Urgent: appeal: Volunteers to Tzfat by Shabbat

This is a public service message for anyone here in Israel, and supporters abroad:

"Livnot U'Lehibanot connects unaffiliated young Jewish adults to their community and heritage. In a non-judgmental, physically and spiritually challenging environment, participants strengthen their Jewish identity through study, exploring the Land of Israel and community service."

They are urgently seeking former alumni (I'm from semester #3) and others who would like to come to Tzfat and assist them:

Let's get together a group, rent a minibus, go up and help out - and enjoy a Shabbat exclusively available in Tzfat - war or no damn war.

This is included 24/7, free of charge in the visit:

More pics here. Thanks, Lee. More stunning Tzfat photos.

Any takers? Email me or call me 972 505 797 234. Now. Any donors/donations to help defray the cost of the bus (several hundred shekels) would be greatly appreciated. Send them to Yonah, who's organizing the trip: 972-52-569-8118.

The appeal:

We are looking for volunteers to come to Tzfat….now.

As you are aware, Tzfat is one of the many northern communities under siege by the continuous rockets attacks.

The city is far from a ghost town though, as hundreds if not thousands of families have remained in Tzfat, spending the majority of their days and nights in bomb shelters located across the city.

To no one’s surprise, Livnot is intimately involved in the relief effort, as the local municipality and its services cannot possibly accommodate all the urgent needs of the community. The Livnot campus is currently being used by army officers being housed in Tzfat on an emergency basis. (Please see the attached letter from one of the officers.) In addition, members of the Botzer family are preparing and serving meals to as many people as they can who are living in bomb shelters.

There is so much more work to be done for these families including: preparing and serving meals, helping out with elderly citizens who are on their own, playing with children, and whatever else needs to be done.

I want you to know upfront that rockets have landed in the vicinity of the Livnot campus. We cannot guarantee anyone’s safety. What we can promise is that you would play a huge role in serving the people of Tzfat and all of Am Yisrael in a time of need. You will have a place to stay on the Livnot campus, your meals will be taken care of, and we will set you up for Shabbat.

In addition, a good friend of Livnot and a well-known figure in the American Jewish world, Rabbi Avi Weiss from Riverdale, NY, is going to be with us for Shabbat. We are planning a special Kabbalat Shabbat on the terrace of Livnot, and meals together.

We’d be happy to see people start showing up as early as tomorrow. The more volunteers who come up, the bigger impact we can have on the families who have no place else to turn. If you are interested, please call Yonah at 052-568-8118 to make arrangements.

There are Egged busses running to Tzfat. From Jerusalem to Tzfat, there are weekday busses at 9am, 1pm and 5pm, and on Friday at 9am and 1pm. From other locations, call Egged at 03/ 694-8888 [and *2800].

Yours truly,
Aharon
botzer@livnot.com

The door is open. You just have to walk in.