My name is Jay Hait. I am an American Israeli attorney and I help people with complex international family law situations. For the past two years, my office has represented Mirel Fischer, on a pro-bono basis.

Mirel is a 34-year-old mother of three— sons ages 13 and 9, a daughter age 12. Mirel's children are her world, and everything she does is for them. They are the reason that she is in Israel.

Originally from Slovakia, Mirel and her children were living in Austria when their lives took a sudden and heartbreaking turn. Just before and during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, their father moved to Israel with the children, taking them to live in the Old City of Jerusalem and joining the Hassidic community. During this time, the children underwent conversion and became part of this new world—one that is unfamiliar to Mirel but deeply important to them. Due to problems with travelling during COVID, Mirel missed the legal window required to get the return of her children back to Austria.

For two long years, Mirel was forced to live apart from her children, missing their birthdays, their laughter, and the everyday moments that mean everything to a mother. In June 2023, Mirel made the difficult decision to leave everything behind and move to Jerusalem to be close to her children once again. Despite holding an MBA, Mirel has been supporting herself by cleaning houses because, as a tourist, she cannot legally hold a job. The work is hard, but nothing compares to the joy she feels seeing her children again, even if it’s just a few times a week - meanwhile. The social workers have indicated that once she is a citizen and is Jewish, that they will transfer at least partial custody to her.

Recently, Mirel was accepted by the Israeli Rabbinate and given the opportunity to enroll in a conversion course with them, which will allow her to become a citizen of Israel and to keep her family together in the city her children now call home. While this course is a blessing, it also means she cannot work for at least nine months to a year.

We are reaching out to you today with a humble heart, asking for your support during this challenging time. Mirel wants to complete this course so she can become Jewish like her children are (she had started the conversion process in Austria but it was interrupted when she moved to Israel because of the bad state her children were in), to remain in Jerusalem with her children, to support them, and to build a future for them in Israel.

With your help, Mirel can give her children the life they deserve, surrounded by love, stability, and the security of having their mother by their side.

As we approach Rosh Hashana, please find the room in your hearts to help us to help Mirel to stay here and to complete her conversion course so that she can get Israeli citizenship and continue to raise her children in a stabile, Jewish environment.

Any contribution, no matter the size, would mean the world to Mirel and her family. Thank you for taking the time to listen to her story and for any support you can offer. May Hashem bless you with kindness and love in return.