וכי ימוך אחיך ומטה ידו עמך והחזקת בו (בהר כה:לה)

In 1948, many war refugees arrived by boat at the Haifa port. Among them was Reb Shulem Mechelovitch zt ’l, the Broder Rebbe, who had come from Romania with his family. 

At the time, war was raging in Eretz Yisroel, but the family arrived in Tel Aviv in an armored vehicle with the help of a Jewish officer from the English army. 

Exhausted without relatives in the land, they had no idea where to rest their weary bones.  Reb Shulem asked the driver to drop them off at a public area, and the driver dropped them off at a place where minyanim were gathered for Mincha.  The Mispallalim at the Shul, good-hearted Yidden, realized they were war refugees, offered warm greetings, and inquired about their well-being.  Hearing that they have nowhere to stay, one of the Yidden, Harav Kalmen Tabatznik z’’l, said that he owns a hotel “Melon Aishel” on Grossberg Street, where he invited them to stay without pay, saying they can pay when they have money.

One day, Reb Shulem heard a knock on the door, and after inquiring who was there, the person answered: “Mordechai Rokeach.” When Reb Shulem asked who that was, not knowing it was the Bilgoray Rav zt’’l, the person responded: “Mordechai ben Harav Yissocher Dov.”

Shocked, Reb Shulem quickly opened the door and honorably welcomed in the Bilgoray Rav. The Bilgoray Rav said that he heard that the family arrived in Eretz Yisroel and that they probably didn’t have any money on them. Therefore, he brought them twenty-five liras (a great sum at the time), and from this money, the family was able to start settling in Eretz Yisroel.

A short while later, the Arabs fled the Yaffo area, and the Yidden took over the city of Yaffo and occupied the suddenly vacant apartments—among them, the Broder Rebbe and his family settled in an apartment in the Neve Shalom area of Yaffo.