Thank you to the huge crowd who showed up last night to hear Daniel & Neria Sharabi, two survivors and heroes from the Nova Festival, who fought back and held off the terrorists for five hours, while giving life saving medical treatment to wounded, and who ultimately helped save dozens of people on Oct 7th.
Hearing from people who ran back into the fray and for hours teetered between being killed and continuing to save so many, was mind blowing. They spoke of their friends who were murdered before their eyes, and of their very close friend Yosef Ohana (Yosef Chaim Ben Miriam) who came with them to the party, but was kidnapped to Gaza.
They spoke about the organization that they have helped create, which is helping the many victims of the attack at the Nova Festival with specialized therapies and support programs. The proceeds of the evening will be helping support the important work for the many survivors, for whom the struggle continues.
Thank you to Uri, Dynnie & Toby for your help with the setup, to Simona Zilberberg for all of your help and to all of our dedicated volunteers who ran the security for the event as well as the parking!
At the end of a very powerful An Evening with Nova Survivors & Heroes with Daniel & Neria Sharabi, they asked the crowd to join them in singing Psalm 121, to pray for the hostages and the safety of everyone. It was the words of this prayer along with the Shema Yisroel, that they said at the height of the battle at the Nova Fest, when they were surrounded by terrorists on all sides, dealing with multiple critical injuries, and an RPG hit them all, and injured everyone with shrapnel.
It was at that moment, that 30+ party goers, surrounded by people who wanted to murder them or kidnap them, and armed with just two guns, shouted out these words together.....
Ending off their talk last night with this, was a powerful way to remember the faith in our mission, our purpose, and that G-d willing we will overcome the challenges at hand.
You can see the video over here.
You can see lots of photos of the event over here.
In this week's Torah portion, we are told of the commandment to build a tabernacle a home for G-d in this world. Indeed while the physical central Temple does not currently exist, the spiritual concept of making our lives, our homes and the world around us, into a place that G-d can be at home, is something that is an enduring idea which is part of our mission as individuals and as people.
Interestingly, the Jewish people would always build the tabernacle and temple on their travels through the desert, even though at times their stops at certain locations were short.
This served as a reminder, that each and every moment of a person's journey in this world, is a part of this overarching responsibility of fixing and improving the world, through living a life that reflects the values and Mitzvot of G-d.
30 Seconds for Superbowl Ad, ran $7 Million Dollars.... indeed every second is precious in accomplishing our mission and responsibility to make the world into a dwelling place for G-d.
Even when there are challenges out there, we must always stay laser focused on our mission, to keep building and doing more Mitzvot, one deed and one person at a time, so that collectively we are continuing to move the world ever closer to its role in being a world that fully reflects its Divine given potential.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos
Yisroel