couple is a merit for a shidduch. cancer. She went through a terrible time, with chemo, The two are related, said the Rosh Yeshiva. radiation and more pain We see that Sarah Imeinu gave Hagar than any little girl could to Avraham Avinu, saying “Ulei ibaneh bear. Finally, she was mimenah, perhaps I will be built from her” declared cured. One day, (Beraishis 16:2). Immediately afterward, when the doctor thought Hashem sent the angel to tell her that she she was out of earshot, would give birth. The Torah is teaching she overheard him drop a us middah k’neged middah – a person is bombshell to her parents. repaid for his deeds measure for measure. He said that the drugs had When a person helps someone else have a damaged her body – and she child, he will open channels to also merit would never have children. a child. Since marriage is the precursor to having children, helping a childless couple For years, the secret hounded is a merit for a shidduch. her. Rav Shteinman asked Rabbi Bochner to “What kind of a life will I have?” she connect singles with waiting couples, by thought. “How can I go on?” But she having the singles donate to Bonei Olam. couldn’t bring herself to share her pain Over Three Hundred Such an arrangement, he said, would with her parents. Instead she confided in a would harness the power of middah k’neged friend. The two became very close. Later, work, middah and bring about salvation. Rabbi her friend married and had a large family, Bonei Olam was Shidduchim and Counting while she remained single. She filled the touched enough by her story to give her a emptiness in her life by spending time in chance. When a person helps her friend’s home, helping her care for her OHEL SARALA’S growing brood. Against all odds, just a few months later, someone else have a child, she was expecting – and now the cancer "אולי אבנה ממנה" he will open channels to also Then the unthinkable happened. Just after survivor who couldn’t have a child has the birth of her seventh child, her friend eight children: the seven orphans she is A Clarion Call of Hope for Singles and Couples merit a child. developed complications and became raising as her own, and her own precious By: Frimet Blum Bochner mentioned the idea to Rabbi deathly ill. A few days later, she was gone. little girl. Aryeh Ginzberg, who, together with his It was crushing. This girl had lost the “I lived through both challenges helped wife, had been looking for something to one person who had given meaning to by Ohel Sarala,” she said. “I started as a do in memory of their daughter Sarala, her life. What was going to be with her single, and then I was childless. Yet my a”h. Sarala hadn’t had the chance to get ith the shidduch crisis hitting epic proportions and a growing number now? What was going to happen with the years of helping someone with children married or have children, and the project of families struggling with infertility, it’s heartening to hear stories of seven orphans left behind; one just a few stood me in good stead. And here I am, was a fitting memorial. They named it people who experienced salvation. Ohel Sarala, a Bonei Olam program days old? But her grief turned to shock the mother of eight children.” Rabbi Ohel Sarala. that pairs singles with couples waiting for children, is at the heart of many of those when, just after the shloshim, her friend’s Bochner adds – stories. The miracles began happening almost as soon as the program was launched. Ohel Sarala pairs singles with couples husband called. “The power of helping a fellow Jew, of waiting for children. The singles make a WAn older single got engaged. A couple learned that they were expecting a baby. It was “My wife had a dying wish,” he said. “She aching with his pain, is so great; it opens donation to Bonei Olam. Then, following as if the heavens had opened and an outpouring of blessing was showering down begged me to ask you to marry me. She channels of blessing.” As Reb Isser Zalman Chazal’s dictum of “he who prays for his upon those who had joined. felt you would be the best person to raise Meltzer, zatzal, said, we live in a time of friend is answered first,” the singles and our children.” After much deliberation, hester panim – when Hashem’s mercy Today, two and a half years later, the miracles continue. As we go to print, the couples pray for each other. The divine she agreed. Shortly after the wedding, she is hidden. Yet when we help each other, organization has been involved in at least 325 shidduchim and ninety-seven babies. providence is unmistakable. The simchas are no coincidence. As per the directive of Hagaon Harav Aron Leib approached Bonei Olam. when there is midah k’neged midah, we open channels of blessing, and can see Shteinman, zatzal, Ohel Sarala harnesses the Torah’s source for blessing. When a single asked Ohel Sarala to “I know that medically I can’t have a invite “her” couple to her wedding, they Hashem’s magnificent hand. Joining Ohel child,” she said. “I accepted the fact that Sarala opens those channels. couldn’t attend – because the wife was I would never get married. But now I am What is Ohel Sarala? on pregnancy-related bedrest. When a married. Will you help me?” And although It began when Rabbi Shlomo Bochner, founder of Bonei Olam, visited Rav different couple heard that “their” single her files looked hopeless, and though the Shteinman. was getting engaged, they had their own doctors thought there was no chance it news to share. They had heard of their “There are two problems that give me no peace of mind,” the own impending simcha that very elderly sage said. “Older singles and couples dealing with day! infertility.” Both have no children. At a Bonei Olam event in Bnei The two are related, said the Rosh Yeshiva. We see that Sarah Brak, one woman shared a story Visit ohelsarala.org to sign up, Imeinu gave Hagar to Avraham Avinu, saying “Ulei ibaneh that underscores the concept of view inspiring videos or learn mimenah, perhaps I will be built from her” (Beraishis 16:2). singles and couples helping each more about his remarkable Immediately afterward, Hashem sent the angel to tell her that other. program. she would give birth. The Torah is teaching us middah k’neged middah-a person is repaid for his deeds measure for measure. When a When this woman was a little person helps someone else have a child, he will open channels to also merit girl, she was diagnosed with a child. Since marriage is the precursor to having children, helping a childless Rabbi Bochner consulting with Gedolim