Miriam Kanani is a gifted Jewish educator and ritual leader who got two loans from us over time. She’s thriving now, and doing so much good in the world. Yet she says she wouldn’t have the life she has today without the support she received from Hebrew Free Loan.
Miriam first received our interest-free debt consolidation loan when she was going through a divorce and trying her best to figure out how to make ends meet on one income. She was teaching Hebrew and tutoring b’nai mitzvah students, but her income was irregular, and she sometimes had to rely on credit cards to get by. The high interest on the credit cards worried her and made the debt keep growing. It was hard to get ahead.
After our loan helped Miriam pay down her debt, her credit score improved so much that she was able to rent a home for herself and her seven-year-old daughter without needing a co-signer … something she’d never been able to do before.
A few years after her first loan, Miriam needed a secondhand car to get from her home in Grass Valley to her b’nai mitzvah students throughout the Bay Area. Miriam turned to us for an interest-free general needs loan that helped her buy a safe, reliable vehicle that allows her to work with dozens of young people and their families. She’s built Bay Area B’nai Mitzvah, a flourishing business that provides for her and her daughter, and in the past year alone she’s led 25 b’nai mitzvah ceremonies.
“I love what I do so much, and I wouldn’t have this life without Hebrew Free Loan. I have a comfortable home where I can host Shabbat dinners, Passover seders, and Rosh Hashanah celebrations. And most of all, I’m able to support my daughter. I’m beyond grateful to Hebrew Free Loan for believing in me!”
Miriam builds Jewish community wherever she goes. It seems to come naturally to her, almost like breathing. Her father is a poet who taught Jewish folklore, and her Israeli mother is a calligrapher who taught Hebrew. Miriam absorbed the stories and rituals by osmosis throughout her childhood. She takes tremendous satisfaction in passing them on so children and teens can develop the same sense of joy, belonging, and pride in their Judaism that was such a central part of her childhood. Her niche is working with interfaith families who may not be affiliated with a synagogue but are eager to deepen their connection to Jewish traditions.
The support Miriam received from Hebrew Free Loan continues to ripple outward through the life she’s built for herself and her daughter, and the many families she helps find their own connections with the broader Jewish community.
