America a Refuge for Families Displaced by Oct. 7th Attack
by Nochie Wolf – chabad.org
In the days and weeks following the Oct. 7 massacres in Israel, hundreds of families from near the Israel-Gaza border were uprooted from their homes. As images of the bloodshed and destruction circulated online, Jews in America were first shocked and then spurred into action. Highlighting the destruction of the cities and kibbutzim on their screens was the fact that they’d been transformed into ghost towns, brutalized and desolate.
The impact of the Palestinian terrorists’ rampage through southern Israel went even beyond the indiscriminate murders and kidnappings. For those lucky enough to survive, they were left homeless—their towns and villages now a military zone.
Bearing the scars of that dark day, these survivors—all with family and friends they would never see again—sought places of refuge to feel safe, regroup and attempt to begin the process of healing and recovery.
As it has so many times throughout history, help came from their brethren in America.
“Our community quickly decided to concentrate our efforts to help as many families as we could return to a somewhat normal life,” explains Rabbi Menachem Gurary, co-director of the Chabad-Lubavitch Israeli Center in Atlanta. “Our goal was to soothe their souls and help them personally rebuild.”
Intent on making it as easy as possible for those seeking aid to find it, shortly after Oct. 7 Chabad Israeli Center of Atlanta began placing ads in newspapers, Facebook groups and other Israeli communication channels offering housing and assistance to families impacted by the war.
The response was overwhelming: Since October, the community has welcomed tens of scarred Israeli families to Atlanta, where they’ve come for weeks—some even for months at a time—to recover.
“Many of these families simply left their homes and had nothing, so we are endeavoring to provide everything they need,” Gurary says. Chabad Israeli Center provides these families with daily meals, a car and a weekly stipend, as well as various educational and entertaining programs held daily at the Chabad center for the younger children.
Atlanta is not alone.
Reemergence of an Age-Old Instinct
Jews in the Diaspora have been instrumental in aiding their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land for centuries. Back in 1777, when a group of Chassidim made aliyah from the Russian Empire and settled in Safed and Tiberias in the north of Israel, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi accepted the responsibility of collecting funds in Eastern Europe for the new community in Israel. The founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Rabbi Schneur Zalman had remained behind to continue leading the Jews of Russia.
This laid the foundation for the establishment of Colel Chabad in 1788, the longest-operating charity in the Holy Land and 160 years older than the modern state.
By the beginning of the 20th century millions of Jews had settled in the United States and, taking advantage of the country’s blessings of freedom and economic growth, began doing well. American Jewry was known to be generous and soon became the main source of material aid for the impoverished and oppressed Jews of Europe, and to the ancient communities and new pioneers in the Land of Israel.
When the Sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, visited the United States in 1929-1930, one of the express goals of his trip was to raise awareness for the terrible economic and spiritual plight of the Jews of the Soviet Union. “I felt it my duty to come to America to relate the situation as it is, and to hear the response from the Jews of America. How do they respond to [their fellow] Jewish people who are being oppressed?” Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak told one crowd of well-wishers in St. Louis.
It wasn’t good enough to merely express sorrow for their downtrodden brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world, he exclaimed. “You desire to hear regards from them, but at this moment you must remember that they want to hear regards from you. [They want to hear] a response not only of your inspiration, not only [your] empathetic sigh, but also a response with warm hearts and with abundant [material] assistance.”
The Jews of America heard the Sixth Rebbe’s cry, and offered their support then. Their post-Oct 7 instinct and desire to help is a reemergence of this old American Jewish tradition to open their hearts, homes, finances and influence to help their brethren across the world, reeling in their time of distress.
Communities Spring to Action
As in Atlanta, the Jewish community in Denver has opened its doors. With their house in Kibbutz Be’eri destroyed, Oshri and Dekal Shalev and their three young children have found themselves welcomed by the Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver community. At the welcome dinner held for the family upon their arrival, more than 150 people attended.
“The community embraced the Shalevs, helping them as they acclimated to Denver,” says Rabbi Avraham Mintz, co-director of Chabad of South Metro Denver. “Individuals tirelessly worked to find them an apartment, enroll the children in the local Jewish school and provide them with financial resources so they could thrive in their temporary new home.”
On one of the nights of Chanukah, Chabad of South Metro Denver held a “Guess How Many Dreidels in the Jar” contest. When Mintz called the winning family the next day to award their prize, the young winner told Mintz he wanted to give it to the Shalevs. And at the Denver community Chanukah celebration in December, the Shalev family had the honor of lighting the public menorah.
“As I watched their family—far from their home in Kibbutz Be’eri kindle the menorah lights, I was in awe and pride for the Jewish people.” Mintz recalls. “No matter where we may live or which circumstances we come from, at our essence we are all one, and in times of crisis, we come together in strength, comfort and support.”
The same is so in Queens, N.Y.., where Rabbi Yossi Blesofsky, who directs Chabad of Northeast Queens, has also been involved in assisting war-affected families settling short-term in his community.
For Blesofsky, the plight of affected families is a personal one. A teacher at the Chabad Hebrew school directed by his wife had a daughter who was murdered at the Nova Festival massacre. When, a few days after the attack, a man from one of the Israeli border towns with Gaza approached him to enroll two of his kids, aged 2 and 4, in the Hebrew school, he rushed to roll out the red carpet.
“He explained to me that he and his kids were in the southern strip of Israel during the attack, and he just wanted to give his children a chance to get away,” Blesofsky says of the family’s flight to the United StatesU.S. “They became part of our school and community during their time here, and hopefully, we were able to bring some joy and normality into their lives.”
A Time to Heal
In Atlanta, doctors and mental-health professionals were arranged to assist with the unspeakable trauma that the families were dealing with. For the children, in particular, the toll of the war has been incredibly profound, and Chabad has invested in creative methods such as animal-assisted therapy to engage them in the healing process.
“The healing that the haven and support has provided can be seen even in the short-term,” says Liba Gurary, who co-directs the center with her husband. “Some families came here completely broken; the kids wouldn’t talk, didn’t want to express themselves, or connect with anyone. And after a few weeks of experiencing all the love and support, it’s really changed.”
One child did not want a bar mitzvah celebration thrown for him because he was in mourning over the close family and friends he had lost in the attacks. Some of his teachers are still being held hostage in Gaza. Eventually, he warmed up to the idea, and the community reacted immediately. More than 100 people came to help celebrate the boy’s special day, a DJ, cameras and catering completing the festive atmosphere.
“It was amazing for him, his family and everyone!” Gurary reports.
It is not just the material aid, he notes, but the volunteering spirit that has moved the community: “What we are seeing now is the most amazing gathering of help in our community that we’ve witnessed in the 17 years we have been here.”
The project requires a lot of labor, and more than 80 volunteers participate each day. Their responsibilities range from coordinating with prospective families in Israel to preparing meals, managing the necessary legal work and finding more homes. Gurary says that this project has helped the community realize the power of what can be achieved when they stand together.
For the families who spent time in communities across the United States as they waited for the all clear to return home to Israel, the help of their brethren who they had never met before was invaluable. For those on this side of the ocean, it has been the realization that they can indeed make real, lasting positive change.
“Every person has their own capacities and resources,” says Blesofsky. ”One individual may be a speaker, and another is a philanthropist. Ultimately, each of us is charged with playing a unique role in supporting our brothers and sisters in Israel; we can create our own frontlines.”
