Love and unity that sprout out from the heart - Part 1

By Rav David Lhungdim

On Friday, 13th of Oct. The community of Benei Menashe journeyed to Jerusalem Hotel, leaving behind their beloved city, Sderoth, because of the brutality of war started by the terrorist organization Hamas. Our only discussion was whether we would merit returning to our city again.

The journey from Sderot to Jerusalem was one and a half hours. At noon we reached the holy city of Jerusalem, the eyes of the universe. Our bus stopped at 23 St. George Street, Jerusalem, and as we climbed down the bus, we met with our friend's relatives and residents of Sderot who had been evacuated early.

We inhaled the holy atmosphere of Jerusalem and we felt relieved as if we felt our beloved city of Sderot inside Jerusalem, the city of our beloved King David. We were separated into three hotels: the Leonardo Hotel, the Grand Court Hotel, and the Olive Tree Hotel.

As we carried our luggage and bags, we saw a team of volunteers from Khamal Lev. They greeted us warmly and distributed sweets and water. The warm welcome and kindness that I saw from this youngster made me cry and it healed the pains and sorrow which were engraved deep inside my heart, and one can see the middot of Avraham Avinu among his children and I feel blessed to be part of the nation.

Then a young kind-hearted lady approached me and introduced herself. Her name was Shani and she represented the Khamal Lev team. She told me that the community need not worry because they were ready to help us in every possible way. She took us where a table was prepared and she notified her co-worker to write down every basic necessity according to each household, and around 15:00 there were a lot of volunteers from various parts of Jerusalem who brought snacks, clothes, toys, etc.

pic 1. With Yoni Benet volunteer from Lev ekhad Team. pic 2. With Shani volunteer from Khamal team. pic 3. Yael from manager Khamal Lev team the olive tree hotel. pic 4. with Maayan Bar Yokhai from Sderoth Municipality. pic 5. with Tamar Tzohar and her team yfrom Lev Ekhad. pic 6. Tzakhi from Education Dept Jerusalem.

There was another team, Lev Ekhad, who told us that we need not worry about washing and laundering, we needed only to bring our clothes and write our name on the bag. Washing and laundry were done by them, and after a few minutes young girl named Khen introduced herself. She was a social worker from the municipality of Jerusalem and said every basic necessity should be informed to her so that she would be able to demand on time and make it available on time.

Khen a social worker from Jerusalem Municipality

At 16:30, everyone returns to their respective rooms and prepares for Shabbath. On Shabbat afternoon from 14:30 -15:30, we gather for Shiurei Torah and are followed by afternoon prayers after Shabbath everyone switches on their phone to hear the news. We were shocked to see our city Sderot look like a Ghost city, the street was empty.

The municipality of Sderot under Mayor Alon Davidi sent a team of social workers who take care of the residents of Sderot in Jerusalem and informed the community to cooperate with various teams and organizations according to their needs, a school and Kindergarten were opened in their respective hotel and for orthodox religion, cars were organized to transport the children from hotel to schools for this applaud should be given to Maayan Bar Yokhai, Rabbi Ilan Gabai, and Tzakhi from the education department in Jerusalem.

We heard the news that every resident of the surrounding Gaza should apply for a form each person would receive 1000 shekel, we applied for the form, and for those who could not I was contacted by Khen Arieli who was willing to volunteer for the Bnei Menashe community.

But it's disgusting to hear that among the Jewish people, there are various organizations asking for donations in the name of the Bnei Menashe but in reality, it never reaches us. We beg such organizations to stop their misbehavior. If not, we will have no other choice but to expose their true nature. Today, I am writing on our webpage but tomorrow it will be on social media.

We have been evacuated from Sderot leaving our houses behind with help and aid from the government and the municipality of Sderot. No other third-party organization was involved. Such organizations claiming to have evacuated the Bnei Menashe community are nothing but fraud. Henceforth upon failing to hear our plea, they will have to bear the consequences.

Almog Moscovitz a senior advisor to Israel immigration from the

Jewish Agency sends tablets for children of Bnei Menashe

Last but not least, We give our heartiest thanks to Almog Moskowitz, a senior advisor to Israel’s Immigration from the Jewish Agency for his donation of tablet devices to the children of the Bnei Menashe community of Sderot during our stay in the hotels of Jerusalem.

Imagine a war-torn country surrounded by the enemy and experiencing rocket fire from terrorists every day and yet the whole world blames Israel, I don't think if such amount of rockets were fired at any country or maybe only 10 rockets, Hamas would have been annihilated within a day, and yet the world blames Israel why? because the Jews are Roses among the thorns and a day will come when this wound will be healed and the nation will realize the chosen nations of G-d, and on that day everlasting peace will be established by David, King of Israel.