How Four Generations Later, Taking a Foster Son to Florida Changed the Orlando Community Forever

Back in 2016, my family made the life-changing decision to take in a seven-year-old foster son. We were surprised to learn that he had never been to, or even heard of, Disney World before. The next trip we decided to take over winter break, we decided that we would go to Orlando—but we never imagined the impact this decision would have on our lives and so many others.

Soon after, I happened to be talking to David Goldis, a close family friend from Florida, on the phone. As most people who go to Orlando over a Shabbos know, in order to have minyan, you typically either rent houses with a few other families for Shabbos or stay in a hotel near Chabad. However, when I mentioned that my family would be traveling to Orlando, he suggested that I stay in the new Jewish community in that area.?

I had never heard of the community, but soon after we hung up, David called back with an incredible offer: He had spoken to the Rabbi of the Orlando Torah Center, Rabbi Dovid Yachnes. Rabbi Yachnes didn’t have room in his house; however, he assured him he’d “make it happen.” He arranged for my family and me to stay with the Rabbi from a local school, Rabbi Avraham Wachsman. I later found out that although Rabbi Wachsman had never heard of us before, he and his wife were so touched by the fact we took in a foster child that they were willing to open their home to us.

My wife wasn't exactly interested in staying at a stranger's home in the middle of Orlando during our trip, but I assured her that we could survive 25 hours there—we could arrive right before Shabbos and leave as soon as it was over.?

When we arrived on Friday night, I learned that Rabbi Wachsman had started a yeshiva there six years earlier, Orlando Torah Academy, after convincing a landlord to let them rent out part of a small office building. But recently, he and the school's 59 students were faced with a huge problem: their lease was about to be terminated due to a telemarketing company that wanted to buy the whole building.?

Fortunately, Rabbi Wachsman was able to convince the landlord to sell him the building for $1.8 million (against the advice of his attorney). But now, they had less than two months left to close on it. The Rabbi raised the $200,000 he could, but his only other plan was to book a flight to New York the following week to try to raise the rest and hopefully get a bank loan for the difference.?

As I started running the numbers in my head, it seemed impossible for him to get a bank loan—even if he raised a few hundred thousand dollars, how would he bridge the gap? I did realize that he was paying rent every month, and there were other tenants in the building. Even though he couldn’t get a conventional loan, I thought there might be another option. Then, Hashem placed an idea in my head: what if we got 40 people to lend $40,000 each without any interest, and the yeshiva could afford to pay them back monthly over the next 10 years? Rabbi Wachsman looked at me like I was out of my mind, but I told him I would lend him the first $40K and help him put the “40 For $40K” campaign together.?

The very next day, Yitzchok Rowe, who was also in town for Shabbos, had lunch with us at the Wachsmans. When I told him about our mission, he said he would arrange another $40,000.?

After that, Rabbi Wachsman fully bought into my plan, and it was off to the races. Right after Shabbos, I called up Jeffrey Zwick, who agreed to do the legal documents for us, and Yaakov Gade, the founder of Cross River Bank, who was willing to service the loan for us.

Even with limited resources, our ambitious idea and passionate team made an immense impact. Through sheer determination, we managed to put together $1.85mm within 45 days from over a thousand people—worldwide—and prove just how much people are willing to lend their support when given the opportunity to help a community and yeshiva in need. We brought in $1.6M in loans and $250,000 in donations. Our flexible approach allowed people to lend as little as $1,200 and get paid back $10 a month over ten years all the way up to $40,000—showing that everyone has something valuable to give, no matter the dollar amount.?

Over the next few years—Baruch Hashem—everyone was paid monthly on time, and Rabbi Wachsman was able to refinance the balance and pay back everyone way ahead of schedule. Today the school has grown to 170 kids, nearly triple the size!

A year later, I ended up buying a house in the Orlando community to continue paying it forward (what I call a non-loss investment). Now, if people need a place to stay or just want to check out the community, they always have somewhere to go.?

Fun fact: David Goldis’ great-grandfather took my great-grandfather, who I'm named after, off the boat from Europe when he came into Montreal and set him up to be the Rebbi of his four boys, at what would become the first cheder in Montreal. What amazing hashgacha that four generations later, the great-grandchild of someone who helped start a community in Montreal helped expand another community in Orlando!

This story is a powerful reminder that when presented with seemingly impossible situations, there are always solutions if we just put our heads together and get creative. Communities are stronger when everyone works together towards a common goal, so let’s continue using our collective power for good.