October 7. A tragic day. And it’s not over. In Israel, it will be October 7 for a long, long time. The rest of the world is impatient.
Here at home, I am sad. I am bewildered. I am angry. I am afraid. I am indignant. I am puzzled by the fact that everyone’s convictions don’t match my own.
I feel like I am living in an Alice in Wonderland world where my “up” is someone else’s “down.” Where “right” is “wrong,” where “day” is “night” and where “truth” is “falsehood.” I am confounded by the fact that in contrast to my “certainty,” others register only “maybe” … and sometimes not even that.
The world is challenging us Jews to weigh ourselves on a moral scale that places the burden of fairness on the victims, implying that what “they” did to us does not justify our doing – well, just about anything.
We debate and we argue. I wonder why our discussions start in the middle instead of first laying down a fundamental distinction between the assailants’ purpose and intent and ours. Can there be any debate that it was Hamas’s clear intent to kill, destroy, and eradicate the Jewish nation and the Jewish people on October 7?
We watched the Hamas demonstration of complete and indisputable contempt for Jewish life — for ALL Jewish life — for all Jews. Nothing more. Nothing less. When they murdered and massacred and beheaded and dismembered Israeli children and babies in front of cameras for all the world to see, was it not crystal clear that it was the intent of Hamas to put Jews on display as a disposable commodity among the earth’s living creatures?
When they danced and celebrated their barbarism to stir the fervor of their people and their neighbors near and far, can there be any question about the intent of Hamas leaders and their enablers to fan the fire of their hatred with utter disregard for the destruction and grief that they left in the wake of their despicable actions?
Be clear.
Theirs were not the random acts of a raging band of lunatics.
Theirs were not the random acts of lone rangers bearing grudges.
Theirs were the acts of a well-organized, well-trained, well-equipped and well-rewarded army of terrorists who efficiently carried out a meticulously planned operation and were praised for what they accomplished.
The acts of Hamas on October 7 have pitched the entire world into a state of intellectual, moral, and emotional chaos, and now it is the Jews who are in the crossfire. All of us. Everywhere. That was their intent.
Be clear.
Be clear. The death of children at the hands of Israelis, indisputably tragic, cannot be attributed to intent.
Be clear. There is no intent to maim, torture or kill civilian citizens of any age in Gaza.
Be clear. There is no intent to make suffering people suffer even more.
Be clear. There is no intent to kidnap hostages and dangle their fates in front of terrified families and precariously seated policy makers.
Be clear. There is no intent to gloat over the grotesque achievement of demonic goals.
For Israelis, there is only one intent: To survive and to continue living as they expected to live when they woke up on Saturday morning, October 7. Nothing more or nothing less.
[.speaker-mute]Be clear. For Israelis, there is only one intent: To survive and to continue living as they expected to live when they woke up on Saturday morning, October 7. Nothing more or nothing less.
Stay on message. Be clear.
Israel is doing and must continue to do what is required for its survival. Admittedly, the inevitable outcome of its actions will include tragic consequences. There will be children who will suffer and mothers who will grieve. There will be heartbreak. And there will be hardship.
But, remain clear: The only alternative to opting for survival is extinction.
From Beverly Hills to Berlin, our blindfolds have fallen and we are stunned by the glare of reality.
We American Jews are witnesses to all of it: The assault on the kibbutzim, the underground tunnels, the bias of international newscasts, print publications, and social media posts, the hostile demonstrations on college campuses, on city streets, the graphic displays of hate on the walls of our institutions, and on the fences in our alleys. From Beverly Hills to Berlin, our blindfolds have fallen and we are stunned by the glare of reality.
What we are witnessing is not merely the exercise of free speech.
What we are witnessing is not the rational discourse of informed debate that characterizes democratic freedom or values.
What we are witnessing, here and abroad, is a choreographed free-for-all; a world-wide forum for the expression of hate.
Still trying to find a balance on that skewed moral scale?
Tell me, what will be the consequences of our collective ambiguity, recalcitrance, or passivity in the face of the unthinkable?
Tell me, what is an alternative to Israel’s exercising her intent to survive in response to Hamas’ intent to eradicate the Jewish State and the Jewish people?
Tell me, what if we waver in our solidarity and allow the intent of our adversaries to prevail?
Tell me, what is the future of Jews, all of us, if we falter and bend to the threats and shoulder the blame?
You know the answer. We’ve been there before.
Be clear.
Rochelle Ginsburg is a product manager and consultant.
On October 7, as Hamas massacred an estimated 1,400 people, many children were suddenly left orphaned – and traumatized – for the rest of their lives. Now, a group of 34 high-tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from Israel have launched the Israeli Children’s Fund to support these orphans. They currently have a goal of fundraising $100 million to offer immediate and long-term financial assistance for these children.
“We understood that the trauma from this event would leave long lasting scars, especially for those who witnessed the brutality firsthand against their family and community.” – Maya Orlicky
“We understood that the trauma from this event would leave long lasting scars, especially for those who witnessed the brutality firsthand against their family and community,” co-founder of ICF Maya Orlicky, of the company Revolut, said. “As tech leaders and entrepreneurs within Israel, our job is to find solutions to problems that have yet to be revealed, and we came to understand that the attacks, unprecedented in their scale and brutality, have the added risk of overwhelming psychological care networks, in addition to financial resources, as the care infrastructure inside the country is not built to support a large influx of victims of such atrocities.”
Orlicky and the rest of the group spoke in the aftermath of the attacks and realized they needed to establish a support infrastructure for the victims. There is no final number on the number of children who lost one or both parents, but in general, thousands of Israeli children were affected by the attacks, according to Orlicky.
The ICF volunteer team consists of leaders from Wiz, Verbit, Ottopia, Herzog, Jibe and Pitango, and the entrepreneurs are in Israel as well as abroad. To raise funds for their program, they are tapping into their extensive networks.
“This initiative started as many of us were flooded with inbound requests from friends and colleagues abroad and within our networks, asking how and where they can contribute,” said Orlicky. “We are generating support and raising money from personal donations, tech communities globally, our own companies and VCs and nonprofit organizations.”
Right now, ICF is providing immediate funds to the legal guardians who have taken in orphaned children and are making sure their needs are met. Under typical circumstances, registering individuals into the national social support network in Israel can take one to two years.
The money is helping legal guardians purchase essentials and provide childcare and homeschooling. ICF is also collaborating with local agencies and leading foundations to support the children’s emotional and psychological needs.
“In the long term, we are establishing an endowment to fund critical life milestones, such as bar mitzvahs and graduations to fill in financial gaps that social services will provide, launching a long-term mentorship program that is run and supported by top leaders within Israeli tech to provide long term employment opportunities and establishing a dedicated trauma center, run by a team of internationally recognized professionals,” said Orlicky. “Our goal is to reshape the future of the Israeli children who suffered major trauma through the loss of a parent to the Hamas terror attack, or whose parents are currently being held hostage, helping them to heal the wounds of the past and setting them up to grow and fulfill their full potential.”
Amit Rosenzweig, CEO of Ottopia and a key figure of the fund, echoed a similar sentiment.
“The aftermath of the horrific reality of the attacks has left many people working tirelessly to relocate and provide assistance to those who suffered from the most widespread severely traumatic event in our country’s history,” he said. “These children represent our collective future, and we are committed to doing everything in our power, not just today, but throughout their lives to help them overcome this loss and thrive.”
During a recent lunch hour at de Toledo High School, Rabbi Tsafi Lev was remarking about how sharply the mood on campus has changed since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
“It’s really been hectic,” he said — for reasons that are peculiar to de Toledo, since its 400 students hail from all streams of Judaism. “In a multi-denominational setting like this one, you want to make sure you are addressing all of the constituents.”
As rabbinic director of the school, the complex student body can complicate Lev’s daily tasks. “Everybody is monitoring what is happening in Israel,” he said. “There are people on this campus who have a lot of family in Israel, as I do. My parents moved back six years ago after 52 years in America. My sisters live there, and my son currently is learning in Israel.”
In contrast, Rabbi Lev said, “there are people who aren’t sure what their connection is to Israel. They don’t have family they could name in Israel. But they know that Israel is important.”
“We said prayers for Israel. We heard personal stories. We made the personal become communal. It was a shared human moment.”
On the Monday after Oct. 7, de Toledo brought the student body together. “We had families and students share personal stories of people they are worried about and where they were when the attacks began. Importantly, that gives multiple perspectives. We said prayers for Israel. We heard personal stories. We made the personal become communal. It was a shared human moment. Our tradition gave us the tools how to operate.”
Religious diversity of the student population notwithstanding, Rabbi Lev said a significant percentage of de Toledo’s faculty and students have family and friends in Israel. “The heartache and the concern cannot be ignored, and this affects the tenor of the classroom,” he added. “Our students have rallied to support family in Israel. The school has reached out to alumni in Israel and around the country. The school is doing everything to rally around the brokenhearted and making space to listen to witness each one’s grief and fear.”
What about the classroom? How is the pain and worry of the most affected students addressed? And how have students responded to the war? “We engage students,” Rabbi Lev said, “and we empower them. One of our important responsibilities is to give them a sense of purpose. So, without dictating what their personal responses should be, we have been giving them special assignments.” These kinds of assignments, he said, “help students gain a sense of understanding of different voices there.”
From his earliest memories, Tsafi Lev has known what it feels like to be different from the majority population.While he grew up in Southern California, both of his parents were born in Baghdad and grew up in Israel. “That definitely informs my rabbinate and my Jewish identity,” he said.
Most Jews in America identify with Ashkenazi practices, “which leaves me out. My Iraqi heritage and my Iraqi-informed culture are not part of the American Jewish norm. Sometimes you can feel you are not part of it.” On the bright side, he added, that can sometimes be an advantage.
In what situations does Rabbi Lev not feel comfortable? He offered what he called the most concrete example. “The No. 1 necessary identifier for Jews in America — when they say part of my Jewish identity is essential to have this component — is a connection to the Holocaust. My parents were not in Germany or Poland,” he said. “They were deeply affected by the Holocaust, but that is not what people mean. They emigrated from Baghdad in 1950 when all the Jews were expelled. They grew up in Israel.”
Born in the United States, he grew up in Redlands, California. His parents, who came to this country in 1968, founded a synagogue, Etz Hadar,that still is open..
Rabbi Lev grew up thinking Jewish was synonymous with Hebrew because “I grew up speaking Hebrew in our home – not the case for most of my American colleagues.”
In Lev’s school years, going to Israel every summer was a certainty. “Some kids went to summer camp,” he said. “I didn’t have that experience. I visited my grandparents in Ramat Gan, my uncles in Jerusalem and my aunt in Haifa. Jewish was synonymous with Israeli for me – not necessarily religious always. Here in America, Jewish always is associated with religion.”
Rabbi Lev is the national director of Rabbis Without Borders, comprised of rabbaim from across the spectrum, including nondenominational. “Rabbis Without Borders represents a truth about the Jewish people as opposed to any particular person who says this is the one way to do it,” he says. Borders rabbis “agree to work with each other on the ideas of Judaism, how they apply to our lives.”
De Toledo is an ideal setting for him.
“We have some Modern Orthodox families, never-go-to-synagogue families, just cultural Jews, Reform and Conservative,” Rabbi Lev said.
He also leads a synagogue, Temple Emanu El, Burbank. “Very unconventional,” he says. “Technically Conservative – I would say in name only. A functioning Jewish community. We let the tools of our tradition support the people.”
Fast Takes with Rabbi Lev
Jewish Journal: What Torah figure do you most admire?
Rabbi Lev: “Aaron. Not Moses, but his brother. By the time the rabbis are done with him, he is described as ‘he loves peace. He actively pursues peace.’ Something to aspire to.”
J.J. Most important book you have read?
Rabbi Lev: I am deeply moved and have memorized one book in rabbinics, chapters in “Pirkei Avot,” “Ethics of the Fathers.”
J.J.: What do you do on your day off?
Rabbi Lev: Walking on the beach with my wife, Cheryl, my love of 30 years, and on Sundays I ride motorcycles with my brother-in-law.
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist
And his wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
– Gen. 19:26
Yehudit Garmaise Reporter and Parsha Teacher
Just weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, in this parsha, Hashem destroys Sodom on account of its cruelties.
“The Torah’s instructions on how to destroy Amalek are two-fold,” explained Rabbanit Sally Mayer, the rosh midrasha of Midreshet Lindenbaum, where two of my daughters are learning in Jerusalem. “We have to fight Hamas, and that is what our brave soldiers are doing,” Rabbanit Sally taught. “We must daven for those who are suffering, the hostages, and for our soldiers. But also: We have to practice the exact opposite of what Amelek does, which is to attack the weak, the vulnerable, and the helpless. What we are going to do is to help people: Especially those who are hurting so much right now. We are going to add light to the world by volunteering in every beautiful way. To show we can help people who are in darkness, to provide comfort to those who are hurting.”
While spending many hours each day cooking, baking, and babysitting for the many women in their neighborhood whose husbands have been called to serve in the IDF, my daughters and their classmates have noted, “In Israel, people don’t talk about chesed, they just do it.”
Unlike Lot’s wife, who was punished for ruefully turning her face toward evil and focusing on the negative, let’s redouble our efforts to practice chesed, speak only loshon tov, and create more shalom in our lives. Let’s show the world what am Yisrael is about — and not look back.
Rabbi Chaim Singer-Frankes Multi-Faith Chaplain, Spiritual Care Guide, Kaiser Panorama City
Sefer Breishit is a story of movements, physical and spiritual, and of leaving things behind. Adam and Hava are exiled from paradise — their womb of comforts. Our forefather Avram vacates the land of his progenitors, abandoning his ancestry. We extol his allegiance to God. Even Hashem scraps the first created world to restart the human enterprise, for better and for worse.
What is the folly of Lot’s wife? Conceivably she is hardened by what could’ve been rather than being heartened by what might yet be. Many a rabbinic sage has offered that while she merited protection by virtue of her husband, Lot, she nonetheless remained frozen in the transgressions of S’dom. We often find that rigid behaviors and unbending paths of old no longer suit us. We grow up, collectively and as individuals, accumulating oddball calluses. Among mine is a lacerating impatience. Unforgiving and fussy to a fault, I impose this awfulness upon those I love and trust. Along our journeys, we must decide what brackish ballast we will continue to carry, what will burden us to our graves, together with what to toss, leaving no monument.
Judging what to keep is a sacred skill, not unlike editing an essay. Possessive of every phrase I type, but if I do not pare to what is essential, this tract would far exceed the requisite 250 words! Therefore, like Avraham Avinu, let us embrace a bold unknown. May we not be encrusted by yesterday’s regrets, ossified by old brawls nor crystallized in wrongheadedness.
Being turned into a pillar of salt attracts a lot of attention. Many people may not know much else about the Torah or its stories, but they have probably heard about Lot’s wife’s salty ending. Whether they believe such an account is another story, especially when they have a difficult time accepting that the Torah was dictated by God Himself to Moses.
But it is interesting to know that Josephus, the Roman historian wrote in “Antiquities of the Jews”: “But Lot’s wife continually turning back to view the city as she went from it, and being too nicely inquisitive what would become of it, although God had forbidden her so to do, was changed into a pillar of salt; for I have seen it, and it remains at this day.”
The amazing thing is how Josephus, who lived around the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, wrote about Torah events as fact. His words were translated, not mocked, by the 17th-century mathematician William Whiston, the prime student of Sir IssacIsaac Newton, one of the greatest minds during the Age of Reason. Footnotes were added not to discredit Josephus, but to explain what he said. Rashi says that her punishment was to become a pillar of salt because she wanted to refuse salt to her guests back in Sodom. But maybe it was also a way of “preserving” the story, as salt does, so that it could last well past any other Biblical artifacts. Something to think about.
Rabbi Abraham Lieberman Judaic Studies, Shalhevet HS
The transformation of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt is indeed perplexing. While some commentators explain the end of the verse to refer to the land or the city not to Lot’s wife, we will follow the majority of commentaries that do.
If so, what significance can this episode have for us? Why such a strange punishment for turning back and gazing at Sodom’s destruction? What was her motive in looking back when the messengers warned them all not to turn back with her eyes? Our commentators posit a number of possibilities. Some say that she looked back because of her lack of faith. She simply did not believe that such an event would occur. Others explain since she herself was not worthy of being saved, she should not be privy to the destruction of her compatriots. The Midrash (Pirkei D’R. Eliezer Chap.25 ) states that her end comes as a result of gazing upon the ShechinahShechina, the Divine, as it descended on Sodom for its destruction. Pirkei Avot (2:9) teaches about possessing an ein tova, a “good eye”, the ability to have a moral-ethical eye, using one vision with clarity, to know why we stare at certain things. An eye that will see our faults, not the faults of others, that will not lead to greed or jealousy, but to harmony. An eye that looks inwards more than outwards, an eye that will benefit humanity and make the world a better place.
Rabbi Elchanan Shoff Rabbi, Beis Knesses of Los Angeles
Lot and family exit Sodom with an angelic escort. Couldn’t Lot just be instructed to, “grab your family; flee for your life!!!”? Why the angel?
Compounding this question, our sages share that this angel was the very same one who’d come to heal Abraham. Axiomatic to our Sages is “one angel doesn’t have two missions.” Each angel is capable of just one sort of action; meaning that whatever this angel did for Abraham he was apparently doing for Lot and family. The saintly Shem Mishmuel explains that in fact, Lot leaving Sodom was a healing. When one is ill, the body heals by ridding itself of that which is unhealthy to it. Sodom was a place packed with such immoral ideals and philosophies, it stood against kindness and charity.
Rashi teaches us that Mrs. Lot displayed these wicked behaviors by asking neighbors for some salt, explaining that “she had guests,” when she knew full well that this would provoke outrage in a city opposed to handouts of any kind. She ultimately became that, unable to leave it behind. Leaving a lifestyle and society of falsehood is quite hard. It requires the same sort of divine assistance that would be needed to survive a life-threatening disease. The same angel’s help is enlisted. Even looking back longingly has the capacity to turn attitudes and beliefs back from what is true into a pillar of salt. Don’t just be a product of your milieu, follow God’s angel! Break out and never look back!
Last week, Sharon and I organized AChallah Bake for Israel.
It was a leap of faith because we didn’t have a lot of time to get the word out, and we weren’t sure our event would have many attendees. But we really wanted to do something to gather women to show unity for Israel and to raise our voices in prayer for Israel and her brave soldiers.
I spent the week before the Challah Bake testing challah recipes, ordering flour, oil, yeast, sugar and other supplies and I printed recipe sheets and prayers for the soldiers of the IDF and for the hostages.
Setting up a Challah Bake is more work than you can imagine. Measuring and packaging all the ingredients takes hours, but thankfully we had the help of the wonderful Sisterhood at Kahal Joseph (shoutout to Yvette and Penina).
The room looked beautiful and pulsated with palpable energy as over 70 women and a few men entered the room. On one end of the room, people congregated around our grazing table set up with flowers and brightly colored fruit and vegetable crudité, crispy burekas and Sharon’s creamy, cheesy Spinach Artichoke Dip. On the other end of the room, women lit tea light candles and offered prayers for the soldiers and hostages.
There was a huge metal bowl filled with raw dough that rose exuberantly and spilled over the sides, in what I took as a sign of abundant blessing.
On our demonstration table were challot that I had baked to inspire the crowd — one was shaped into a huge Magen David and the other was in the shape of the word Chai (meaning life).There was a huge metal bowl filled with raw dough that rose exuberantly and spilled over the sides, in what I took as a sign of abundant blessing. In the middle of the room, the tables were decorated with blue and white flowers and each baker had a bowl filled with a white bag of flour, other ingredients and a navy blue towel.
After mixing, kneading and covering the dough, we went into the sanctuary. Rabbi Natan Halevy, Sharon’s younger brother, led us in a prayer for the IDF and saying tehillim for the safe return of the hostages. He offered words of encouragement, saying that the Jews of the world were united and that amid the darkness, there was shining light. “If there’s unity in our nation, nothing can beat us,” he said.
Eliana Cohen, the daughter of our dear friend Mona, led us all in a pitch perfect a cappella versions of the Star-Spangled Banner and Ha’Tikvah.
The Jewish Journal’s very own award-winning columnist Tabby Refael gave an engaging speech about the antisemitism that the world is facing. She said this was her first time visiting the Iraqi congregation of Kahal Joseph, but that it brought back memories of growing up under the rule of the Ayatollahs in Iran in the 1980s after the Revolution. As a little girl in Teheran, she attended a school that was part of a synagogue and cultural center built by Iraqi Jews, fleeing antisemitic persecution in the 1950’s. The audience was visibly moved by her accounts of life in Iran and the travails of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora.
The mood shifted when artist and yogi Leat Silvera led us on a light-filled, breathing meditation where she led us to a field where we “visited” with the Patriarchs and Matriarchs and they gave each of us note with our own blessing. Everyone was visibly moved by the exercise.
When we returned to our challah dough, I was overcome by emotion. Fighting back tears, I dedicated my challah to the son and daughter-in-law of Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, director of the the Sephardic Educational Center. These newlyweds recently returned from their honeymoon and Ilan is with his infantry division in the South and Kayla is with a search and rescue team in the North of Israel. We all said a resounding blessing of “Hafrashat Challah” and everyone left with their blessed dough to bake at home.
I am so proud that all the profits from this event went to the Rica Emquies Israel Fund, a charity helping soldiers and the needy and administered by the SEC. At this time, connecting with one another, shining light and being kind is the greatest thing we can do.
—Rachel
Sometimes life is all about a leap of faith. Sometimes life is about having the the courage to be vulnerable, the courage to be kind and the courage to give of oneself.
Sometimes just being in a room filled with community is all the comfort you need in difficult times.
During the meditation, I held the hand of my 10-year-old niece Aliza. After 15 minutes of deep breathing and relaxation, I left the bright light of Liat’s grassy field with great reluctance. I opened my eyes and I saw tears rolling down Aliza’s cheeks. “What’s wrong?” I asked with great alarm.
“Happy tears,” she replied.
—Sharon
Sephardic Spice Girls Challah Recipe
4 Tbsp active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp sugar
5 lbs high gluten bread flour, more as needed
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp salt
4 large eggs
1/4 cup honey
1¼ cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
1. Combine yeast, warm water and sugar in a glass bowl. Cover with a towel and set aside to proof for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour with the sugar and salt. Add the eggs, honey and oil and mix well.
3. Add the proofed yeast to the dough and mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. If the dough feels too sticky to handle, gradually add a little flour.
4. Return dough to the large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Set aside to rise in a warm spot for one hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
6. Separate the dough into sections and braid into challah. Allow each challah to rise 15 minutes. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with toppings and bake for about 45-55 minutes, until challah is golden brown.
7. Allow challah to cool completely before storing.
Note: It is a mitzvah to make the blessing of Challah when baking 5 lbs of bread dough.
Transliteration: Baruch ata Adonai elo-hainu Melech Ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mit zvotav v’tziva’anu l’hafrish challah.
Translation: Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to separate challah.
Separate a small piece of dough, approximately one ounce, and say: “This is challah.”
Burn the challah by wrapping it in a piece of silver foil and placing in the oven.
Rachel Sheff and Sharon Gomperts have been friends since high school. They love cooking and sharing recipes. They have collaborated on Sephardic Educational Center projects and community cooking classes. Follow them on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food.
“We have to find something we can do!” Dr. Ofir Koren said during a recent phone call with the Israeli consul general in Los Angeles. “‘Everyone’s in a bad place, a terrible position, and we must figure a way out of this.”
His native country, Israel, was facing an unprecedented moment of adversity, perhaps the worst crisis in its 75-year history, and Dr. Koren, an interventional cardiology fellow at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, knew he had to help.
His way to help, it turned out, was drawing on his extensive experience and contacts in the medical field. Koren is the founder of Re’im, an ambitious yet lean, newly launched nonprofit that’s seeking U.S.-based certified physicians to immediately volunteer working in Israeli hospitals. Many current doctors in Israeli are IDF reservists who are being called to the front lines for the expected ground invasion of Gaza, therefore creating short-staffed hospitals.
Meanwhile, the possibility of a multifront war, one with Hamas in Gaza, in the north with Hezbollah in Lebanon and with Palestinians in the West Bank could lead to an unprecedented demand for emergency care services.
Enter Re’im (Hebrew for “friends” and the name of one of the kibbutzim in southern Israel brutally attacked by Hamas last month). The organization is urgently seeking orthopedic and general surgeons, burn experts, trauma doctors and emergency room physicians to work in two-week shifts in Israel. Re’im is also seeking forensic pathologists who can aid Israel’s effort in examining the deceased and determining their causes of death. Along with the recruitment of physicians, Re’im is collecting medical supplies to send to Israel, including gauzes, ultrasound tablets, tactical gear, paramedic bags and advanced trauma life support equipment.
Since the group’s launch, nearly 150 physicians have expressed a desire to go to Israel, Koren told the Journal. On the East Coast, there’s been a similar level of interest.
Koren — who served as a major in one of Israeli Air Force’s elite forces — said he was heartened by the response but not all that surprised.
“I was born in Israel. My parents fought for Israel. My brothers, all of them are in special forces. This is what we do – what we’re raised to do and trained to do,” Koren told the Journal. “Every time there’s a situation in Israel, everybody is coming to do what they do best.”
Re’im is just one example of the ways people in the Los Angeles community have been stepping up and supporting Israel over the past several weeks since Hamas’ deadly massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.
American Friends of Magen David Adom, which raises funds for Israel’s official representative to the International Red Cross, saw more than 435 families and individuals from Wilshire Boulevard Temple respond to its call for support and sponsor seven life support ambulances along with additional funding for ambulance maintenance.
For its part, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center donated $250,000 to four hospitals in Israel responding to the current crisis. The Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles provided guidance to the L.A.-based hospital about where its funds would be most useful. Cedars-Sinai was drawn to those medical centers treating both Jewish and Arab patients.
Solidarity march in Santa Monica
Likewise, synagogues across the city have risen to the occasion. Sinai Temple has launched “Mobilizing for Israel,” a community-wide effort connecting congregants with opportunities to help Israel in areas including advocacy, education, supplies, mental health and more. Valley Beth Shalom recently held an event for both adults and children, where the older crowd heard from informed speakers about the situation and kids penned letters of support for Israeli friends overseas.
“People from all ages and ranges are asking [how they can help] — yes, from monetary giving to getting their hands dirty to coming up with their own ideas, there’s local, national and international efforts,” Sinai Temple Co-Senior Rabbi Erez Sherman told the Journal. “As time goes by, the needs are also changing each day.”
Moishe House LA RSJ recently hosted a “Letter Writing to Israeli Children” workshop. Courtesy of Moishe House
Becky Sobelman-Stern, executive vice president and chief program officer at Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, spoke to the Journal one day after returning from a Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)-organized mission to Israel. The trip was a flurry of activity. From the empty terminals of Ben Gurion Airport to playgrounds of Ashkelon missing the typical hum of happy children, Israel was not its usual self, but something else had taken hold of the country, the Federation leader said. There was a spirit of volunteerism, with Israelis giving back to one another and holding up one another.
As of Oct. 27, less than three weeks since Hamas’ attack, Federations under the umbrella of the JFNA have collectively raised $122 million for Israel. This includes $24 million raised by the L.A. Federation, Sobelman-Stern said, explaining this moment facing Israel was unique from all other past challenges.
“I’ve traveled to Israel many times and I’ve been involved in many emergency scenarios, but this is different,” she said. “This impacts every single person in the country and will take generations for the psycho-trauma of this to dissipate. There’s been a lot of comparisons to the Holocaust. During the attack, families were in hiding, having to keep their children quiet. You can understand why the comparisons to the Holocaust are being made. It’s deeply traumatic. Everybody has a need to talk. Everyone, when you talk to them, starts with the morning of Oct. 7.”
For some, supporting Israel has been less about how much they can give and more about finding ways to feel helpful at such a difficult time.
For some, supporting Israel has been less about how much they can give and more about finding ways to feel helpful at such a difficult time. This has been true for Adi Matalon, team leader of the medical supply coordination at Re’im. She said volunteering is a way to feel useful when it’s easy to feel helpless.
“We won’t be the same after Oct. 7, it changed everything,” she told the Journal. “I feel like I can contribute from here by doing this. It’s hard to be far away, and we’re all doing our best to help.”
Maman Nonprofit
Sara Raoof Jacobs, founder of the L.A.-based Maman Nonprofit, runs a group that has coordinated gatherings in San Fernando Valley backyards for people to pack boxes of medical supplies, children’s clothes, baby items, outdoor equipment and more. At one gathering, there were enough supplies for 29 pallets. A kabbalah teacher from the local Persian community, Raoof Jacobs said she begins each packing event with remarks about mystical Jewish teachings and has been warmed by the giving spirit of the volunteers.
“The consciousness and mindset of everyone comes from abundance and love,” she said.
Indeed, from letter-writing campaigns to assembling essential items ordered on Amazon; from walking in Israel solidarity rallies to contacting local elected officials about the hostages held by Hamas, the Los Angeles Jewish community has jumped into action to support those in Israel.
Indeed, from letter-writing campaigns to assembling essential items ordered on Amazon; from walking in Israel solidarity rallies to contacting local elected officials about the hostages held by Hamas, the Los Angeles Jewish community has jumped into action to support those in Israel.
“They do want our support,” Sobelman-Stern said. “People on the front lines need to be taken care of. They need a break. People who are doing heroic things, whether it’s volunteering, feeding other people, working double shifts—they need us.”
For those who want to help, we offer a Mitzvah Roundup. By no means exhaustive, this list will continue to be updated at jewishjournal.com. Please email any suggestions to editor@jewishjournal.com. We also encourage you to contact your local synagogue about ways to help Israel.
• Re’im, a recently launched nonprofit, is enlisting U.S. physicians to dispatch to Israeli hospitals, where they’ll serve short-term shifts. The organization’s also accepting donations of medical supplies and financial contributions. For additional information, visit reim.life.
• American Friends of Magen David Adom, Israel’s official representative to the International Red Cross, raises funds to ensure the 33,000 paramedics, EMTs, first responders and first-aid providers have what they need to treat the injured and ill in Israel. For additional information, visit afmda.org.
• Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has launched an Israel emergency fund, where all donations go directly to supporting Israel. The funds support victims of terror, provide food, financial assistance and bereavement support, trauma relief and mental health care and emergency evacuation needs. For more details, visit jewishla.org.
• Maman Nonprofit has compiled an “IDF Shopping List” of approved items for purchase for IDF soldiers, including towels, thermal underwear and sleeping bags. To learn more, visit maman4israel.com.
• Lev Echad (One Heart), an Israel-based volunteer force convened in times of crisis, is leading a national response to provide immediate support to families and communities from the kibbutzim in the Gaza border region, Sderot, and throughout Israel’s south. To contribute, visit levechad.org.
• #BlueRibbonsforIsrael, a Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) social media and public awareness campaign, encourages individuals, organizations and companies to wear blue ribbons and share pictures of themselves sporting the ribbons to show their solidarity with Israel. For information about the campaign, including how to order the ribbons, visit https://www.blueribbonsforisrael.org.
• Shalva National Crisis Response Center, an Israel-based group, provides an all-encompassing range of services for thousands of people with disabilities. It is currently caring for hundreds of evacuees from Israel’s southern region. To support Shalva, visit shalva.org/home.
• United Hatzalah of Israel, an independent, non-profit, fully volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) organization, responds to crises across Israel. To support their work, visit israelrescue.org.
• Friends of Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), the designated partner of the Israel Defense Forces in the U.S., is seeking support for its Hamas-Israel War Emergency Campaign. Details at fidf.org.
• The Lone Soldier Center in Memory of Michael Levin supports the IDF’s “lone soldiers”—those in Israel’s armed forces without the support of family. A lone soldier can be a new immigrant, a volunteer from abroad, an orphan or an individual from a broken home. Several lone soldiers have been killed in the current war. For more information, visit lonesoldiercenter.com.
For a list of additional places to support, visit our Mitzvah Roundup.
