Arab-Israeli Plumbers Waive Fees For 95-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor
Brothers Simon and Salim Matari with Rosa Meir. Image by Facebook
By PJ Grisar October 8, 2019
Two Arab-Israeli plumbers shocked a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor when their hard work on a major leak added up to an unexpected total of zero.
Brothers Simon and Salim Matari made a house call to Haifa resident Rosa Meir, the Times of Israel reported. WHen the plumber brothers learned that she was a survivor, they refused to be paid for their services, estimated at NIS 1,000, or roughly $285.
“When we got there, we saw there was a large blast of water and we started fixing it,” Simon Matari told Israeli news station Channel 12. “At some stage, while working, my brother Salim started to talk to Rosa about her life. She told us she’s 95, a Holocaust survivor, and that she has a daughter.”
On hearing this, Simon decided “I won’t take a cent from her.”
When the leak was fixed, Simon took out his notepad and wrote, “Holocaust survivor, may you have health until 120 [years], from Matari Simon and Matari Salim.” In the line for cost of service, he wrote “0.00.”
“The brothers really surprised me,” Meir, who said she was brought to tears, told Channel 12. “It was so moving and uplifting, and I thanked them a lot.”
Israel is home to an estimated 200,000 survivors. On average, they live seven years longer than native-born Israelis. There are about 1,907,000 Israeli-Arabs in Israel, constituting roughly 21% of the population.
PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture fellow. He can be reached at Grisar@Forward.com.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
