Tzedakah Saves from Death
Clouds over the Holy Land. Photo by Margaret Olin
Dear friends,
We have transitioned into a new stage of insanity in the Middle East. In my overwhelming concern for my loved ones back home I turn to our biblical book of wisdom, Proverbs, that says: “צדקה תציל ממוות” “charity saves from death.” As a mode of praying for the safety of our family and friends in Israel in this precarious moment I offer two paths to feed the hungry and protect the oppressed. First, Maia sent a letter a week ago, about an organization that manages to feed the starving millions in Gaza despite the scarcity, that I share with you. A few of us on the Kumah staff are donating big parts of our proceeds toward this cause. She wrote:
“I know many of us have been feeling helpless in the face of news of people starving in Gaza. How can we let this happen? As we read every year on Passover, “Let all who are hungry come and eat."
I am writing to ask you to please donate to the Gaza Soup Kitchen, an extraordinary organization that has been feeding thousands of Gazans since it was founded in 2024 by two brothers, Hani and Mahmoud. Hani lives in the U.S. and Mahmoud ran the ground operations in Gaza until an Israeli drone killed him last December. In spite of this unfathomable loss, Gaza Soup Kitchen is still feeding famished Gazans.
Here’s what we can do:
1) Donate generously to the Gaza Soup Kitchen GoFundMe. And if you go to the site, you can read Hani’s update from May 26.
2) Read this op-ed piece in The Forward about the soup kitchen and the brothers. Watch the media coverage about the organization on the Gaza Soup Kitchen website.
3) Spread the word and share the GoFundMe.
4) Call your representatives in Congress and demand that the U.S. support immediate, life-saving humanitarian aid to Gaza. "
Secondly, one of ordaining rabbis, Rabbi Arik Ascherman was badly beaten yesterday by extremist West Bank settlers trying to kick Palestinians out from their village in the Jordan Valley. He was taken to the hospital, treated and drove right back to the village of Mikhmas, which he was trying to protect. Last week Rav Arik sent a desperate plea for people to come and participate in Protective Presence in the West Bank. He invited everyone of any political opinion to join what he called a “non-violent Lincoln Brigade,” because the new tactics of the settlers, and the complete lack of protection from the army and the police have recently forced several villages to disappear. The situation in all of Area C is worse than it's ever been. Last week he wrote:
“This afternoon, the fact that we were seven when the settlers and their flock invaded was such a difference from when we are two or three. If we could have the ability to place twenty or more engaging in protective presence in every endangered community....”
To learn more about Rav Arik’s work with his organization Torat Tzedek, Torah of Justice, click HERE. To support their work click HERE.
Let us pray that this attack on Iran yields something positive, and reduces the threat of nuclear war. And that our actions toward a safer and more peaceful world for all grow and strengthen.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Misha