Hard to read – and essential to share

  • Gil Preuss
  • 27 September 2024

As tensions with Lebanon escalate, I want to update you on what Federation is doing and share a story about one of our partners in Israel.

As you know, Hezbollah has sent 9,000 rockets into Israel since October 7th, forcing the evacuations of more than 63,000 Israelis from their homes in the north. Residents are bearing with the unbearable: eleven months of daily rocket attacks and fear of an imminent worst-case scenario. And so we are witnessing a serious shift in Israel’s military response after 11 months of unacceptable conditions for residents of the north.

This week, missile attacks went even deeper into Israel — including into the Tiberias region and the Kinneret Valley Cluster. This community took in nearly 25,000 of those displaced from further north one year ago.

That’s where our story – and our community – comes in.

  • Just last week, our Federation, through your support of the Israel Crisis Relief Fund, gave $330,000 to the Kinneret Valley Cluster as part of a broader allocation of $1.7 Million in support of communities in Northern Israel.
  • Their staff provides services for all residents – Jews, Christians, Arabs, and Druze. But to do so, they risk their lives working from an office too far to reach a shelter during red alerts.
  • This week, the escalation meant they couldn’t work… until your support reached them.
  • With our funding in hand, the head of KVC ordered the desperately needed shelter. By that evening, with red alerts sounding non-stop to warn of incoming missiles and drones, the crane arrived to install it. While this may seem like one small change, it will help thousands of people living under constant attack. Thank you for making this possible.

As we head into the first High Holiday season since October 7th, I also want to lift up the powerful TIME op-ed co-authored this week by six families of hostages murdered by Hamas. Their call for the world to urgently act is hard to read — and essential to share.

We’ll continue to remember those we’ve lost, uplift their families, and look toward what’s next when we come together on October 7th. I hope to see you there.

Shabbat Shalom, and may this New Year be sweet, meaningful, and peaceful.