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| By Aliza Karp April 3, 2006 |
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"We are not a structured organization, nor do we have a budget to speak of," said Yehudit Piamenta, wife of musician Avi Piamenta. Yehudit was one of the many volunteers to coordinate a successful evening for women formerly of Gush Katif. "What we did have was the desire to do something. That's what made our project a success. You feel better doing something -- anything! We realized it was a better feeling to do whatever was within our reach than to do nothing. And it turned out that we did more than we ever dreamed we could possibly do!"
The only contact that Yehudit and the other women from Kfar Chabad had to the women of Gush Katif was Tzipporah Kirshenazaft, who together with her husband and family, were the Chabad Shluchim (emissaries) in Gush Katif. Tzipporah introduced Yehudit to Amira Nagar, another woman from Gush Katif, and together they began to plan an evening to bring the women of Kfar Chabad together with the women of Gush Katif.
Tzipporah warned the Kfar Chabad women that considering the stress that the women of Gush Katif were facing, it would not be so easy to draw them to come to an evening event, especially with women they did not know.
The determined ladies decided they would go door to door and introduce themselves. They also printed attractive invitations and posters. The Gush Katif residents were scattered in various locations. The women chose to go to the hotels in Yerushalaim, Yad Benyamin and Nitzan, where they were warmly received. On the night of the event some of the organizers were moved to tears as they watched more than two hundred women stepping off of the buses that had been arranged to fetch their guests.
The evening took place in Mercaz Shapira, just south of Kiryat Malachi, not far from Ashkelon, in a modest but welcoming hall. With a team of volunteers, the hall was decorated, flower arrangements were donated and the tables held the amount of home-made food that Jewish women tend to produce when they are worried there will not be enough to eat.
The organizers went out of their way to remember every detail so their guests would feel that this was not a superficial gesture, but one of deep concern. There was a gift for each woman and a door prize raffle. Amidst all the preparations, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolpo of Kiryat Gat responded generously when asked to assist with the expenses.
The program included speakers and music. At the end of the program the women got up and danced together -- hundreds of women, half from Gush Katif and half from Kfar Chabad.
The main speaker for the evening was Rabbi Yossi Jacobson from Brooklyn. Because the event was early in the week, his trip to Eretz Yisroel involved staying over Shabbos. When he asked his wife Estee if it was alright for him to take the trip, she answered, "That is the least I can do for these women."
In the past few years Rabbi Jacobson has spoken in many locations in Yehuda and Shomron - including Elon Moreh, Har Bracha, Karnei Shomron, Kiryat Arba and Bat Ayin - but he had not previously spoken before an audience from Gush Katif.
When asked what it is that forges his connection to his audiences from Yesha, Jacobson said, "The Jews of Yesha are heroic figures who are dedicated to holding onto the Land of Israel. But on a global level they are isolated, both physically and ideologically. They appreciate that I come from the outside, as someone who travels the world, who deeply cherishes them and their commitment to Eretz Yisroel.
"My primary contribution to share with them is to give them perspectives in Chassidus, to share with them how Chabad deals with uncertainty. As much as I tried to give them, I took away more. I have none of the challenges they face, or the pain they endure. I am their student, standing in awe and humbleness before them. Just as Hashem told Moshe to take off his shoes before approaching the burning bush, I felt I had to, in a figurative sense, take off my shoes before speaking to these women."
When addressing his audience Rabbi Jacobson thanked the women for their love of Eretz Yisroel and confirmed that their sacrifices for Eretz Yisroel and Toras Yisroel had not gone unnoticed.
He told the women that they should not lose faith. He clarified his statement saying that he was not talking about faith in G-d. He knew he was speaking to women whose faith in G-d was not shaken. Rather he encouraged them not to lose faith in themselves.
Yehudit reported, "Rabbi Jacobson spoke for more than an hour. There was total silence, except for the crying or laughing in response to what he was saying."
Before the program ended, the women of Gush Katif were given the opportunity to sign up for a study partner by phone. More that forty women signed up. Within a week almost all the women had been contacted. Simcha Blumenthal of Kiryat Malachi, who was arranging the phone partners, said "The women were very excited to receive a phone call so fast. And each one of them thanked me and said it was great evening!"
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