Rabbi Yechiel Fishel Weingarten Father of Thousands by Rabbi Yehoshua Weingarten

Rabbi Yechiel Fishel Weingarten, and His Revolution in Orphan Care

“There were many times when I wanted to go to Mr. Fishel’s office and ask if I could call him Abba. I never did it because I wasn’t brave enough, but the truth is that I felt as if he was my father. Every morning when I recite Tehillim and say the verse, ‘For my father and mother have abandoned me and Hashem gathered me in’ (27:10), I always think about Mr. Fishel, who gathered me in as a father when I was a six-year-old girl from a difficult, poverty-stricken home, and I thank G-d for that every day.”

This is the true story of the legacy of Rabbi Yechiel Fishel Weingarten, the decades-long director of Beit HaYetomot HaKlali — The Weingarten Home, in Jerusalem.

Father of Thousands powerfully portrays the lives of orphan girls, highlighting the revolutionary changes that R’ Fishel introduced in their care and treatment, in all aspects of their lives. To enable the reader to fully appreciate the scope of these changes, the book also describes life in other institutions that are ostensibly similar, but in reality are vastly different. The broad perspective and far-reaching vision of R’ Fishel set a welcome precedent for all orphanages. Authored by his son, who grew up with the orphanage and then worked alongside his father for many years, this book is unique in its comprehensive overview of the subject of orphanages and their relationship to the homeless children in their care.