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Israel Mission 2024: Updates from Rabbi Adler
Tuesday was a long, emotional and inspirational day. After tomato harvesting through Leket Israel, we headed to what is called the Gaza Envelope, spending the balance of the day within a few kilometers of the border. A missile siren sounded as we parked at the Sderot police station, and the photo below with a cloud puff in the sky is Iron Dome successfully at work. In the station, we were briefed by an officer who survived Hamas infiltration of the station. Next to the building we visited was a barren lot where the original police station had stood before October 7.
We were hosted for lunch at a home in Moshav Shuvah, where groves of lemon trees stretched in every direction. The Moshav evacuated in the aftermath the attack, and now most residents are back home.
In the town of Ofakim, we dialogued with survivors of the attack on Kibbutz Sufah. Sufah has been adopted by our local Jewish Federation. Sufah has not yet been resettled as they are waiting for relocation and rebuilding of their school building.
Deeply moving was our visit to the grounds of the Nova music festival. It is now a large field of memorials maintained by JNF. Nearby is a place I call the car cemetery - thousands of burned and bullet ridden cars collected from the streets around Nova, Beiri and the other attacked kibbutzim, cars stacked and parked as far as the eye could see.
On our way to dinner on an IDF base, we stopped outside of Kibbutz Beiri to see the utter destruction of the Hamas attack.
How proud we are to be here. How moving to meet genuine heroes. How hard to visit places that will forever be scarred. Yet, this week there is no place we'd rather be.
Below, please find a letter from our friends at Leket Israel, expressing their gratitude to our Beth David group:
Dear Wonderful Friends from Beth David in West Hartford,
Thank you for joining us at our field today. I hope you enjoyed the volunteering experience and found it to be meaningful. You truly made my day so special with your positive energy and generous spirit.
How fun that we ‘Nutmeggers’ could all be together here in Israel!!
You worked so hard and helped to pick 80 containers of cherry tomatoes which will be distributed to 160 families throughout Israel who have suffered during this tragic time.
Leket Israel strives to eradicate hunger through its various food rescue projects. Leket provides food to 330,000+ Israelis each week and distributes over 71 million lbs. of fresh fruit and vegetables and 2.3 million hot meals a year. The tzedakah that your community so generously donates each year allows us to achieve and expand our reach and our means of assistance.
I invite you to watch this video which focuses on our additional efforts to assist those who have been impacted directly by the war and evacuation: Leket for Israel - Updates
You can help forward our mission by:
* Sharing photos on your favorite social media platform - please tag @LeketIsrael)
* Clicking “Like” on Leket’s Facebook page
* Telling your friends and colleagues to join us on their future visits to Israel
* And coming to work with us again.
It was such a pleasure to meet you. Travel safely. May you go from strength to strength.
Nechama Namal
Field Volunteer Coordinator
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