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How
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Can Help!
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This war came upon us by
surprise, but surprises are our lot; they occur only slightly
less frequently than the Katyusha rockets and other assorted
calamities.
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This is not my first war. It's the third time that the bombs
have been directed towards me. The first time I don't remember;
in June 1948 I was almost one year old when the Egyptians
shelled my home town of Rishon l' Zion. Without going through
the archives to determine the specific statistics of casualties,
I can tell you that the damage then was extensive. The second
time I was already a soldier, during the Six Day War in June
1967. A Syrian airplane erred in navigation and dropped its
bombs just north of where I was standing.
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As a result of this war, for the first time in my life I became
a refugee. After 12 days in Maalot we left for the center of
the country, to an apartment of a cousin presently overseas.
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By traveling to the Tel Aviv area we were closer to 2 of our
children, and we also fulfilled the mitzvah of tzaar baalei
chaim (compassion towards animals), by taking with us our 2
dogs. On the other hand, we left our garden, and everything
that we left flowering has no doubt withered since. The city
"hotline" office promised to inform us if our home suffered any
damage.
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I won't discuss the bad surprises that this war brought, (that
will wait until after the war), despite the pain and anger which
cause me great anguish. At this difficult time, in order to
keep up our spirits, I wish to emphasize the positive things.
For example, the initiative of our Arab and Druze friends from
"Sukkat Shalom" to join us in a Jewish-Arab delegation to visit
the Shalit family in the neighboring village of Hila, in order
to support them after the kidnapping of their son Gilad. The
visit took place on July 11th. The next day, the war
broke out. Today (August 8th) this seems like
"pre-history".
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I was again at Hila with Rabbi Zvi Berger for a morning minyan,
where a Bar Mitzvah boy was putting on tfillin for the
first time. His Bar Mitzvah had been scheduled for Shabbat at
our congregation in Kfar Vradim, but it had to be cancelled
because our congregation has not been meeting since the
beginning of the war, due to the ban on public gatherings. The
service at Hila, with the sounds of our cannon fire in the
background was a special, moving experience. Not to mention the
fact that I read the same Torah portion and Haftarah for my Bar
Mitzvah in 1960.
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I've been a member of the Masorti Movement in Israel for 9
years. But I've never been so proud of our movement as I am at
this time. The Movement publicized that it would do all that it
could to help families in the North. I contacted Adi at the
Movement office, in order to determine if they could help a
friend of mine, a Christian Arab from Tarshicha. She took his
phone number from me and contacted him with a number of
different possibilities; all this before I even managed to
contact him!
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I also must mention the willingness of Rabbi David Lazar and his
wife Shoshi to help in whatever way they could. I want to thank
Rabbi Lazar's congregation, Kehillat Tiferet Shalom, for
receiving me with such warmth. During the 1st
Shabbat I attended I was honored by being called up to the
Torah. The special, personal "Mish'berach" prayer, which Rabbi
Lazar recited, (as he does for each and every person called to
the Torah), was particularly moving.
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This war proved beyond
a shadow of a doubt that all Northern residents,Jews,
Christians, Muslims and Druze share a common fate. I would hope
that after the war emphasis will be placed not just upon
physical rebuilding, creation of greater employment
oppotunities,etc., but also on strengthening Jewish-Arab
interfaith and intercultural cooperation. This cooperation must
be based upon equality and mutual respect.
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Ami Waterman |
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