The fighting has stopped — now it’s time to rebuild

Israel was at war for close to five weeks. Though the war has ceased, the devastation and destruction — both physical and psychological — is vast.

When the conflict began, the Jewish Community Federation reacted immediately. To date, we have raised over $2.8 million. In the first two weeks of the conflict alone, we sent close to $1 million to alleviate immediate needs identified by our staff and partners on the ground in Israel. And we are just about to send almost $1 million more to help with the rebuilding efforts.

Why were we able to move this quickly? Because for more than 20 years, our Federation has had a strong and focused partnership with northern Israel — in particular the region called the Upper Galil.

Some of you may have been to this region to visit these places… Metula and Kiryat Shmona, the regional moshavim and kibbutzim and towns such as Tuba, Rajar and Yesod Hamaala. All of these places were part of the war zone. You can imagine the devastation — to the land, to the communities, to the lives.

Now, the ceasefire is in effect, which means that there is hard work in front of us.

In Kiryat Shmona alone, 2,000 homes were destroyed, schools are in ruins. How do families return? How do children prepare to go back to school?

Orna Rayn, the Federation’s Upper Galil coordinator, recently wrote about what life is like in the North now:

Kiryat Shmona is beginning to gather the pieces to start to rebuild; the road will be very long. Yesterday, we could already start to see a glimpse of sanity and the return to everyday life. Store owners whose businesses were not damaged opened their doors, and people returned to the streets and greeted each other, albeit with a smile mixed with sadness. On the one hand there is the desire to return to normal life, and on the other hand 300 families no longer have homes to return to and are living in hotels. The homes of 1,500 families were badly damaged and need renovations while they try to maintain a sense of normalcy. This is a community that fell apart and will need help in rebuilding and reuniting.

This is the time for us to see how we can help in the complex and fragile process of restoring this community. This is a process that starts here and now, and I know the Federation will be a huge help in that process. (Read her full letter)

This is why we need your help more than ever.

Your donations to the Israel Emergency Campaign will be directed towards recovery and rebuilding, which will take many, many months. These dollars will support:

• Trauma counseling for residents of the region, including training for teachers and social workers to help them cope with the needs of others, as well as their own issues.
• Reconstruction of houses, schools and basic infrastructure.
• The rebuilding, through coaching and mentoring, of small businesses to get the region back on its feet economically.
• Preparations to help children return to school and a sense of “normalcy” — whatever that may be.

If you haven’t already given to the Emergency Campaign, please do so today. Click here to make your donation.

Postponed Diller Teens’ productive summer

By Chayva Lehrman, Diller Teen Fellow

Everything was set for the Diller Teen Fellows Summer Seminar in Israel: meetings with Israeli Parliament members; dialogue with Bedouin and Arab-Israeli teenagers; a visit to a gay/lesbian center in Jerusalem; a reunion with Manhigut Esreh, the counterpart teen leadership program in the Upper Galil; hiking adventures; exploring historical sites and so much more. All 20 of us Diller Teen Fellows had our backpacks ready, led by Ilan Vitemberg, Bureau of Jewish Education’s local Diller Teen Fellows program coordinator, and Nicole Sasson-Miller, national director of the Helen Diller Family Foundation’s Diller Teen Initiatives at the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.

Suddenly, a single word changed the course of our summer: postponed. Four days before departure, two soldiers were kidnapped on Israel’s northern border. Bombs were flying and war cries were sounding. And so the day before we were scheduled to leave, the community decided to postpone the trip. Everything seemed to collapse like a card tower in the wind. “What are we going to do with three extra weeks?” We answered that question two days later, when the Diller Teen Fellows reconvened and opened a new chapter of “Diller.”

We promptly realized that each of us was a valuable resource to our friends overseas. We assessed the needs and divided into four groups: assisting Israel through fundraising, finding alternative ways to support Israel, raising awareness at home and coordinating logistics.

[At the top of the list was working to bring the Manhigut Esreh here to the Bay Area, which was done with the support of the Diller families and the community at large. The meeting at the airport of these two teen groups was probably one of the most joyous reunions SFO has ever seen.]

Within three weeks of the initial postponement, we participated in 15 educational workshops, contributed to an Israel solidarity rally by running a booth to raise funds and awareness, were published twice in the j. and once in the San Jose Mercury News, and appeared on six television stations (local and national). We assembled care packages with cards for our Israeli counterparts, arranged two weekend retreats and numerous weekday sleepovers and organized a benefit dinner featuring our Israeli sister group, who shared their personal stories of living in Israel under attack.

As Klil Regev, a 16-year-old from Metula said with emotion, “I just want to go home. My home is supposed to be the place I feel safest in the world and it’s the worst feeling to not even know if I’ll have a home to go back to.”

The benefit dinner raised over $10,000 to help ELEM, a nonprofit organization for teens at risk in Israel. Thanks to a private grant from the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly to ELEM. For me, to initiate and observe the products of our labor was awe-inspiring.

The intensity of those three weeks taught us many things. A rabid desire to help those in need is a lasting product of all that we went through together, but above all else, one lesson resounded in our ears. In the words of Ilan Vitemberg, “Life isn’t always about fun; it’s about doing what you can to make a difference.” And did I mention that our trip has just been re-scheduled? Keeping Passover will be a breeze, as we observe this celebration of freedom in Israel next April. HaShana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim! (Next year in Jerusalem!)

The Diller Teen Fellows is a project of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, operated by the Bureau of Jewish Education, and funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.

High Holy Days are almost here

Looking for a place to observe the High Holy Days? Jholidays.org and PlanitJewish.com have got you covered! For holiday information, services and activities visit www.jholidays.org.

Make an impact in a child’s life this year

Bay Area students need you! Fifty percent of local fourth graders are not reading at their grade level. Join the Jewish community in helping to improve literacy in public schools by becoming a tutor with the Jewish Coalition for Literacy (JCL). With just one hour per week, you can change a child’s life by revealing the wonders of the written word, the magic of books, and the excitement of reading. JCL will train you and pair you with a child in kindergarten through third grade. Share your passion for learning and take part in this rewarding tikkun olam project by signing up for a tutor training in San Francisco, the East Bay, or on the Peninsula. Visit www.jclread.org, email jcl-sf@jcrc.org, or call 415.977.7414 for more information.

Help the victims of the Seattle JCF shooting

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Victims Fund has been established at the Jewish Community Endowment Fund. Click here to donate now.