After lunch, our next stop was Meir Panim (which means "to light up the face"), an organization conceived and run by Rabbi David Zilbershlag, an Ultra Orthodox Jew who, after the death of his beloved son, decided to make a positive difference in the lives of those in his community. Meir Panim runs many relief centers in Israel, including soup kitchens which are run more like restaurants, where people are waited on by servers, so that they maintain dignity even in straitened circumstances, furniture "stores" where people can purchase couches and chairs and beds and the like for nominal fees thus be engaged in ownership of these items, and after-school education centers for children. "Doodie" was very unusual in his willingness to meet and interact with those not in his faith tradition, especially women. The woman to his right in the first photo is Sara Augenbraun, the USA Projects Director and translator for our meeting. Clearly, he is different from most of his colleagues in the relationship that he has with her and the trust he gives her that she will translate his comments correctly. It was inspiring to meet both of them - it gave hope that our differences do not have to divide us. The other shot is of the whole group with Doodie and Sara in front of the "restaurant" where we met.
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