The Milwaukee Jewish Federation is sharing personal stories provided by people in Israel who have a Milwaukee connection, from their families in Milwaukee and from Milwaukee participants in recent missions. These and more can be found on the MJF website, MilwaukeeJewish.org.
July 21, 11:45 a.m. (CST) — My name is Hagar Hofesh. I am a medical clown. I work with children at a hospital near Ashkelon for a group called Dream Doctors. I work with children of all ages…
The ward is not fully packed because doctors are sending children to hospitals in safer areas. The conditions here have become very difficult, very stressful. The children are now being cared for in a shelter, a very small, narrow place for staff to work.
I’ve been working in this hospital with this staff for years, and we have been through a few wars together. I can see in the eyes of the nurses, and I can read their body language, to know they are under stress.
The parents are under stress too. They talk about getting to shelters, about moving into shelters, about where each bomb hits. The stress has gotten higher since our soldiers are in Gaza. The kids of the nurses are fighting.
It’s a very fragile situation for me. I have a ten-minute drive from my village to the hospital but it seems like the longest drive. I am praying for no sirens when I’m on my way there and my way back…
A few days ago a siren went off two minutes after I left the hospital shelter. I left my car with the keys in it and ran for my life. All the people around me also left their cars and went to find shelter, but there is nothing. I just lie on the road with my hands on my head crying hysterically because it’s a scary thing.
I thought I would get used to the sirens and to the bombs. I feel like new fears have joined other fears that were deep inside. The nurses are joking about bringing a sleeping bag for me — so I can work there and stay there to be safe.
My head was a little quieter because I sent my kids away to their grandma who lives in a kibbutz. I knew they are in a safe place. Yesterday I went to pick them up, and now we are here together.
Received July 17, 8:23 p.m. (CST) — Former Israel emissary to Milwaukee Mishka (Moshe) Ben David, his wife Shina and their daughter Shiri were sitting at the Ben Davids’ home finalizing plans for their son’s wedding that was to take place a few days after the attack on Israel began. Security was already on their minds.
Minutes into their conversation, sirens warned of incoming rockets. Calmly, Shina and Shiri went to the basement, while Mishka rushed to his car and drove two blocks to Shiri’s house to help her husband take their three children to the security room.
Approaching his daughter’s home, Mishka heard an explosion coming from the direction of his own home. Within seconds, his daughter Shiri arrived with her car to check on her kids. She explained to her father that a rocket had hit on the opposite side of their house as she was rushing to her car, frantically trying to get to her kids.
Seconds later his cellphone rang. Shina was on the line — she was OK, but the house sustained damage.
The rocket fell about 50 yards from their large patio doors. From the explosion, many of the windows shattered, and shrapnel flew through the living room, tearing into their grandchild’s playpen, hitting the opposite wall and front door. On her rush to be with her children, Shiri passed through the front door seconds before the rocket hit.
The next dayShina was on her way home from Jerusalem. Suddenly, the sirens blared again. She stopped the car and lay by the side of the road until the danger had passed. The other cars on the road also pulled over and people yelled to each other to take cover.
Shina looked up and saw a ball of fire approaching her location. Seconds later, another ball of fire appeared, but this time rising straight. Within seconds the two balls of fire converged and exploded in the air. The Iron Dome saved Shina and the other motorists’ lives.
Mishka Ben David and his family live in the Jerusalem region. Mishka and wife Shina (Shoshana) were shlichim (emissaries) in Milwaukee during 1977-1980. Mishka spoke at the Milwaukee 2011 Yom HaZikaron program. These events were retold by Avner Porat as the family described them.
July 17, posted to Facebook approximately 11 a.m. (CST) — I left the house today, coffee in my hand and found a newspaper just outside the front door. My cousin [in Israel] left his house today, his kid in his hand and found this just outside his front door…. (See photo on this page.)
From Noach Jubelirer, Director of Community Planning, Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
July 16, approximately 7:30 a.m. (CST) — Rakefet Ginsburg, Israel emissary to Milwaukee from 2006-2009, said that money donated to the MJF Campaign helps her in her current job. It helps send about 600 kids to camp that otherwise would not be able to go.
This is especially important now, since sending kids to camp allows parents to go to work. With the sirens and bombs, kids can’t stay at home. This money provides camps in shelters in the south and allows kids with disabilities to go to camp in the north. Parents know that their children are safe. Your donation makes a difference.
From Nancy Barnett, MJF Israel and Overseas Chair, in a social media conversation with Rakefet.
July 14, posted to Twitter approximately at 1 p.m. (CST) — I visited with a family today whose apartment was bombed. The family was traumatized and the children have refused to leave the bomb shelter and go outside to play or day camp. Fortunately, there are trauma experts that are focusing on the children in this conflict zone. War is bad, and it is always worst for the children.
From Dan Bader, Treasurer and Chair-elect of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, during his participation in a Jewish Federations of North America solidarity mission to Israel.
July 13, posted to Facebook approximately at 11 a.m. (CST) — Preparing to go into conflict zone on Monday. We are being briefed by our security detail about the dangers of going into this area of Israel. Once again, it’s important to note that people live in Sderot, and they don’t have the choice that I do of whether to be there. My thoughts are always with the innocent people, on both sides of the Gaza border who are the victims of terror.
July 13, 9:10 a.m. (CST) — Our Campaign Chair/Director mission group was entertained by a group of seniors from the former Soviet Union who live on special subsidized housing provided by a JAFI program called Amigour.
Danielle Newman spoke to our group about the work of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and we heard from the director of Amigour. Tova Adler, a diminutive 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, shared her story of surviving Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen, a story she shares with more than 50 groups like ours each year.
The highlight of this session was the spontaneous breaking out in dance, catching the vibrant spirit of these seniors despite the sirens.
From Amy Kahn, Vice President of Financial Resource Development, Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
July 12, 6:23 p.m. (CST) — Mission participants had a quiet day that included walking tours, synagogue attendance, a Shabbat lunch and informal sessions. The restfulness of Shabbat was shattered at about 5 or 6 p.m., when we heard a siren and headed to the safe space in the stairwell on each of our floors. We heard that there were many rockets in other parts of the country, as well, and that 40,000 troops have been called up.
At a very inspiring session, the hotel manager came to visit and express a special thanks that we are still here and did not cancel the rest of our trip, as so many are doing. We really feel so good about being here with our brethren, despite real concerns.
July 11, 2:44 p.m. (CST) — I am sitting in the airport after an incredible day. Such a day of mixed feelings. I have been nervous and anxious much of the day — nervous about being here, nervous about flying out tonight, nervous about friends I’ve met over the years in Israel that are not flying out tonight, and nervous about my extended family in Israel.
Life appears normal — shops are crowded, people are out — but as my cabdriver told me tonight, no one watches regular television shows, they only watch the news. And the feeling of dread, that this conflict is not over and will not be over soon, pervades.
We met this morning with four people from the south — a mayor of a town, a social worker at an absorption center, a director of a center for independent living, and another social worker in a small town near Gaza. To a person, they thank us for being there. And yet they are the ones providing incredible service to their citizens — our family.
Ohad, from the absorption center, tells us about how hard it is to explain to Ethiopian immigrants what is going on. Dahlia, from the center for independent living, talks about how the disabled and elderly cannot race to shelters fast enough to save themselves.
And Niv discusses how it has become easy for him to work since he sent his family north. In fact, his family meets him in the hotel ballroom in Tel Aviv because they haven’t seen him in a week.
In the middle of the session, almost fittingly, the siren goes off. But as we are already in the basement, we are safe.
Then we head to Jerusalem for Shabbat. Before lunch, the parents of one of the kidnapped and murdered teenagers, Gilad Shahar, spoke to our group. And it is all I can do not to burst into tears just looking at them.
Gilad was 16. His father tells us that he was shocked and surprised by the global outpouring of support for the families. He received messages and calls from the U.S., Australia, Uruguay, and Italy — and was visited in person, left messages on the phone, sent emails, received letters, and even texted via the What’s Up app. His grace is unbelievable. He hopes that his son’s legacy is to bring more love, more tolerance, and more understanding into the world. And, by now, every one of us is crying.
From Andrea Schneider, MJF Annual Campaign Chair.
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