‘My Heart Is Broken’ – Helping and Comforting Israelis in Need

The Fellowship  |  May 28, 2021

A couple of weeks ago – as thousands of Hamas terrorist rockets rained down on Israel – our field workers rushed to the homes of elderly Israelis to check on their safety, and we heard heartbreaking statements.

“Should I flee the Negev [a desert in southern Israel] at the age of 86? Where will I go? After all, our whole country is on fire.”

That’s what elderly Menachem, a war hero and retired schoolteacher, said as rocket fire reached the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. There was nowhere to hide.

When his wife, 80-year-old Brunia, a Holocaust survivor, heard the rockets fall, she thought only of her grandchildren: “I hear the panic of my grandchildren and my heart is broken.”

What’s worse is that their apartment building isn’t reinforced against such attacks, so they only have seconds to reach a bomb shelter when red alert sirens sound. “By the time we get to the shelter, we could get hit twice,” said Menachem. Instead, they hid under the covers of their bed, hoping the terror would be over soon. But these attacks lasted for days, and trapped in their home for almost two weeks, they had no way to safely get food or water.

During this frightening time, so many elderly like this couple felt vulnerable and alone … which is where you, our faithful Fellowship friends come in.

You sent generous gifts to help place bomb shelters. You helped us deliver hundreds of meals to elderly trapped in their homes like Menachem and Brunia, people too scared to leave for fear rockets could strike at any moment. Thousands more meals were delivered to families and vulnerable people in public bomb shelters.

You were their miracle and the answer to their prayers. Thank you, Fellowship friends, for being watchmen on the walls for Israel and the Jewish people.