Bayit Lepleitot began when one man with a big heart opened his door to 24 girls who had nowhere to go. Three generations later, the door has never closed - and today there are tens of thousands of graduates from them.
Holocaust survivors whom Rabbi Naftali Rosenfeld z"l and his wife gathered into their home in 5709 (1949).
Children today in four sister programs: the Ateret Banot boarding school, Bishvilech, Beyachad, Nivcheret. The numbers rise every year...
Generations of leadership. The founder Rabbi Naftali Rosenfeld zt"l, president of the institutions Rabbi Moshe Yona Rosenfeld shlita, CEO Rabbi Chaim Elazar Rosenfeld shlita
Rabbi Naftali Rosenfeld z"l lost his wife and his four daughters HY"D in the Holocaust. After he immigrated to the Land of Israel and rebuilt his life, he decided in the year 5709 (1949) to establish a home for refugee girls who had survived the Holocaust and had no home to go to.
He and his wife opened their home to 24 refugee girls. There was no planning, there was no funding, there was no committee. There was an open door and a big heart, and there were girls who needed it, and they were there for them. With the founding of the institution, Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of blessed memory joined the educational management, and over the years Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Stern of blessed memory joined and leveraged the development of the institutions. In the next generation it was Rabbi Moshe Yona Rosenfeld shlita who continued his father's enterprise, and in recent decades the grandson Rabbi Chaim Elazar Rosenfeld shlita joined the management
“Let every girl who comes to Bayit Lepleitot know that here she has found her home.”Read the full 75-year story →
Every program is a home in its own right, opened for a child with a different story. This is how they hold 1,200 boys and girls.
Girls from complex family backgrounds, of all ages. A full boarding school with the conditions of a warm and loving home.
Orphaned girls of every age enjoy clubs and attractions, in order to ease the pain of loss and loneliness
Girls from single-parent families. An invested and experiential afternoon program that provides stability and a home experience.
Boys from divorced families. Our newest sister program.
3 graduates of Bayit Lepleitot's programs. The names were used with permission.
"For the first three nights I didn't sleep. I waited for someone to come and yell at me the way I was used to. On the fourth night I cried from emotion because no one came to yell.
Shira B.Bayit Lepleitot · Class of 2006 · Social worker, Beit Shemesh"I learned how to set a table. That sounds small. But for me - it was the first time anyone showed me how a normal evening looked.
Esti M.Bayit Lepleitot · Graduated 2019 · Teacher, Modi'in Illit"On my first birthday there, they had a cake. I was eight. It was the first cake of my life with my name on it.
Sara B.Bayit Lepleitot · Class of 2024 · Mother of fourThe work of Bayit Lepleitot is steady, daily, and unspectacular. Meals. Homework. Bedtimes. Birthdays. It needs steady, daily, unspectacular funding - which is to say, monthly.
Your donation goes where the home needs it most. Donors receive an update from us once a quarter.
All donations are tax-deductible in the US (501(c)(3), EIN pending). Currency auto-detected.
The Torah leaders of the generation know Bayit Lepleitot closely and stand behind it.
Among them: the Rishon LeZion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, the Badatz of the Eida Hachareidis with Maran HaRav Elyashiv ztz"l, the Badatz of Belz, and Hadassah Hospital.
Once a quarter, one letter. Stories from the girls, updates from Jerusalem, an honest look at what's working and what's hard.
