OCTOBER 17 • 2019 | 43

Eretz

Heartwarming!

Israelis Set Record for Blood Donation

Arab plumbers charge Holocaust 
survivor zero shekels for repairs.
T

wo Arab plumbers — 
brothers — recently 
refused payment from 
a Jewish client from Haifa 
after they learned she was a 
Holocaust survivor.
On a Facebook page called 
Good Deeds Day, the story 
is told of Simon and Salim 
Matari who came to the home 
of a 95-year-old woman to “fix 
a routine problem.
”
During their visit, they 
engaged in conversation with 
the woman. She told them her 
“life story.
”
During the course of the 
discussion, as the plumbers 
were continuing their work, 
the woman revealed that 
she is a Holocaust survivor, 
said Simon, according to the 
Facebook post.
She also said she has a “lone 
daughter,
” he added.

“Her story touched my 
heart,
” said the plumber. “
At 
that moment, I decided not to 
charge her an agora,
” he said, 
as quoted by the Good Deeds 
Day post.
“Money is important,
” 
Simon said, “but it’
s not the 
most important. It’
s important 
to be a human being.
”
The woman was identified 
in a Channel 12 TV report as 
Rosa Meir. The amount the 
plumbers would have normal-
ly charged reportedly was NIS 
1,000, the equivalent of $285.
On the receipt, the plumbers 
put the sum total at “0,
” and in 
the column for the description 
of the work they had done, 
they wrote: “Holocaust survi-
vor” and added the traditional 
Jewish greeting wishing her 
good health until the age of 
120, and then included their 
names on the slip of paper. 

H

undreds of Israelis 
gathered at an IDF 
base Oct. 7 and set a 
new Israeli record for the larg-
est number of blood donations 
collected in one day and one 
place.
Some 1,567 blood dona-
tions were collected in a joint 
operation carried out by the 
Samaria Regional Council, the 
IDF’
s Samaria Division and 

Magen David Adom (MDA).
This broke the last record 
set in Tel Aviv during 
Operation Protective Edge in 
summer 2014, which stood at 
740 blood units.
This was the first time that 
an active attempt was made in 
Israel to set a record for blood 
donations. 

From United with Israel.org. 

WORLD ISRAEL NEWS STAFF

FACEBOOK

Holocaust survivor 
Rosa Meir, flanked 
by the two plumbers 
Simon and Salim 
Matari, and the 
receipt 

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• 
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Lisa Norris, NP, PhD 

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