Masorti Jumps In to Assist Residents of Sderot

In a grim reminder of last summer's hostilities, Kassam rockets fell with increased frequency on Israeli streets this spring in Sderot and its neighboring kibbutzim and moshavim near Gaza.  As the Jewish community worldwide observed with mounting concern the escalating attacks by Hamas terrorists, the Masorti community in Israel sprang into action.

As it did during last year's crisis, the Masorti Movement has taken an active role in coming to the aid of the families that have been living with the stress and challenges of daily threats to their homes and personal safety.  Thanks in part to a grant to Masorti from United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization of our nationwide Federation system, the movement has been able to defray the expenses of providing that critical assistance.  It has also received aid for ongoing needs in the north.

Rabbi Barry Schlesinger, spiritual leader of Kehillat Moreshet Avraham in Jerusalem and president of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel, wrote of what he encountered on his recent visit to Sderot as a volunteer for Lev Echad, a local social service organization.

"Around five minutes after I arrived, there was a Kassam attack warning.  The loudspeakers throughout the city of Sderot scream out 'Tzeva Adoma, Tzeva Adom [the color red, the color red]'.  After that, one has only fifteen seconds to find a safe place to sit it out for at least another five minutes.  Since we didn't have time to get to a bomb shelter, we all hugged the western wall (now symbolic) of the building we were in.  Four Kassam rockets landed in Sderot and, according to the media, only one woman was wounded, very slightly.

"By the end of the day we had met many frightened, hopeless, angry and frustrated Sderot residents....  The stories repeat themselves over and over.  People don't leave their homes.  They are literally incarcerated in their own abodes, as if under house arrest.  Going shopping for food is scary for many.  One woman told me that she will not leave her house and asked us for food, badly needed medicine and a psychologist to talk to."

To read Rabbi Schlesinger's full account, log on to the Masorti Website.

To learn more, please contact Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 832, New York, NY 10115-0068.

Did You Know ...

... that the Lubavitcher Rebbe tells us that a staff is strong because it is far from its root, and the longer it is separated, the stronger it gets.  A stick, while still a limb of the tree, is soft and green, but when severed, it becomes stronger with time.

We, the Jewish people, must retain our strength as long as we remain in the Diaspora, and especially in light of it.  Similarly, during the summer months of vacations and breaks in routine, while we are not only away from our roots of origin, but also apart from our synagogue communities, it becomes even more important to hold on to something, no matter what that something is for each of us.

Choir

If you are interested in singing with the choir for the High Holy Days, we will begin rehearsals in August.  Please contact Laura Biewer for more information.

Yiddish Expression of the Month

M'shugass -- Craziness

A man in an insane asylum insisted on having kosher meals.  Finally, the director of the institution complied.  The next Sabbath, the man was seen smoking a cigar.

The director cried out, "You made me supply you with kosher meals, and here you are smoking on the Sabbath!"

The crazy man replied, "That's my whole m'shugass."

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