Welcome to Meneket RivkA – a memorial tzedakah (charity) project conceived by RivkA’s friends, students and teachers to serve a cause that she truly believed in, carried out in association with the Jerusalem Breastfeeding Center and the Eden Center, and with the blessing of RivkA’s family. Among RivkA’s many passions was breastfeeding education and support. As a La Leche League leader she inspired many women, both to breastfeed their children as well as to become breastfeeding educators and lactation consultants themselves. RivkA believed very strongly that breastfeeding, and breastfeeding education, should be accessible to everyone. She did not receive payment for her services, and offered breastfeeding help to anyone and everyone, even in the final weeks leading up to her passing. You can read more about RivkA’s belief in the importance of breastfeeding, and more about RivkA, on her incredible blog “Coffee and Chemo“, which she wrote up until her recent passing.
At her funeral, her husband Moshe related that when her youngest child was just a few months old, RivkA was hospitalized, yet insisted upon continuing to nurse her baby, organizing for friends, neighbors and even strangers to bring her infant daughter to the hospital around the clock. When it was put to RivkA’s that these demands were making everyone crazy, RivkA responded, “But this is the only thing I can do for my baby right now.” As this story was told at the funeral, the crowd of over a thousand mourners wept over the loss of this selfless mother of three. And at that very moment, the idea for a much-needed “Tzedakah” (charity) project was born.
Mobilizing in RivkA’s Memory
As a tribute to RivkA’s passions, and belief in the importance of women’s body awareness and health, a group of RivkA’s friends have decided to establish an unique new service: “Meneket RivkA”, a “Gemach” (Lending Center) for top-of-the-range Breastmilk Pumps for new mothers in need of such equipment but unable to afford it.
At present, no such service exists in Jerusalem. While older models of Breast Pumps are available to rent, lactation consultants across the city agree that the demand for quality equipment far exceeds current availability. It is hoped that providing women with no-cost breastpumps will allow them to continue to breastmilk-feed their children for as long as they wish.
Why the name “Meneket RivkA”?
The name Meneket Rivka has been specially chosen as it refers to the biblical story of the matriarch Rivka/Rebecca’s wet-nurse (in Hebrew, “meneket”). The wet-nurse’s role in Rebecca’s life was so central that it is her burial, as opposed to Rebecca’s, mentioned in the Torah portion.
Oh, and what’s with the capital ‘A’? Click here for the answer
How “Meneket RivkA” will work
- “Meneket RivkA” will purchase up to 20 new pumps for long-term lending service.
- Women will be referred to Meneket RivkA by local lactation professionals, peer counselors or mothers themselves (word-of-mouth). Pumps will be loaned out to mothers for a wide range of purposes, such as returning to work, lactation difficulties, separation of mother and baby (when one is hospitalized), and mothers of premature babies, among other reasons.
- Unique to Meneket RivkA, lactation consultants will provide free consultations, “fittings” and advice for each woman renting the pumps, which will be loaned at no charge.
- The operation will be initially housed in the Jerusalem Breastfeeding Center, (JBC) in Talpiot, Jerusalem, with a satellite branch running out of Gush Etzion.