Inspired Deliveries

Klal Yisrael mourns a young soldier named Yosef Malachi Guedalia who fell shortly after the onset of the war. In just of one of many initiatives l’illui nishmaso, David Rose from the Israel Magen Fund arranged for packages of challah, grape juice, kiddush cups, candles, and besamim to be sent to the army bases.

Collecting Minutes

Rabbi Boruch Goldberger of Bonei Olam coordinates the Vzakeini project which, among many other programs on behalf of couples struggling with infertility, selects the names of two such couples weekly and shares them via email and text to over 50,000 women with a request to daven on their behalf.

At the outbreak of the war, Reb Boruch recognized that the week’s message would have to include something different. Reflecting on the numerous initiatives that had been launched to inspire nonobservant Jews to keep Shabbos, he pondered how we frum Yidden can enhance our Shabbos observance.

Then it hit him. Tosefes Shabbos! By accepting Shabbos early, we, too, can contribute to the mass effort to bring zechuyos to Klal Yisrael.

Reb Boruch reached out to Charidy, an online fundraising platform, and made his pitch.

“I have a funny request for you,” he said. “I would like to create a fundraising page — but not for money. I want to raise extra Shabbos minutes.”

The page was set up and Reb Boruch shared the link with the Vzakeini email list. Within hours, the initiative went viral with some ten thousand subscribers accepting on themselves a tally of over 109,500 added minutes to Shabbos.

May the brachah inherent in Shabbos usher in a new week filled with miraculous salvation.

Separate and Holy

This past Thursday night, groups of women throughout the whole world gathered for special hafrashas challah events. About 125 women were expected for the challah bake held in Rabbi Berger’s shul in Wesley Hills, Monsey, but the turnout was even bigger, with a crowd of women both observant and nonobservant alike — some of whom had never performed hafrashas challah before.

Together they took challah, separating the holy from the mundane. Just like Shabbos. Just like Klal Yisrael.

Brick By Brick

We’re all familiar with the well-known divrei Chazal that teach us that sinas chinam (baseless hatred) caused the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash. In parallel, we know that ahavas Yisrael is crucial for us to merit the building of the third Beis Hamikdash. Since the outbreak of the war, the vehement hatred of our enemies has been countered with a virtual explosion of love from one Jew to another. The generosity flows freely with too many acts of chesed to list.

But while we may be unable to count them, in Shamayim, they’re being meticulously tallied.

Act by act, brick by brick, we hope the third Beis Hamikdash will soon stand tall and proud as the whole world admits, “Mi k’amcha Yisrael!”

Going It Alone

We’re no strangers to charity campaigns but this recent effort has seen something different. It isn’t just well-established organizations opening web pages and processing donations. All over, “lone wolves” have cropped up, singlehandedly raising huge sums and donating large quantities of critical equipment to the army.

Moshe Yehudah Sait, 26, of Kiryat Moshe, who serves as a shoel u’meishiv in the mornings, raised over $250,000 and managed to secure hundreds of battery packs, coats, bulletproof vests, chargers, and many other items that were then sent to army bases. He’s just one of the dozens who heard, felt, and sprang to action.

Another was Ari Rabinowitz of Beit Shemesh. The former Torontonian has been racing tirelessly between bases and homes of soldiers to provide assistance to their families. Aside from the standard necessities, Ari has raised money to purchase siddurim for the soldiers as well as food for their families, along with flowers for the wives and games and toys for the children.

“I went to deliver toys and food packages to one family,” Ari shares. “The woman accepted the gifts and then handed me money.

“ ‘I’m not taking your money!’ I said. ‘But she insisted. She said, ‘I know what’s going on in Klal Yisrael, and I want to help. I’m receiving but I’m also giving. Take this money and pass it on to someone who needs it.’ ”

Jumping into Action

In Beit Shemesh, a virtual day camp was set up, operated by children, to service the many evacuees from the south. Depicted here are children enjoying the newly erected jumping castle, with lively music in the background.

Homemade with Love

The Burg family of Ramat Beit Shemesh put out the call within their neighborhood, asking for baked goods for soldiers. In under 12 hours, they received dozens of items.

By the Numbers

20,000

The number of special edition pamphlets ArtScroll/Mesorah Heritage Foundation printed containing the remaining blatt of Maseches Kiddushin in the current daf yomi cycle for chayalim in Israel. In addition to the Gemara with the translation from the Schottenstein Edition of Talmud Bavli in Hebrew, select perakim of Tehillim were included, too, along with Tefillas Haderech. The edition was sponsored by the Schottenstein family, and included the following banner: “Dedicated with love to the soldiers of the IDF and all the beloved security forces.”

As a zechus for those in Eretz Yisrael, ArtScroll has also made available the digital editions of all the masechtos of their current learning programs — daf yomi (Bavli and Yerushalmi), mishnah yomi, and the entire Tehillim — for free to users of their digital app. When word got out to soldiers that they would have access to these seforim on their phones while taking a break from battle, their response was overwhelming. “They are saying Tehillim at every available opportunity,” an officer told ArtScroll.

One chayal from Bnei Brak shared with his father that he was now able to learn on the battlefield, and his father choked up, telling him that he would add to his own learning as well, accepting on himself to finish all Shishah Sidrei Mishnah over the next 30 days as a zechus for the safety and security of his son and the entirety of Am Yisrael.

All Tied Together

On an army base somewhere near Gaza last Wednesday evening, a group of young chareidi men pulled up, with one of the participants in the group lugging a huge cardboard box. In full battle gear, weary but still smiling, the officer graciously received the offering with a humble “Shalom, shalom, chaver,” gratefully taking the box with the items his soldiers had requested — thousands of pairs of tzitzis.

A similar scene has been playing out across the country. Soldiers have been requesting tzitzis, and a mammoth operation involving hundreds of Jews has been set up to send sets of tzitzis to army bases as fast as possible.

When an avreich in Israel heard that there were soldiers looking for tzitzis, he enlisted a US-based organization that offers any Jewish male over bar mitzvah a pair of tzitzis free of charge. He then went to an Israeli tzitzis manufacturer and told him about the project, asking for a quote for green tzitzis (by army regulations, all clothing has to match Tzahal fatigues).

Meanwhile, the American team started fundraising for the project, though the cost turned out to be significantly less than originally anticipated. The Israeli manufacturer said he would provide the tzitzis at cost price, and that the money didn’t have to come up front either. He asked that the organization raise what they could, and assured them he would absorb the rest of the cost.

Soon though, the manufacturer realized he simply couldn’t keep up with demand. There was a continuous flow of requests from hardened warriors who wanted the protection the thin, cotton tzitis afforded.

Thinking out of the box, organizers found a T-shirt company who agreed to produce the necessary beged with a slit up the side that would qualify it as arba kanfos and thus obligate the wearer to have tzitzis.

The drab green T-shirts still needed the actual tzitis strings added though, and the Israeli team came up with solution: They bought the T-shirts and materials to shuls and batei medrashim in chareidi strongholds and distributed instructions. Video footage of the ensuing scenes showed young children and avreichem, chassidim both young and old, twirling, threading and spinning the long strings, looping them through the olive-green garments and murmuring “l’sheim mitzvas tzitzis,” before hurrying to finish and move onto the next pair.

From there, the tzitzis were packed neatly into boxes, where they were picked up by coordinators and delivered across Israel to soldiers who caressed them, kissed them, and slipped them under their uniforms, now ready for battle.

Dance of Unity

Israeli-born Levi spent time in America learning in the Waterbury Yeshivah before returning to Eretz Yisrael for military duty. Upon his release, he returned to Waterbury to continue his learning. As the news began to trickle in on Shemini Atzeres, Levi received a psak that he could answer phone calls from the Israeli military.

On Simchas Torah, his phone rang. He stepped away from hakafos to take the call, and returned looking ashen.

His friends understood. Levi would be leaving yeshivah to fight the world’s most sinister evil. The festive singing died down and the circle disintegrated.

Then someone approached Levi and handed him a sefer Torah which he held on to with burning fervor. A new circle formed as all the boys gathered around Levi and joined in a heartrending rendition of Acheinu, expressing their sincerest hopes for his safe return.

Please daven for Levi Yitzchok ben Dina Miriam.

Listen to the Voices

The words of Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezer, perek 32, have never seemed so poignant:

“Why is his name Yishmael? Because in the future, Hashem will listen to the cries of His nation from what Yishmael will do to them in Eretz Yisrael in the end of days. Therefore, his name is Yishmael as it says ‘Vayishma Keil vayaneim….’ ”

Around the world, in every shul, school, yeshivah, kollel, and in the confines of every Jewish home, tefillos from the depths of our collective heart gush forward in a torrent that must be overwhelming the gates of Heaven. Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezer foretold it so many years ago, and today, we watch the prophecy unfold.

So Far, So Close

In Monsey, New York, immediately after Yom Tov, a small group of askanim began working tirelessly to secure a space that could safely host a large atzeres tefillah. On Monday afternoon, Mrs. Mona Montal obtained permission from Rockland Community College to use its fieldhouse, whose bleachers seat 1,500.

Rav Elya Brudny shlita graciously agreed to come from Brooklyn and offer divrei chizuk, and the event was scheduled for 7:30 Tuesday evening. It was only by Tuesday afternoon that flyers began circulating via email through shul lists and local schools, and the organizers were hoping, at best, for a turnout of 1,500. Instead, over 6,000 people, including some 50 rabbanim, arrived.

The event began with an acknowledgment of Dr. Lester Sandres Rápalo, president of RCC, Mrs. Montal, Police Chief Marty Riley, and other askanim. The mass crowd then davened Maariv, after which Rav Elya delivered divrei chizzuk. Rabbi Chaim Schabes shlita then led the crowd in Tehillim for about half an hour, and then there was another Maariv for those who missed the first one due to the unexpected traffic.

With all our hearts and souls, we will continue davening for our brothers and sisters who are so far away, but to whom we feel so very close.

Torah

Raising Our Voices

It’s safe to say that there isn’t a beis medrash in the world that hasn’t seen a steep increase in limud haTorah since the war started. Still, the sheer concentration of lomdei Torah who gathered in Lakewood’s Beth Medrash Govoha boggles the mind. On Isru Chag, a full week before the zeman officially began, a call went out from the Lakewood roshei yeshivah. “Eis tzarah hi l’Yaakov,” they said in a letter disseminated to the public, quoting Chazal that the power of Klal Yisrael is in its kol, and when our kol is triumphant, the yadayim of Eisav capitulate.

While ordinarily the yeshivah uses bein hazmanim to take care of all the necessary recurring building maintenance that doesn’t take place during the zeman so as not to interrupt the flow of the limud, now the construction crews and maintenance teams were instructed to hold off due to the gravity of the situation.

“All of those living in our city should come and learn in the yeshivah, and the doors of the batei midrashim will be open the entire day and night for the duration of bein hazmanim,” read the letter, urging everyone to strengthen themselves in teshuvah and tefillah.

Bein hazmanim notwithstanding, the thousands of seats dotting the cavernous beis medrash were filled to capacity. Yungeleit took their familiar seats, bochurim swayed over empty shtenders, and balabatim who haven’t been in the yeshivah for several years made their way back and took out their Gemaras. There were no shiurim, no schedules, no sedorim or bein hasedorim, just masses and masses somberly converging to learn and offer spiritual fortification during this most precarious time.

On Tuesday evening, which the roshei yeshivah designated for a mass atzeres tefillah, the learning ceased. By nine o’clock, nearly 10,000 people filled every seat in every one of the batei midrashim, and by a quarter past, there was not a vacant square inch: crammed upstairs in the chaburah rooms and downstairs in the coat room, in the landings on the staircases and in between the halls of the otzar haseforim was a sea of black, the men crying and reciting Tehillim line by line. The booming voices thundered off the walls, transcending the space and blending with the millions of others davening, in a collective, upward flow.

Brachos

Not for Sale

Just a few miles out of Lakewood, the town of Manchester, New Jersey, features calm, leafy streets with single-family homes and surprisingly little traffic. And while the lemonade stand set up last Thursday on a folding table in front of a home on Oak Lane seemed to blend in with the pastoral setting, something was different.

There were the regular offerings of homemade popcorn, sugary lemonade, and baked goods. But the mini salespeople weren’t requesting money for their treats — they were charging brachos instead. When prompted, they shyly explained that their cousin, Aliza Isaacs, an American oleh from Lawrence, was set to marry Natan Davidowitz, a West Hempstead native who relocated to Eretz Yisrael as well, this coming Thursday. The family was looking forward to attending the wedding, but their plans were cut short by the devastating attacks, as the chassan was called up to join the reservists.

Wanting to do something in his merit, his cousins-to-be back in the United States hastily set up their little stand, and asked their junior customers to make brachos as a zechus for Nosson Yonah ben Chana Baila and acheinu bnei Yisrael.

Hakaras Hatov

Impact

All the Torah and tefillah on behalf of the soldiers has made a deep impact on their families. Soldier2Soldier, an initiative pairing soldiers with others who learn and daven on their behalf, has received a mass number of messages of gratitude from family members of the soldiers. Below are a sampling:

Thank you, you can’t imagine how comforting this is. The impact is incredible. When my son saw the email, he was overwhelmed. May they all come home mentally and physically sound. We cannot thank you enough. The situation here is crushing and you are uplifting.

—Mother of two soldiers

We are truly an amazing people. I say now with great pride and gratitude “shelo asani goy” each morning. Please relay to your family our gratitude for your good wishes and support.

—Grandmother of a soldier

Thank you so much for this amazing initiative and tremendous chesed. Our deepest gratitude for your learning and davening for Israel and our soldiers, in particular for davening and learning in the merit of our son…. We daven for all of our children, families, and soldiers. We daven for Israel and Geulah sheleimah. Thank you for partnering up with us in achvah amitit! Am Yisrael CHAI!

We will update you more when we know more about our son and his gedud.

Thank you so much for all your efforts.

May we all be bearers of good news.

Thank you so much for signing up to learn on behalf of my brother. He is a lone soldier from New York who was visiting Israel for Succos when all of this happened and was called back up for duty.

As you can imagine, our family is very worried about him and your pledge to learn on his behalf has given all of us some peace of mind, and for that we are incredibly grateful. There are really no words to express what this means to us.

Thank you so much!

There are no words enough to express my gratitude to you for this special initiative!

You are all truly amazing and I am truly grateful.

With loads of brachah and hatzlachah to you all! Hashem should protect all Klal Yisrael and send yeshuos!

—Relative of a soldier

This is truly the greatest thing I’ve seen so far. Truly an amazing way to truly combat this evil madness.

—Mother of a soldier

Everyone is still safe, Baruch Hashem!

Thank you for your limud Torah on his behalf.

May we know no more tza’ar in Klal Yisrael!

Tizku l’mizvos!!

Shalom, I do not have the words to thank you for such a special initiative. I cry each time I read such a letter.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 982)