[COMMUNICATED] If the name Ben Zion Oiring is not familiar to you, certainly his face is.

Pictures of him have been published regularly over the years. You may remember the photo of him coddling a baby that he had just pulled from a burning bus after a terrorist attack. Just recently he was at the scene of the bus that rolled over in the West Bank. There were also pictures of him at the ramming attack in Armon Hanetziv which targeted Israeli soldiers. Or you may remember seeing a photo of him kneeling down performing CPR on someone who had been in a tragic car accident. You may have even wondered; “Who is that guy? How is he always there, at the right place in the right time to assist others in their desperate time of need? Who does he work for? He must get paid well for doing such gruesome, difficult tasks…”

Ben Zion is a master at chessed, it consumes his life. Nobody pays him. I suggested to him that he open a chessed organization and raise money to perform the many things he does to help people. He wouldn’t hear of it. He tries to earn a living at different crafts, but fails to earn a decent living. That doesn’t break him, but it does cause him great difficulty.

He lives with his family in a tiny fifth floor walkup apartment at the end of Meah Shearim. His children sleep on the floor in the living room/dining room. He worries about feeding and clothing his children. They live on the bare minimum. In fact, it is humbling to see how they live and yet they content.

But there are times when they need help to even scrape by. Now is one of those times. Yom Tov is in the not too distant future and a son is engaged to be married. They cannot achieve those milestones without outside help.  

I ask you to help Bentzy because he doesn’t know how to ask for himself. He came in to America to try to collect funds to keep himself going. But he barely speaks English and doesn’t know too many people here. He is reduced to going around like a beggar, with his hand out in shuls and knocking on doors.

It is hard to conceive that a giant of this magnitude, who is touch with government leaders on a regular basis to help people; who drops everything on a moment’s notice to direct a search for a missing person; races to the scene of a terror attack to coordinate rescue activities; is the go-to guy for all sorts of help; that this person has to go around with his hand out is heart breaking.

Let’s help someone who always helps others, it is a tremendous zechus to help this family gain some dignity for themselves.