Relying on Faith and The Fellowship
The Fellowship | December 8, 2023
Can you believe Faina’s neighbor physically carries her all the way to the stairwell to take cover when terrorist rockets fall?
“I can’t walk by myself, so my neighbor carries me out on his back every time during the siren,” Faina says.
There is no bomb shelter in their Israeli apartment complex. So her neighbor carries her all while trying to protect his own life and family. But this is how it is in Israel. The Jewish people rely on faith and helping one other to make it through dark times. Something, Faina, a Holocaust survivor, knows all too well…
She remembers the moment World War II began. Faina was playing outside when her mother, looking very pale and confused, said to them, “Children! War!” Soon after, they evacuated along with many other children, women, and elderly. “We didn’t care where the train was going,” remembers Faina. “My grandfather prayed all night. I had nightmares that my mother died and my sister couldn’t find us. I kept waking up.” Thankfully, they made it through the night as bombs fell, and many on the train thanked Faina’s grandfather for keeping them all in his prayers.
They were on the run from Nazis for a while until they found a safer area to settle. But wartime was filled with starvation, disease, and poor conditions. Many children died. Still her grandfather prayed for them. “My grandfather prayed that we would be healthy. It was probably his prayers that saved us.”
Her grandfather didn’t survive the war; he never made it to the biblical homeland as he dreamed. But Faina made it to Israel, and she thinks of her grandfather’s faith and his wish to protect the Jewish people every day that she is in Israel. “I believe that God is helping me. I believe that my grandfather’s prayers will be with me until my death.”
She has her grandfather’s prayers, her faith, her community in Israel, and she also has The Fellowship to rely on in times of darkness.
“Do you know how helpful the monthly grocery delivery from The Fellowship is? It’s very, very helpful! They bring me a box of groceries directly to my apartment every month.”
These food deliveries mean the world and are a lifeline for elderly threatened by terrorist rockets and war in Israel.