What can we do to make a difference for our people in Israel? Baruch Hashem, our community is filled with people who care and take action. Mrs. Linda Cohen shared how she was recently listening to a radio show hosted by Nachum Segal when he posed a question: “Ten years from now, when our kids read about October 7, what will we tell them when they ask what we did to help?” She thought about this question.
She thought to herself: What can I do when I’m so far away? Then she thought that, as the wife of a Hatzalah member, she knows what it’s like when her husband has to leave. She knows her husband will, im yirtzeh Hashem, return home shortly after the call, but the wives of soldiers don’t have this security. Some men have been away since the war began and some come home only once a month. These wives have to be both parents to their children. She decided it would be special to do something for these heroic wives, and so the idea of prayers and packages was born.
Women gathered on Sunday evening, February 4, at the Young Israel of Queens Valley to make packages for the Israeli soldiers’ wives who live in Modi’in and neighboring areas. The program was hosted by the Women’s League of the Young Israel of Queens Valley. The program began with the Young Israel of Queens Valley’s Rebbetzin Yael Marcus leading everyone in reciting T’hilim.
Following this, Mrs. Cohen spoke first about how the idea for this project came about. She shared that the goal is to bring joy to these women. She shared a d’var Torah that klal Yisrael camped near the mountain when they received the Torah. The Hebrew word is in the singular. Rashi says that this teaches that klal Yisrael is like one person. Klal Yisrael is compared to a human body. All the parts work together as one unit, and that’s why it says k’ish echad b’leiv echad. She shared how the women here were gathered together with a common cause to help the women in Israel.
Next, Rebbetzin Marcus spoke. She thanked the organizers of the program, and she thanked Mrs. Lisa Cohen, who volunteered to transport all the packages to Israel. She shared how, on October 7, when we heard what happened in Israel, a shadow was cast over our people. Since then, our lives are not the same. We were in a place that we couldn’t believe. As time went on, and the new reality sunk in, we got used to the bad news of someone being killed. We need to remind ourselves what is going on and that we can’t just go on as if life is normal. We must incorporate feeling and care for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael. Many major initiatives are being done for Israel. She emphasized that “they need to know we care.” She noted that letters mean so much. What does it mean to be nosei b’ol im chaveiro (to lift someone’s burden)? It means he/she knows you care and that lifts their burden. We can do this, and we must do this.
When Moshe grew up, he cared. It says he saw and intervened because these Jews were his brothers. Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz taught in the name of the Brisker Rav that Iyov suffered terrible yisurim because he was quiet when Pharaoh asked for advice about what to do with the Jews. If people are in pain, they scream out even if they are alone. Iyov’s quiet showed acceptance of Pharaoh’s plan. We hear stories and we have to let them know we’re in pain with them and not be silent. We do this with t’filah, T’hilim, saying we care and reacting, reading the stories and thinking about acheinu beis Yisrael. “There are countless stories, and we have to internalize what is going on and we can’t possibly be quiet.”
Women are now raising kids as single parents. Soldiers in the United States do their stint and come home. Soldiers in Israel, in Gaza, stay months and they can’t come home and be normal. It’s traumatic and they have to go back. It’s so hard.
The wives of the soldiers are giving way to the needs of klal Yisrael. They’re dedicating themselves to klal Israel. We have to feel the pain of our sisters in Israel. Hashem should bring the end of this war and the g’ulah!
The women in Queens decorated lovely white packages and filled them with special donated items like soft fuzzy socks, eye masks, lip gloss, and a special card that said the items were from the Women’s League of the Young Israel of Queens Valley. Everyone wrote personalized letters to the women and included those in the packages.
It was a wonderful feeling to be able to do one small act to show these heroic women that we care and are davening for them and thinking of them.
By Susie Garber
