This past Sunday while on a visit to Israel, I spent the day visiting victims of terror and their family members along with Rabbi Menachem Kutner of the Chabad Terror Victims Project. It was a very moving and emotion filled day as I met people who live with the pain of the cruel sudden loss of a loved one and people bearing and carrying physical and emotional scars long after the events happened.
Thanks to generous people in our own community, we were able to take along some gifts and help with some assistance when needed. Some people we visited just to send a message of solidarity and care and some it was to provide assistance or help.
We started out with a visit to a lady in Jerusalem who lost a child in a suicide 
bombing quite a few years ago and then a year later lost a daughter in a car accident. Unfortunately life continues to be very challenging and difficult for them in additional to the physical losses that they have suffered, with the husband being out of work, and life just being very challenging.
While it was a very painful visit, it was truly amazing to see how the mother continues life with faith in G-d and doesn’t complain about her lot and tragedies. She showed us two walls in the house, one wall which is dedicated to the memory of her two children and one wall filled with pictures of happiness of her other children and now grandchildren. She said she is obligated to remember her loved ones and for that reason their pictures are on the central wall in her apartment, but right away after she remembers, she looks to the next wall which she called her “Oxygen Wall” for happiness and inspiration.
Our next visit, was just outside Jerusalem for a visit to R. a former 
commander of Israel’s Border Police who had been severely injured when he jumped on a suicide bomber in a bid to stop him detonating a bomb at a crowded Jerusalem junction 13 years ago. While the suicide bomber ultimately blew up and killed two people and injured many others, including R. who lost both of his legs, many other lives were saved by the several second long struggle that preceded the explosion.
R. is an amazing person who plays Basketball in a wheelchair and gives motivational speeches to Israel’s Police Cadets. In a few weeks R’s son is turning Bar Mitzvah so we gifted his son a beautiful pair of Tefillin as a gift from our community and a symbol of our appreciation for his heroism for Israel and the Jewish people.
From there we traveled back to Jerusalem to visit the Alyn Rehab and Medical center where we met a girl who is in recovery from a terrible attack some 9 months ago in which she was very severely burned all over her body. Thank G-d despite the fears that she wouldn’t survive, she has made tremendous improvements and after many surgeries she is well on the road to recovery, with a long way to go. We spoke with both her and her mother who was also injured in the same attack and shared some moral and tangible support for them in their ongoing uphill recovery and associated expenses. It was once again tremendously appreciated and once again we were amazed by the faith and hope that the mother and daughter exhibited.
From there we traveled to North Jerusalem where we visited one of the last houses before Ramallah. There we met a lady whose husband was a security guard at a Mall in Israel and struggled with a female terrorist before she 
detonated herself and killed her husband and one other girl. Being that it was right before Passover the Mall was absolutely packed and a tragedy of epic proportions was averted. She told us how during the Shiva so many people came over to her and told her that they were in the mall when it happened and that they feel that her husband saved their lives.
Unfortunately due to some personal situations and combined with no breadwinner in her family, her financial situation is precarious. Thanks to generous people in Sudbury we were once again able to assist and make a difference.
From there we drove to central Israel where we met another widow whose husband was a bus driver who wrestled with a terrorist and gave everyone time to escape before he was blown to bits. She is now making a wedding and we were able to give the new bride and groom a generous gift to help start off their new life together.
The rest of the assistance we shared with the Chabad Terror Victims Project who do amazing work for victims and their families. Rabbi Kutner showed me a dossier of over 3000 families that they have worked with and visited, a list which has sadly grown and is way too large. In fact while I was spending the day with Rabbi Kutner, he was busy arranging a retreat in a hotel for several days for 10 widows (victims of terror) and their children.
One recurring theme that we heard from all the victims, was a huge thanks to Rabbi Kutner and Chabad for not forgetting about them, even when they sit alone at home years after the tragedy. While we went to show support we left inspired by the determination and faith that these people exhibit and continue to live with. By them faith and trust were not intellectual ideas, but real values and beliefs that sustain them on a daily basis.
Thank you to everyone who helped participate in the gifts and contributions to the Chabad Terror Victims Project. We have made a pledge of a little more to them to help with some projects that they are doing for the upcoming holidays, and hope to continue this support each year.