OU Volunteers - pack boxes, head to the beach…
July 30, 2006
Shalom Alaychem.As I am sure you are all aware of what’s happening here, I wanted to emphasize how extremely proud I am to be part of the OU.
7 OU employees and I will be going up north tomorrow morning with INN TV and Radio Kol Hatzafon to visit Haifa, Naharia and Tzfat.
70 of our volunteers dressed in their OU T- Shirts spent the entire Sunday morning in the OU parking lot packing up another 150 boxes for the north. These are the boxes that our other volunteers are giving out and using in the different bomb shelters that they are going to. (The cost before transportation is $150 per box)
75 graduates of our OU Course Martzim (Kiruv Training course) were asked by the directors of Mr. Gaydimak`s tent cities (10,000 people in total) to come to the tent city and run their Shabbat programs, run davening, teach classes, etc… It was a major hit and we were asked to come down for next Shabbat as well. [Mr. Gaydimak is one of the wealthiest Jews in Israel. He has built two tent cities, 5,000 tents in each, along the beach in Nitzanim (near Ashkelon) and is feeding all the inhabitants and sponsoring the entire endeavor.] View Photos of the OU at Mr. Gaydimak's Tent Cities
80 of our Kehilot Yisrael Tiberius branch participants asked Rabbi Meir Shwartz to run a Shabbaton for them and teach them how to deal with the situation, Rabbi Shwartz came back extremely satisfied.
700 of our OU volunteers have been working with Rabbi Eliyahu Fargun (Director of Kehilot Yisrael in Ariel) on a daily basis going from bomb shelter to bomb shelter helping families and bringing them some happiness in these terrible times.
I was given the privilege to speak with JOLT 1 and TJJ this past Shabbat about what the OU in N.Y. and in Israel are doing to try and help the situation.
It has been a true honor.
May Hashem continue giving us all the vision and the strength to continue on.
Bevirkat Hatorah,
Avi Berman
Director, OU Israel Center
