Five Towns community rallies to support Israel Defense Forces
Starting last fall, donations of duffel bags and supplies for Israel Defense Force soldiers piled up in a warehouse in Lawrence as Five Towns residents scrambled to help the war effort in Israel after Hamas attacked music festivalgoers and other innocent civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.
One year later, support is still pouring out of the Five Towns, and especially from the Israel Chesed Center on Peninsula Boulevard in Hewlett, where volunteers take on all types of service projects to aid soldiers and residents of Israel who are living amid an expanding war.
To honor the lives of hostage who died, as well as those still in captivity and all of the people impacted by the war, the Chesed Center held a service with music, prayer, speakers and videos on a large screen in its parking lot on Monday, the anniversary of the attacks.
Community members filled hundreds of chairs with the hostages’ photos taped to them, to reflect on the year since the start of the war and to inspire the support to continue.
Yakir Wachstock, founder of Boots for Israel, a partner organization of the center that supplies IDF soldiers with boots, spoke first, and said the group has sent 65,000 pairs of boots thanks to the help of “regular people” like Moshe Bodner and Jeff Eisenberg, founders of the Israel Chesed Center.
“What’s special is what we can get done if we work together,” Wachstock said.
David Devor, chairman of Nevut, a “lone soldier” support organization, shared his story, and how his mission has ramped up since last Oct. 7.
“We went from working with around 700 soldiers to right now, we’re handling and dealing with close to 3,000 soldiers,” Devor said of the organization, which helps so-called lone soldiers — those who were not living in Israel but chose to go and fight there — and their families.
Fay Feder, creator of Pens and Swords, an advocacy group for Israel, spoke about her organization’s mission. “We write to government, schools, businesses, hospitals, wherever,” Feder said. “We see that Israel needs our support or we fight antisemitism. We support Jewish students across America, and it’s really important for us to get involved.”
Feder said that 15,000 people across the country have signed up for the Pens and Swords initiative, helping to make significant change, including sending mass emails to speak for or against ideas.
“When 8,000 people send emails, people really listen,” Feder said. “They pay attention.”
Rabbi Zalman Wolowik, of Chabad of the Five Towns; Rabbi Yitzchak Goldshmid, of Chabad of Valley Stream; and Rabbi Nochem Tenenboim, of Chabad of Hewlett, spoke as well, along with students from schools around the Five Towns, including Hewlett High School, Hebrew Academy of Long Beach and Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway, who recalled the tragic day last October.
To close the event, Eisenberg reminded attendees the importance of continuing to show up at the Chesed Center.
“Everyone here can help us and has helped us, and needs to continue to help us help our brothers,” Eisenberg said. “And the only reason why we continue to do what we do, with everybody’s support, is because we view all people in Israel as our brothers and sisters. So I encourage you to please continue your support. Come in, tell your friends, because that’s the only way, by the unity and the chesed, that’s going to continue to protect us.”
For more information on how to get involved at the Chesed Center visit, IsraelChesedCenter.com.
