Hundreds of Volunteers Visit Terror Victims on Purim
Chabad's Terror Victims Project (CTVP) aranged for hundreds of volunteers to bring mishloach manos‚ traditional gifts of food‚ to terror victims and their families on Purim. There are currently over 3,000 such families in Israel who have either lost a loved one or have a relative who was injured in the war against Palestinian terror that has raged through Israel since the signing of the Oslo accords.
Chabad's Terror Victims Project (CTVP) rallied hundreds of volunteers to bring mishloach manos, traditional gifts of food, to terror victims and their families on Purim. There are currently over 3000 such families in Israel who have either lost a loved one or have a relative who was injured in the war against Palestinian terror. These families have to deal with a painful reality every day, including the tragic loss or injury of someone they loved and incurable trauma.
As Purim and the month of Adar, a time of rejoicing approach, many families find it impossible to forget their pain and join in the festive celebrations. A woman whose husband was seriously injured in a terror attack told her son, “Who has the energy or the desire to start with Purim costumes, a kindergarten party, ormishloach manos for your schoolfriends while Daddy is still in Beit Levenstein doing rehabilitation?”
CTVP director, Rabbi Menachem Kutner, has announced that this year volunteers visited almost all 3,000 terror victims and their families on Purim, bringing them festival joy and doing the mitzvos of the day with them. CTVP rallied volunteers from around the country to act as the “infantry” of 270 Chabad Houses countrywide. The volunteers brought the families a package of mishloach manos and true festival joy.
Many family members later said that they felt that most of the public had forgotten their suffering. But CTVP's joyful Purim visits deeply moved them and gave them a rare moment of happiness with a feeling of solidarity at exactly the right time.
Chabad volunteers also gave the families words of support, as well as the mishloach manos mentioned above and colorful brochures about Purim. In some places, the families were invited to Megillah readings and take part in special celebrations for children and their parents. Needy families were invited to Purim meals in the homes of the volunteers and take an active part in the joy of the festival.