throwing money at a problem

I think I realized why I was able to pay off those credit cards this month. I got a phone call today from a family I sometimes stay by for shabbos. Things are... not good. She wants a divorce, but her husband won't give her one. He's out of work again. This is a fairly frequent occurrence. He's a hard and dedicated worker but somehow jobs never quite seem to work out for long.

He told her that they don't have enough money to make chicken soup for shabbos (or for her to go to the doctor), but he's planning on taking some $5,000 get-rich-quick course that teaches real estate investment techniques. I could hear the hatred in her voice when she told me of this plan.

The thing, though, that really frightens me is that this man who firmly believes in daas torah wouldn't listen when his rabbi sought him out to tell him that he shouldn't go to this "investment" class. His faith was the only thing he had left-- I'm more than a little worried about him. He's a good man, but his career and family life seem to be in tatters. I can only hope that his not allowing himself to be guided by his rav doesn't mean that he's losing faith entirely.

They are two lovely people who never should have married. I adore them both (when they're not together in the same room).

There is nothing that I can do except offer to be a buffer between them on shabbos and perhaps provide some comfort for their children.

I've offered to ferry the kids to museums and take them to the movies. Coraline is still in the theaters, I think. I haven't seen the movie, but I loved the book. I didn't think there was anything in there that either parent would find objectionable. (They don't have a television in the house, but they do allow movies and secular books.)

I think that this might be a good way to spend some of the money that I'm no longer wasting on credit card interest. (Don't worry, I'm still going to put the rest of the "extra" towards my car loan each month.) It won't really help anything, but it might make the children smile a little. If I could make them forget, even just for an hour, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.