Dear Friends,
As this RA News is sent, the Administrative committee just ended a phone call where Mauricio Balter, our regional president, calling in from Beersheva, had to exit the call in response to a siren. He wrote that the sirens sounded 4 times with 16 missiles on Beersheva. He emailed that he could not get back on the phone in order to leave the line free for his congregants. Mauricio also told us that he organized, on behalf of the region, a hotline for pastoral care calls for people in distress and plans for congregations without rabbis to receive visits from a rabbi.
In addition to the courage and dedication that our colleagues are expressing on the regional level, we read tweets and postings from our colleagues that inspire us with their courage. Mijael Eben David posted to Facebook that he has been called up. So many colleagues are in Israel now for the summer and are updating their status as they run cover to shelters. If you are in Israel now, please include us in your updates so we can stay in touch.
Though we have still not arisen from mourning the tragic kidnapping and murders of Naftali, Eyal, Gil-ad, and then of Mohammed, our people and our beloved homeland are plunged once again into defending ourselves from relentless terrorist attacks. Even as Israel fights the rockets of Hamas from Gaza, Jews outside of Israel must not lose sight that a July 20th deadline approaches in the negotiations with Iran. No matter how sad our mourning nor how frightful the rockets of tonight, it is the task of world Jewry to remind the world of how much more unstable and unsafe it will become for all democracies if Iran were to obtain a nuclear weapon and trigger a regional arms race. As we are glued to the news, take a minute to join advocacy efforts regarding Iran sanctions. If you are in the US, share this AIPAC link with your networks and communities to contact elected officials.
B'yedidut,
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld