Ner Echad draws 5 Towns women

As women put a few coins or bills into the pushka just before lighting the Shabbos candles, they think of their family and friends who need a special blessing for health or peace, and of Jews facing difficulties around the globe.

Ner Echad (One Light) seeks to magnify the power of those blessings 1,000 -fold, allowing the ladies to tap into a worldwide sisterhood that is giving tzedakah and lighting candles together at the same auspicious moment.

Ner Echad was founded this past Succos, on the third yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky of Bnei Brak, by her husband, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, an acclaimed Talmudic scholar, through the efforts of close family friends, Rabbi Ernest Rothman and his son Yehuda.

Many of the founding supporters of this new organization hail from the Five Towns.

By all accounts, this unassuming Rebbetzin greeted scores each day with cheer and respect, leaving a mark upon countless hearts and households. She quietly raised millions of dollars for the needy, and gave sustenance of the soul in even greater currency.

Put simply: one dollar + two candles = infinite impact.

Ner Echad members automatically give a dollar by credit card just before candle lighting, exponentially amplifying the unity and blessing of Jewish women. Members receive a text, phone or email alert stating the weekly lighting time, and the first name of another member to pray for. And when a person joins, their name is sent that week to Bnai Brak for a blessing for what they request (parnassa, gezunt, shidduchs, etc).

Signing up for Ner Echad only takes a few minutes, and creates “spiritual and material protection for the individual, their family, and the Jewish nation,” said Henya Storch, a Woodmere resident and the group’s outreach and special events director. 

Every dollar donated by Ner Echad members goes directly to the Batsheva Kanievsky Widow and Children Fund and into the hands of needy women and children across Israel. But Rabbi Rothman also pointed to the spiritual unity that the group achieves.