As you know, Israel is under attack by terrorists who have fired hundred of rockets into the Jewish State over the past few days. Innocent people have been killed. Children have had to spend countless hours in bomb shelters. Israel is taking action to defend herself.
Some of us have family and friends in Israel and we are thinking of them as we prepare to enter Shabbat. All of us have fellow congregants in Israel. Benjamin Schachner, the son of Bretta (our President) and Bob, is studying in Tel Aviv this year. Yesterday, his program evacuated him to Jerusalem. Quinn Katler, the son of Mitch and Carol and the late Ronni, is a medical student in Tel Aviv who spent part of yesterday in a bomb shelter. With the help of modern technology (Skype and Facetime) both Benjamin and Quinn will be joining us live for Kabbalat Shabbat services tonight at 7:30PM. Please join us – show your support for Benjamin, Quinn and everyone in Israel. Hear directly from people affected by this crisis. Your presence will be so important.
I also want to remind you to log in to Israeli websites to get up to date information. I suggest jpost.com, haaretz.com and ynetnews.com. There is awful anti-Israel bias in the mainstream media. Honestreporting.com exposes this bias. You can get updates from the Israel Defense Forces on Twitter by following@IDFSpokesperson. One of my favorite blogs that will keep you up to date is http://israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com/. Please remember, when you hear about the war between Israel and Hamas – Israel is a sovereign nation. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Hamas is firing rockets into Israel – targeting civilians as they go about their daily lives. Israel is defending herself – attempting to do everything in her power to stop the terrorists from harming Israelis. Israel has every right to defend herself and stop Hamas. May she succeed and may Israel know true peace.
