Mitzvah Gadolah! A Beautiful Gift.......

בס''ד
As I have written many times, my family and I live on a yishuv, in the South of Israel, in the Western Negev. Our area has been the recipient of Grad missiles fired by Hamas in order to kill, maim and injure as many Israelis as possible. I have posted many blogs describing life in the South and living with rockets. Have a look at my archives.

In my area we have 15 seconds to seek shelter. Within the Gaza belt, citizens have only 7 seconds.

Since 1992, the government of Israel has enacted a law that all buildings, commercial and residential have a mamad, but what about older buildings, residential and ganim [kindergartens] and schools.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/word-of-the-day/word-of-the-day-mamad-1502-1502-1491.premium-1.478975  

Yesterday afternoon, my daughter Devorah, three of her children and I had the pleasure of being invited by our friend, Yocheved Golani, a freelance journalist covering the event, to be present when two very special organizations, United With Israel and Operation Lifeshield, donated two portable shelters to Be’er Miriam a gan in Netivot. The preschool children learn in caravans, not permanent classrooms.

Who is United With Israel? Their mission statement says: Our mission is to foster worldwide unity with the People, Country and Land of Israel and to demonstrate how Israel is a great source of blessing to the world. By distributing timely information, initiating pro-Israel advocacy, introducing innovative Israeli products to the global market and donating greatly needed funds money to vital charities, we strive to broaden the worldwide network of Israel supporters and promote the urgency and privilege of standing United with Israel.   

The mission statement from Operation Lifeshield says: Operation Lifeshield in an emergency campaign to save innocent lives by providing Israel’s threatened communities with the protected air raid shelters they so desperately need.

https://www.facebook.com/unitedwithisrael?fref=ts

http://unitedwithisrael.org/

http://www.youtube.com/unitedwithisrael

http://operationlifeshield.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/OperationLifeshield/info 

On a side note, Moetzi Shabbat, when children and adults were outside, having fun celebrating Lag B’Omer, three grad missiles were fired towards Netivot. There was a Tzava Adom [incoming warning siren].

The grads landed in a moshav. Fortunately there were no physical injuries...but just take a second to imagine the panic when parents didn’t know where their children were and children couldn’t find their parents. This, the media called no injuries. Panic is an injury! 

The donation of these shelters was a Mitzvah Gadolah, a beautiful gift! To the founders of these organizations, and the people who donated their time and money to purchase shelters and support the many other wonderful projects, I applaud you and say TODA RABA! Your generosity will save lives. 

This is a very brief write-up of United With Israel and Operation Lifeshield. Yocheved will be writing an in-depth article. As soon as it is live, I will share the URL of her feature. 

Please feel free to comment and share.

Miriam  

Showing Solidarity With the South........

בס''ד


Today, 13 ladies traveled to Netivot from all over our country, to show solidarity with Southern residents. These women are part of ‘Coffee Talk’, a closed Face Book group.  

Please read my blog...Even Face Book can be Kosher..... to learn the story

behind 'Coffee Talk'.

http://miriamswords.blogspot.co.il/2012/10/even-facebook-can-be-kosher.html

There are five Southern belles who live in Ma’agalim, Netivot and Beer Sheva. The women who took the time and made the effort to join our face to face lunch came from Netanya, Jerusalem, Elon Moreh, Shilo, Maale Adumim Gush Etzion and Bet Shemesh. They came by car, train, bus, and Sherut [private mini bus]. 

Living in the South, I want to tell my friends, how much I appreciated your effort and enjoyed spending the day you. You are always welcomed in my neck of the woods.    

The weather was beautiful. We met in the center of Netivot and walked, talked, laughed and shopped along the way to our last stop, Greg’s Café. 

When passing a portable bomber shelter, since most of the ladies had never seen one, they were anxious to enter and were amazed with the idea and size. Batya stretched out her arms from one side to the other. This was the width.  

Arriving at the Cafe we met up with the rest of our group. The Cafe had set a long table with a pink tablecloth on a private patio for us. 

We enjoyed a delicious lunch with super service. As a surprise, Hadassa, who makes beautiful hand made beaded jewelry, brought necklaces and earrings that she made and said they were for sale with all money going a needy bride's fund in Netivot. We were also treated to a lesson on making jewelry.

Devorah, thank-you for organizing the Café and thank-you Rachel for sending out the invitations and keeping track of who was and wasn’t coming. We missed you.

I am honored to have met these wonderful, talented women. May we have many more outings together.

I want to wish a Refu'a Shelayma to the ladies, who wanted to join us, but were under the weather.

Chanukah Sameach!

Until next time. Feel free to comment and share.

Miriam