Right after October 7, someone asked me if I knew anyone who could facilitate the shipment of much-needed gear for the soldiers on the front lines in Eretz Yisrael. I made some phone calls and got the same name from several people: Yirmi Berzon. Yirmi was overseeing life-saving gear for thousands of soldiers as well as providing basic needs for their families.
When I spoke to him then, I wondered aloud how this 24-hour chesed affected whatever he did for parnasah. Yirmi told me that he would work late hours to try to make up for the time dedicated to chesed. He also volunteers several shifts a week for Tzevet Hatzalah, Magen David Adom, as a trained EMT and first responder.
Together with his brother, Yirmi launched TCS Israel, a unique service where they are essentially a one-stop shop for phone, cell phone and internet service for home or businesses in Israel. Before TCS, if anyone had a problem with their cell phone service or internet, they would have to try to communicate with an Israel-based company to fix the problem. With TCS, the customer deals directly with them, and they handle the issue with the specific provider.
I spoke to Yirmi about how he built his company and how he managed to keep his business afloat while focusing on chesed.
—Nesanel
I have to begin by saying that all that I am able to try to accomplish, professionally and on a chesed level, is due to Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s help and guidance and to my wife and family who support me and are fully involved with my chesed all the way, day in and day out.
“I was born in Yerushalayim, and I’ve pretty much lived there for my entire life, except for second and third grade when my parents went on sabbatical shlichut to Montreal, Canada. I am the fourth of six boys.
“Growing up, my father, Rabbi Chananya Berzon, was in chinuch. He taught in BMT, Beit Midrash L’Torah, for 24 years. BMT was the first self-standing American program. My father has always been in chinuch and the rabbinate. My mother dabbled in different careers, like being a real estate agent and a property manager, while raising six boys. I never understood how she was able to do it.
“When we came back from Canada in 1982, we moved to a new neighborhood in Yerushalayim called Ramot Bet, where my father became the rav of the shul. My parents decided to move back to Canada in 1993, and they stayed there for 11 years until they returned to Israel in 2004. My father has been teaching in Mevaseret since then. When they were there, my father was the rav of a shul, along with being a full-time teacher; I remained in a yeshivah in Israel at the time.
“My father is a real talmid chacham. He was a talmid of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik, and Rav Aharon Soloveitchik too. Although he mainly learned in YU, he also learned from a unique mix of rebbeim. He learned by Rav Ruderman in Ner Yisroel, then he went to Kfar Chasidim, where he learned by Rav Elya Lopian, and after that he went to YU; he even learned in Goren’s kollel for two years. He learned everywhere.
“I grew up in a house of 24/7 chesed, tzedakah and giving, day and night. We mainly spoke English in our home. My parents said that we would pick up Hebrew in school and from our friends. When I went to talmud Torah, I spent a lot of time with friends, and that was how I learned the language. It’s quite funny, but when I came back from Montreal in fourth grade, I was basically like a new immigrant, because I didn’t really remember Hebrew well.
“I went to a mamad elementary school called Beit Sefer Dugmah Uziel and then to Chorev High School, both of which are in Yerushalayim, and then I joined the hesder program. I was in Shiloh for shiur alef, and that’s when my parents moved back to Canada. I joined them for six months and then came back to serve in the army as a medic for 16 months. After the army, I went to Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maaleh Adumim under the rosh yeshivah Rav Rabinowitz, zt”l, and Rav Chaim Sabato and Rav Yitzchak Sheilat. It was a five-year program, but I repeated shiur alef and stayed for an extra year.
“Rav Rabinowitz was the author of the Yad Pshutah, a 24-volume commentary on the Rambam, as well as many other sefarim. He inspired and led thousands of talmidim and had a major impact on my life.
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