[COMMUNICATED] It was so different this time.
Oriya sat in the dimly lit cafe, watching the cold sheets of rain slap onto the cobblestone ground and the palm trees sway violently in the wind. She wrapped her hands around her steaming mug of coffee, breathing in the warm, cozy feeling. She was sitting with her chosson in a cafe in Yerushalayim, where they had first met only one month prior. Oriya had always made fun of her friends who spoke this way, but after just minutes of speaking with Michoel, she knew deep down that he was her bashert.
Only this time, the numbers on the sheet on the paper in front of them wanted to prove otherwise.
“Let’s see, if we take this tiny studio apartment instead of the 1-bedroom one on Rechov Blau, we’ll be saving over 1,000 shekel per month. And if we only invite only 2 friends each to the wedding, it’ll save us another 3,700. Oh wait, we still haven’t calculated home appliances. And we still need to pay the shadchan. Oh, and the landlord is asking for a security deposit up-front,…leaving us with…with…”
Oriya felt her heart sink to her stomach as she saw the negative number staring right back at her with too many zeros.
What if it was all a mistake?
Oriya was only 11 when her father tragically died from a stroke, leaving her mother to take care of 8 children all on her own. Then, when her mother got sick as well, Oriya practically had to raise herself. Finances had always been minimal in her life, and now that she was trying to get married, she felt the loss of her father and the pain of her mother’s sickness more than ever.
“Yesterday Michoel and I sat down together and tried to work out the numbers…But they just would not add up,” explains Oriya.
“We have no idea how we’re going to do this on our own…Right now, we are totally stuck and on our own. We are so worried for our future together, if it is even possible…”
Yesterday Oriya set up a ChesedFund page with a heartbreaking video where she shared her vulnerable story with the public. If enough funds aren’t raised, the couple may have no choice but to face the painful decision of calling off their wedding. To save a marriage, and help a girl whose parents can’t be there for her when she needs them the most, click here.