Ellen Geller Kamaras
“Habayit performs three important mitzvot all wrapped in one organization: hachnasat orchim (hospitality), hesed (kindness), and bikur holim (visiting and aiding the sick).” ~~ A Habayit founder ~~
Our community is blessed to be home to a phenomenal hesed organization that provides short-term furnished apartments for people who travel to New York City for medical treatment or surgery. Guests (clients) come from all over the world for essential and life-saving treatments.
Habayit, Home Away from Home, has 14 beautiful apartments in NYC including a new apartment close to the Upper East Side hospitals. Exciting plans are in process to build a permanent Habayit home.
Brooklyn Realtors Step Up to the Plate
Habayit, from the Hebrew word “the home,” was launched approximately two-and-a-half years ago by a group of Brooklyn realtors.
These real estate agents frequently received calls regarding short-term leases for individuals who would be traveling from abroad to undergo medical treatments in New York.
Procuring these types of rentals was nearly impossible. Apartment rentals for temporary stays were practically non-existent in our community and many of those who needed housing did not have the financial means to pay rent. Even if they could find landlords willing to provide short-term leases, the apartments would unsuitable as they were unfurnished.
In late 2021, these realtors found a solution. When I heard about what they did for an elderly couple, I was in tears. The concept from Pirkei Avot of one mitzvah/good deed bringing on another one, was beautifully demonstrated by the realtors. An elderly couple lived in a very neglected and unsafe house. They needed to sell and move to a rental apartment.
The realtors arranged for the couple to move and generously paid the couple’s rent while they took care of getting the house sold. When the sale was finalized, the realtors used their commission to lease a “hesed apartment” for out-of-towners who needed a place to stay while they underwent surgery or treatment in NYC. Brainstorming with friends, the agents came up with the name for their new endeavor, Habayit, Home Away from Home. They created a place where all visitors can truly feel at home.
I learned about Habayit when my editor asked me to interview one of its founders and to share their awesome work with our readers.
Anyone who has been sick or has had a loved one in a hospital for an extended period can understand how meaningful Habayit’s services are. Several years ago, I was able to stay in a similar hesed apartment provided by the Lakewood Bikur Holim Friendship House while my husband was at Weill Cornell Hospital. The experience, including proximity to the hospital, comfort, and kosher food, was priceless. It is no surprise that Habayit and Friendship House collaborate to provide housing when needed. RCCS, Chai Lifeline, and the Sephardic Cancer Center also refer clients to Habayit. The primary source for referrals is by word-of-mouth.
Community Volunteers
And, Habayit volunteers from the community do all the work needed to set up the apartments including painting, updating the kitchen, and cleaning. All the furniture, linens, dishes, cutlery, pots and pans, toys, books, siddurim, and sefarim are donated by community members. Donors even sponsor Uber rides for patients to go to and from the hospital for treatment.
Each apartment is stocked with food for a week. A list of resources is provided, including information about local supermarkets and shuls. Community members also host Shabbat and holiday meals for extended stays and cook food for the visiting family for their first week. Captains and volunteers continue to support and check in with guests during their stay.
A Beautiful System
A captain is assigned to each hesed apartment to ensure everything is in place for the guest(s) and to help the individual, couple, or family settle into their apartment. At times, a family with a sick child will move to NY for a prolonged period. This means enrolling the other children in yeshivot here. The relocation of the entire family often results in loss of income for one or both parents.
Habayit does not charge for their hesed apartments. If the clients can afford it, donations are welcome. Each case is strictly verified by Habayit management to ensure that housing is required for a legitimate medical case.
Incoming calls are handled by Habayit’s office manager, Beth. She helps pick the appropriate apartment for each case and notifies the apartment captain of the upcoming guests. Welcome baskets are provided by Miss Hesssed Foundation, a team of cooks who provide delicious, strictly kosher food for those going through medical treatment. 700 volunteers are on call, available to prepare the apartment for a family. Often, those who support or volunteer for Habayit traveled for surgery themselves or for a family member.
One of the owners of a hesed apartment approached Habayit, expressing a strong desire to be involved with Habayit and to lease an apartment to them. He recalled having to live in Boston with his family while his father was in the hospital there.
Providing for an Array of Guests
Habayit’s first guests were the family of a baby born with a cleft palate. One of the volunteers who helped prepare this apartment had a cleft palate when she was a baby. Her family took her from Syria to New York for the surgeries and they lived in a different house each time. She believes it was hashgachat pratit that she was blessed to help Habayit settle this family.
Since its founding in 2022, Habayit has helped approximately 200 families, including families who came to NYC for fertility treatments. Baruch Hashem, three children were born to these families. Habayit guests traveled to NY for a range of treatments including surgeries, chemotherapy, kidney transplants, cleft palate surgeries, infertility treatments, and more.
Some of the apartments dedicated for long-term stays for a couple or family, and other apartments, near the major hospitals on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, are designated for spouses or family members that need to be close to loved ones staying in the hospital. They are also used by the family members on Shabbat.
Rabbi Shlomo Farhi’s Praise for Habayit
Rabbi Shlomo Farhi spoke about Habayit at a recent fundraiser in Deal. He gave a class in honor of this outstanding organization and said it is a gift to be born into our community. Rabbi Farhi described the calls he receives from panicked community members saying they must stay in Manhattan for medical treatment. Where will they stay? Is there kosher food available? Rabbi Farhi responded that the answer to their problems is a simple four letter word in Hebrew, הבית.
The key takeaway from his talk was that the secret ingredient to a home is knowing that someone will always be there for you.
Habayit was there for a couple who had been trying to have children for 12 years. They traveled from Israel and spent a year in Brooklyn living in a basement apartment. Unfortunately their treatments were not successful. The couple booked the apartment again for another round of treatments and found out on the plane ride that the landlord had given their apartment away. Someone found them an apartment that was small and was not clean. They received a call that a friend of theirs was able to secure an apartment for them with Habayit. They could not believe how beautiful the apartment was and how it was fully stocked with everything they could need. One year later, a large group of Habayit’s team attended the baby’s brit milah in Israel.
Rabbi Farhi also spoke about a woman who came from Canada and stayed in a Habayit apartment. She had a brain tumor, and the recommended surgery was very dangerous and could lead to the loss of both her eyesight and hearing. After the surgery, she screams that she can see and hear! It turns out, everyone in the community said Tehillim for her. A second person had the same experience in that very apartment.
“The miracles are coming from the volunteers who are lovingly preparing the apartment. These apartments are homes of love and hesed, the power of love and concern bring yeshuot, salvation. A home is a warm embrace, something that envelopes you – it can do miraculous things and be a haven. When we build a house, we build it with righteousness and kindness and to serve Hashem. Habayit prepares these apartments for one purpose – to use for the mitzvot of hesed and hachnasat orchim. The apartments are infused with kedusha.”
Partner with Habayit
We are responsible for each other – Kol Yisrael arevim zeh la-zeh.
Please help Habayit continue its hesed, tikkun olam, and life-saving work. It cannot continue without donations and the support from volunteers. The need for funds to pay Habayit’s expenses is great. Operating expenditures include rent, utilities, cleaning, repairs, food, supplies, toys, dishes/pots/pans, and more.
To partner with Habayit, visit https://www.habayit.org/donate. Donate by Venmo @habayit-homeawayfrom home or Zelle: habayitny@gmail.com.
For donations and sponsorship opportunities to participate in the upcoming building of Habayit’s permanent home, please call Eva at 917-579-2564.
To volunteer for Habayit, please call Beth at 580-422-2948.
Follow Habayit on Instagram @habayit_homeawayfromhome.
TESTIMONIALS
The following moving testimonials and hakarat hatov from Habayit guests speak for themselves and express the life-saving and tender loving care provided by Habayit. They reference ahavat hinam (unconditional love), the beauty of the apartments, the kindness and generosity of the Habayit staff, and the angels who saved their lives.
“The apartment is beautiful! I’m moved to tears! No words to thank you all!!!!!”
“Thank you to the Habayit members tszadikim (righteous ones) for ALL THAT YOU DID FOR ME! May Hashem bless you with full berachot!! For 120 years!”
“Incredible hesed! Not enough words!”
“We will be coming back in January for CT scans for a week. Please let me know if something will be available. We don’t know how to thank you. Bless you and your group for all the hesed you did for us!”
“Most people would probably be okay with any apartment even if it’s falling apart as long as they have somewhere to stay. It makes such a difference that the place is beautiful.”
“How can we ever thank you for your unbelievable kindness and hesed? My family and I are eternally grateful for the warm and comfortable home away from home that you provided for them for so many months. Every detail was perfect. May you all be blessed by Hashem.”
“I’m back in your beautiful apartment! It is a blessing I won’t take for granted. You should be saved from the birth pangs of Mashiach!”
“It’s very nice to know that there is one more Jewish brother who offers his hand. All the Habayit people are malachim (angels). May Hashem bless you and send you what your heart wants.”
“Tov lehodot le Hashem. We are getting better each day. If we didn’t have your help, it wouldn’t be possible.”
“Hashem, the doctors, RCCS, and Habayit made a miracle for me and my family.”
“I am in tears. Without your organization I would have been lost!”
“My kids are forever grateful to visit their grandparents who live in a different country. We created beautiful memories. You gave my father a place to recover, and my mother a comfortable place while tending to my dad’s needs. It is beyond beautiful, fully equipped with more than we could ever imagine. You help in the most dignified way. Caring for another Jew with so much ahavat hinam. May Hashem give you the strength to continue making the world a better place.”
“You are helping me to save my life. I am forever grateful.”
“If only we got a roof over our heads – it would have been enough for us! Dayenu!! If we got a luxurious and comfortable apartment – it would have been enough for us! Dayenu!! If they only filled our refrigerator – it would have been enough for us! Dayenu!! If only they would call to ask what’s going on, and if we’re okay – it would have been enough for us! Dayenu!! If only they had invited us to Shabbat – it would have been enough for us! Dayenu!! If only we were invited for a holiday – it would have been enough for us! Dayenu!!”
“There are no words to thank you. I don’t know a place in the world that cares so much about the well-being of another Yehudi. When we decided to come, we didn’t know where we would be sleeping or eating.”
“We have a hesed organization, Shaare Hesed, in Panama and we learned how to improve it greatly from you.”
“You made our stay very easy, very pleasurable, and provide a unique service and at no cost.”
“Thank you for anticipating the arrival of the Mashiach with your beautiful acts.”
“Thank you Habayit for unlimited help, always with a smile and the best facilities. You made us feel at home and part of the community. Without Habayit it would have been very complicated and excessively expensive.”
“You helped us unconditionally in the most difficult moments.”
“You are a miracle!
“They were so organized and delivered wonderful meals.”
“Habayit staff called to ensure I arrived home safely. Thank you to those who sponsored the rides to the hospital and the woman who washed/styled my wig. Habayit isn’t a 5-Star hotel. Habayit is hesed, love, protection, caring, compassion, friendship, connection, and strength. It’s home and family.”