor doctors discovered 20 years ago.

Pashimo was born in Iraq and made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) with her husband at the age of 20. "In Iraq there was a thriving Jewish community, but we were persecuted and had the dream of making aliyah," she says. "When I got married at the age of 18 in Baghdad, all my husband and I wanted was to settle the land of Israel. One day, we were able to leave Iraq.

"When we finally arrived in Israel, we spent years planting on this holy land, which was at the time bare and neglected. Now, in my old age, the fruit trees that I planted in my youth still stand and the land of Israel is now developed, yet I barely have any food to eat."

After paying her rent and buying her medicine and a little bit of food, Pashimo rarely has enough money to pay her electric bill. If it were not for The Fellowship's Winter Heating project, Pashimo would freeze. Through this lifesaving initiative, Pashimo receives money to pay her electric bills.

Pashimo is deeply grateful for this critical assistance that has allowed her to remain warm through the cold winter months. "Until The Fellowship came into my life, I would sleep in my wheelchair covered in blankets, scarves and hats, yet I would still be shivering all night," she says. "I thank God every day for The Fellowship and its supporters—you have provided me with this enormous gift of warmth, dignity and love."

Please donate to Guardians of Israel today to give comfort to suffering elderly Jews like Pashimo.

Learn more about this project