28 | SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 27

WeeCare, a New Jersey-based organization 
that provides peer support for Orthodox 
moms of premature babies. Different com-
munity members who weren’t members of 
any organization offered to help care for the 
babies during the night so the Kleins could 
sleep. 
Being on the receiving end of all this 
kindness was a new experience for the 
Kleins. 
“
Accepting all this help was hard,
” Aliza 
Bracha said. “I’
d always been on the giving 
side, volunteering, adopting families at the 
holidays, things like that. It was difficult to 
accept that the roles had reversed.
”
After seeing how life-changing and 
meaningful it was to receive all this help, 
the Kleins are eager to pass it on. These 
days, though she is now a busy mom of 
thriving and active 18- month-old twins, 
Aliza Bracha always tries to sign up when 
she sees a meal train. 
“I’m eager to share the love and support 
that I had. I hope one day I’ll be able to 
give back in all the ways my family and I 
received — physically, mentally, spiritually, 
monetarily,
” she said. 

A DEVASTATING ACCIDENT
Sima Leah Duato, a lactation consultant 
from Oak Park, has also been on the receiv-
ing end of community kindness. She was 
diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and 
said the community immediately rose to 

the occasion. 
“They davened for us, fed my family 
for months and were there for my kids in 
every way,
” Sima Leah shared. “Baruch 
HaShem, I recovered.
”
Things were looking up for Sima Leah. 
At the time, her husband of 29 years 
and father of their six children, Yisroel, 
worked as a mashgiach at Soul Café and 
as a Lyft and Uber driver at night. 
In October 2021, as he drove a passen-
ger home one night, he was in a terrible 
accident.
“Yisroel looked in his mirror and saw 
this guy charging right at him and knew 
there was no way to avoid him,
” Sima 
Leah said. 
They later discovered that the drunk 
driver was speeding at over 100 mph. He 
smashed into Yisroel’s car. 
“Yisroel said it felt like he’
d been hit 
with a sledgehammer. His passenger 
walked away unscathed, but Yisroel was 
left a paraplegic from the waist down,
” 
Sima Leah said.
At that moment, their lives were changed 
forever. As the dust settled, people immedi-
ately stepped up to support them. 
“Family came in from out of town, peo-
ple cooked us meals, and friends visited 
Yisroel,
” said Sima Leah. “
And that was just 
the start of it.
”
Rabbi Y.A. Amzalak helped Yisroel put 
on tefillin, arranged kosher food for the 
family during Yisroel’s hospital and rehab 
stays, and was able to put up Sima Leah in 
a house near the hospital so she wouldn’t 
have to walk so far on Shabbat. 
Another woman raised money for the 
Duato family to help them during the holi-
days. The Torgow family paid for the ramp 
and the urgent new wheelchair-accessible 
modifications their home now needed. The 
Spot, a respite program for kids with special 
needs, has lent the Duatos their wheel-
chair-accessible van as needed, even driving 
them to a friend’s home so they could par-
take in a Purim seudah away from home. 
Yisroel’s insurance denied coverage, and 
the Duatos were left struggling to pay out of 
pocket for the expensive necessary physical 
therapy and medical supplies he need-
ed. Thanks to much-needed funds from 
a gofundme campaign (https://gofund.
me/8dfd3b9a), the family was able to begin 

paying off these expenses as well as hire 
a caregiver for Yisroel in the mornings so 
Sima Leah could return to work part time. 
“Every little bit of help was a huge load 
off my shoulders,
” Sima Leah said. “Having 
delicious, filling meals bought to the house 
or hospital meant I didn’t need to shop or 
prepare food, and we all know how time 
consuming that is. 
“Extra funding for medical bills meant 
that we could pay our regular bills on time 
without extra stress ... As a result, I was able 
to focus on being present at all of Yisroel’s 
therapy and doctor appointments and giv-
ing him the care and attention he needs.
”
According to Yisroel’s doctors, he will 
never walk again. Sima Leah and Yisroel 
have not given up hope though; they believe 
everything is in God’s hands and that things 
could change in an instant. 
Even now, almost a year since the acci-
dent, people are always stopping Sima Leah 
to ask how her family is doing and how 
they can help. 
“Knowing there are people who are 
always ready to lend a helping hand is such 
a relief,
” Sima Leah said. 
She is constantly busy with her husband’s 
care but takes her prayers very seriously 
and is always praying for others who are 
struggling. 

Sima Leah and 
Yisroel Duato of 
Oak Park outside 
their wheelchair-
accessible home

Ezra 
Drissman