Faces of Iron: Benni
Stand for Israel | August 22, 2024
“I have an obligation to the needy people who stayed in the city.”
Those are the words of Benni, a faithful cook at the Fellowship-supported Beit Betya Soup Kitchen. In Kiryat Shimona, a town in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, the soup kitchen prepares and serves more than 1,000 meals each day—meals that have been even more needed since Hezbollah rocket attacks have made the area nearly unlivable in the past months.
But for 22 years, Benni has cooked for Kiryat Shimona’s hungry and impoverished. And even as residents have left or been evacuated due to the constant threat of violence and war, Benni has stayed—feeding the neediest of those left behind. “Those who remained in the city are the weakest populations,” he explains.
Starting each day at 4am, Benni serves these needy who are like his second family, telling us, “I only see my children and my wife on the weekends.”
And then, one day, the unthinkable happened. As rockets began to explode, Benni ran to the soup kitchen’s bomb shelter. The shelter saved Benni’s life, for one rocket struck the soup kitchen building.
Alive and surveying the damage, Benni heard cries from across the street. An elderly couple, two impoverished older Israelis who eat each day at the soup kitchen, needed help.
Avraham and Zahava had survived the direct hit on their home—thanks to their own shelter and to God’s divine protection—but they were stuck inside, shrapnel all around and pipes having exploded.
These two people who he serves day in and day out, these two people who he considers family, needed Benni’s help. So Benni raced inside and helped the elderly couple escape.
Then, this Israeli cook with a servant’s heart and a face of iron returned to the soup kitchen—even though it had also been struck—to keep serving the needy.
“We are the only source of food for the people here and they depend on us,” Benni says. And the neediest people of Israel know they can depend on friends like Benni and friends like YOU, who stand with Israel.
Read more Faces of Iron stories and learn how The Fellowship is helping survivors of October 7.
