Endorsed by Our Rabbinic Leadership

It is my special privilege to provide a hearty endorsement to the Standing Room Only Foundation. This organization enables one to set up a loan gemach (interest-free loan fund) in the name of a loved one that will perpetually be utilized to provide free loans for Chesed purposes.

The Chofetz Chaim (Ahavas Chesed 2:13-15) emphasizes how every individual should ideally set aside funds to create a personal gemach that can be constantly employed to extend interest free loans to others. By contributing to this organization, one can achieve this vital objective and thereby create an endless spiral of good deeds.

I extend my blessings to the founders of this organization that their efforts should be successful and that this enterprise always be conducted על טהרת הקודש — according to the highest standards of purity and holiness.

Chazal have praised the concept of an interest free loan as an extraordinary form of charity. It means that the person borrowing the money does not feel degraded, in that he's getting a handout, but rather is given an opportunity to payback through his own earnings. It is difficult for a normal person to be able to tend to it, and therefore a good friend of mine, R' David has undertaken to create an extraordinary platform, named "Standing Room Only". This will be a platform where there are many different funds earmarked for loans, and will be available to the people and causes that have been earmarked.

R' David is known to me for many years, as both an extraordinary baal-chessed, and a man of exceptional integrity. He is indeed someone worthy of tending this fund, and maintaining it to the highest standards possible. It is my whole-hearted endorsement and my bracha that R' David be very successful in his undertaking, and be mezakeh many people with this wonderful mitzvah.

The establishment of a GEMACH, a fund for the making of interest-free loans, has long been regarded as one of the highest forms of tzedaka. First, as opposed to a handout, it deeply respects and enhances the dignity of the recipient. Second, as the loan is repaid and the monies are recycled, it can be used again and again to benefit numerous recipients.

Rabbi David Israel, a dear friend and a very skilled entrepreneur, has created an online program that makes it very easy for contributors to create such funds. I highly endorse this program as it will enable the fulfillment of the mitzva of tzedaka at the highest level. May his efforts be blessed with hatzlacha.