Homeland beckons, rabbi tells his people

Chabad of the Conejo


I’ve just returned from leading an eight day "Solidarity Mission" to Israel and I feel the urge and the need to shout out loud for all of my Jewish brothers and sisters to hear: "Please Visit Your Homeland." The people of Israel need your warmth, love, support and smiling face—now more than ever before in its history.


I’ve been to Israel many times before. I’ve seen the land through the eyes of a tourist, visitor and leader of a Bible Study Group Journey to the Holy Land. Every trip to Israel is meaningful and inspirational.


However, this particular trip was significantly different. Our solidarity mission was just that; a mission.


A mission to tell the people of Israel that our thoughts are with them every day and night. A mission to comfort the bereaved and share in their pain. A mission to visit with those wounded, physically and emotionally, by the horrors of two years of terrorism. A mission to thank the brave young soldiers of Tzahal (Israel Defense Force) for their heroic bravery. A mission to salute the doctors, nurses, rescue workers and hospital staffs who have witnessed the most heinous attacks known to man. A mission to visit with merchants, cafes, restaurants, artists, shopkeepers, falafel stands, and tourist attractions, to help them economically in this difficult time. A mission to demonstrate that we, American Jewry, have not abandoned our brothers and sisters in their time of need.


A mission of solidarity.


We left on Dec. 23 as ambassadors from the United States Jewish community to the people of Israel. We returned on Jan. 1 as ambassadors of the people of Israel to the Jewish communities across America and throughout the world.


Dear friends, Israel needs you.


Yes, they need your contributions. Yes, they need your aid in public relations. Yes, they need your letters to the editor. Yes, they need your phone calls and e-mails to your politicians. But more than anything else right now, they need you—in person. They need you to simply get on an airplane and visit them. There can be no greater support for our homeland than this act of support and solidarity.


Our lives were affected in the deepest of ways during our eight day mission. We experienced emotions of pain and anguish, joy and celebration, pride and confidence, love and warmth—and perhaps most of all, determination and resolute that Israel will survive!


We visited dozens of families that lost loved ones. Although we’d never met before, we mourned as if it was our very own family. The tears of a parent crying over the loss of a child ripped thorough our hearts and souls.


The discussion wasn’t about politics or policies, rather about love and family. We’ll never forget their faces and the faces of the photos of their loved ones. If for this alone, I beg you to visit.


We’ll never forget Leah Zinu talking about her 22-year-old daughter, Dikla o.b.m., murdered on Nov. 21, 2002, on Bus No. 20, in Kiryat Menachem. She showed us her daughter’s bedroom, left exactly the way it was the morning her daughter left the house. Each day since the attack, her younger sister writes Dikla a letter and places it with a flower on her sister’s desk.


We’ll never forget Rina Chamamy who met us in the Netanya Park Hotel, scene of the horrific Passover Massacre of March 27, 2002.


Rina lost her husband Ami in that attack and now raises six children alone.




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