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Helping Victims

From the moment an act of violence takes place, CTVP’s teams are there, forging an immediate bond with the victims and their families, bringing them financial, practical, emotional, and spiritual support as they struggle to reclaim and rebuild their lives.

We stay with all these families for as long as they need us – whether weeks, months or years. There is no end point to our help except the family’s ability to re-enter their lives successfully. Only then do we move quietly into the background, but still remain available for those times when the horror inevitably reasserts itself and help is needed once again.

This is what makes CTVP so unique, we are there for the long-term.

Despite the Terror, They Came to Show their Solidarity

Delegations Led by U.S. Rabbis Visit Terror Victims in Israel 

Accompanied by CTVP staff, they spend time with those wounded in recent attacks and their families

By Chabad.org Staff   |   October 23, 2015 9:41 AM 

At Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem are Rabbi Peretz Chein, left, executive director of the Chabad House at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., who came with a local delegation to visit Israeli terror victims and their families. To his right are Rabbi Menachem Kutner, director of the Chabad Terror Victims Project; Rabbi Yisroel Naftalin, the hospital's Chabad emissary; and Brandeis student Tzvi Miller, far right, with his brother, Netzach, who lives in Israel.
At Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem are Rabbi Peretz Chein, left, executive director of the Chabad House at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., who came with a local delegation to visit Israeli terror victims and their families. To his right are Rabbi Menachem Kutner, director of the Chabad Terror Victims Project; Rabbi Yisroel Naftalin, the hospital's Chabad emissary; and Brandeis student Tzvi Miller, far right, with his brother, Netzach, who lives in Israel.

Israel is once again the hotbed of terrorist attacks, and it’s become an uneasy time for some people to visit the Holy Land. But for Rabbi Sholom Raichik, director of Chabad of Upper Montgomery County in Gaithersburg, Md., and Rabbi Peretz Chein, executive director of the Chabad House at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., now is the right time.

Working with representatives of the Chabad Terror Victims Project, both brought delegations from abroad to comfort victims of terror and demonstrate solidarity with the Israeli people.

Raichik’s delegation spent 36 hours in Israel. The group came straight from the airport outside of Tel Aviv to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva to visit those who had been wounded in the Oct. 18 attack at the central bus station there, in which a 19-year-old Israeli Defense Forces soldier, Cpl. Omri Levi of Sdei Hemed, was shot and killed. 

They also went to the grave of Alon Govberg, who was killed last week in a bus attack in theJerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv. Reported Raichik: “He has no family in Israel to visit his grave. We went today and had aminyan to say Tehillim and Kaddish, marking the end of the shiva [mourning] period.”

Hope and Encouragement

According to victims and their families, the visits brought hope and encouragement to their profoundly changed lives.

“People were most appreciative of our coming to Israel just to visit with them, to give thanks in the name of our community to the soldiers who are on the front lines, and to give support and comfort to the injured and their families,” said Bernie Schack, who toured the country with Rabbi Raichik. “We made an effort to go where the need was, not necessarily where it was easiest.”

 

Chein, right, writes messages of love and hope in the Chitat book (Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya) given to a wounded soldier. His hand was severely injured, prohibiting his return to serve his country.

Chein, right, writes messages of love and hope in the Chitat book (Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya) given to a wounded soldier. His hand was severely injured, prohibiting his return to serve his country.

Also accompanied by CTVP, Rabbi Chein brought a delegation from Brandeis University, with students on campus volunteering to publicize the trip and raise money for it. The group carried with them a school banner that also listed the names of students at Brandeis who stand in solidarity with Israel.

On their second day there, they went to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem to spend time in the hospital with attack victims and their families. The recovering ranged from an elderly man who had been stabbed near his brain and an Israeli soldier who was wounded by a terrorist to a family whose son lay in a coma and an elderly woman whose husband of many decades had been shot and stabbed; he, too, was in a coma.

Each stop along their way—as they sat and listened to harrowing story after story—they made it a point to sing inspiring songs, lifting spirits as best they could.

“So many people have been moved,” reflected Brandeis student Tzvi Miller, who traveled to Israel with the rabbi. “What I took away is how what happens here affects everyone. The people here know we came. We visited people about whom we read in the newspapers, and now they are here in the hospital.” 

Rabbis Kutner, Chein and Naftalin, along with Brandeis student Miller, stand outside the room where a terrorist is currently being treated, just a few rooms away from where the people he attempted to murder are being cared for. Pictured with them is the soldier guarding the room.

Rabbis Kutner, Chein and Naftalin, along with Brandeis student Miller, stand outside the room where a terrorist is currently being treated, just a few rooms away from where the people he attempted to murder are being cared for. Pictured with them is the soldier guarding the room.

Continued Calls for MitzvahsTorah Study and Prayer

In addition to prayers for the wounded, there were also calls by rabbinic leaders around the world for increases in Torah study, prayer and other mitzvahs, in addition to donning tefillin. For suggestions of what Jewish people around the world can do to help their brethren in Israel, read the article 7 Things You Can Do for Israel Today here.

The tefillin campaign comes in light of instructions given by the Rebbe, RabbiMenachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, who had issued a similar call during other dangerous times in Israel. Before the outbreak of the June 1967 war, for example, the Rebbe prompted an active campaign for Jewish males over the age of 13 to perform the mitzvah of tefillin.

Wrapping tefillin is part of the Rebbe’s 10 mitzvah campaigns introduced between the years of 1967 and 1976, which formed the platform upon which the Rebbe’s far-reaching program to revitalize Jewish life and observance throughout the world was built.

The laying of tefillin instills fear in the enemy, explain the sages of the Talmud, quoting: “Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and they will fear you.” (Deuteronomy 28:10). 

Chein, Kutner and Miller, along with Rabbi Ahronchik Prus, right, of the Chabad Youth Organization, visit soldiers guarding the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem, where several terrorist attacks have taken place over the course of the month.

Chein, Kutner and Miller, along with Rabbi Ahronchik Prus, right, of the Chabad Youth Organization, visit soldiers guarding the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem, where several terrorist attacks have taken place over the course of the month. 

New List of Injured is Released

As attacks continued, the Chabad Terror Victims Project (ctvp.org) released an updated list of those injured in recent terrorist attacks.

The public is asked to continue their prayers for their speedy and complete recovery. It is customary for petitions for recovery to be recited in synagogue on the Sabbath and on other days when the Torah is read in public.

Here is a list as of Friday, Oct. 23. Names will be added and deleted as they become available.

To assist wounded Israelis and the work of CTVP, which provides financial, emotional and practical support to those suffering from terror, see:http://www.ctvp.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/1126571/jewish/Donate.htm.

For more news, opinion, inspiration, advice and first-person articles on the October 2015 Wave of Terror in Israel, visit the special Chabad.org section here.

 

Rabbi Sholom Raichik, right, director of Chabad of Upper Montgomery County in Gaithersburg, Md.,and community member Bernard Schack bring gifts for Israeli soldiers in Be’er Sheva, where a deadly attack occurred last week at the central bus station.

Rabbi Sholom Raichik, right, director of Chabad of Upper Montgomery County in Gaithersburg, Md.,and community member Bernard Schack bring gifts for Israeli soldiers in Be’er Sheva, where a deadly attack occurred last week at the central bus station. 

Raichik and Schack also deliver tefillin to male soldiers.

Raichik and Schack also deliver tefillin to male soldiers. 

The Raichik group at the grave of Alon Govberg, who was killed in a bus attack one week ago and has no family in Israel. The men organized a minyan at his grave site to say Tehillim and Kaddish, making the end of the shiva (mourning) period.

The Raichik group at the grave of Alon Govberg, who was killed in a bus attack one week ago and has no family in Israel. The men organized a minyan at his grave site to say Tehillim and Kaddish, making the end of the shiva (mourning) period. 

Raichik helps a border policeman in Be’er Sheva don tefillin.

Raichik helps a border policeman in Be’er Sheva don tefillin. 

Saying prayers for the injured, as Jewish people everywhere can do to help.

Saying prayers for the injured, as Jewish people everywhere can do to help.

His Tzitzit Save his Life - A Miracle in the Middle of Terror

Talitkatan.jpgYair, who lives in Raanana in Israel, was getting ready to leave the house a few days ago. He was getting dressed and looking for a pair of tzitzit (ritual fringes) that he wears under his shirt all the time, following Jewish commandments. 

It turns out they were all in the laundry except the brand new pair he had purchased in honor of his sister’s wedding which was to take place in two days. 

As he intended to keep them clean and new for the wedding, he decided he would go without wearing tzitzit that day. But, at the last minute, uneasy about his decision, he turned back and put them on, knowing it was the correct thing to do – and feeling that if he didn’t, he would somehow be inviting trouble. 

He left for the bus stop and was waiting for the bus to arrive. He was feeling tense already because of the terrible terror attacks that had been taking place all across Israel.  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a man near him who was having a conversation in Arabic on his phone.  The man looked very agitated and was dripping with sweat. 

Before Yair could do anything, the man suddenly lunged at him and began stabbing him in the shoulder and neck. As Yair struggled with him, despite the pain and horror, he tried to make sure to keep the attacker away from a woman and her children nearby. 

People around him came to his rescue, some tackling and holding the terrorist, the others taking his tzitzit and tearing them into bandages to staunch the flow of blood. 

Yair was rushed to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba where Rabbi Menachem Kutner, Director of Chabad’s Terror Victims Project (CTVP) and Rabbi Yossi Lipkin met him. 

Yair told them that he felt sure that Hashem had protected him from worse injuries in the merit of his having worn his tzitzit that morning. Not to mention the fact that the tzitzit stopped his loss of blood. 

Yair underwent a series of treatments and was released from the hospital just in time to attend his sister’s wedding!   Mazel Tov to all!!

20151014_125349_resized_2.jpg Rabbi Kutner and Rabbi Lipkin Visiting Yair and giving him a gift 

CTVP Ramping up Activities as Agonizing Fear Grips Israel

העמק עפולה (1).jpg
The situation in Israel today is one of agonizing fear and pain. Random horrific acts of terror – many with deadly results – are taking place throughout Jerusalem and all around the country with increasing frequency and brutality. No place is safe. 

Chabad’s Terror Victims Project (CTVP) has ramped up our services dramatically to meet the urgent needs of the many victims and their families. We are literally going from hospital to hospital, home to home, 24 hours a day, to bring comfort and hope to those whose lives have been shattered in this newest wave of violence. 

On Tuesday, Elyosef Malkeli, a wounded IDF soldier who went on the CTVP trip to Miami, came with us to the hospitals. He was able to share his own story from a year ago with the families whose loved ones are fighting for their lives in intensive care units and operating rooms. 

His calm demeanor, the fact that he is now fully healed, brought the families strength and hope in a way that was critically important for them. 

The pain and horror that we are seeing is awful. Each day is bringing new violence. CTVP is everywhere, with staff and volunteers giving of their time continually, without letup so that no family is facing the fear and agony of this horror alone.

 

We are providing everything we can for them from immediate financial assistance to comfort and counseling, as well as practical assistance – babysitting for children at home, hot meals, rides to hospitals, and more.

 

We are asking everyone to please pray for the safety of Israel and her people at this urgent time and please make a donation to CTVP now to enable us to carry out our life-sustaining work without interruption. Thank you.

CTVP Providing Comfort and Solace to Victims of the Recent Terror Attacks.

patzua.jpgChabad's Terror Victims Project have been encouraging and assisting those who were injured in the recent terror attacks in Jerusalem.

CTVP staff and volunteers are visiting the wounded in the hospitals Jerusalem in order to cheer them up and to provide them with emergency aid.

An especially heart moving visit took place at the bedside of the baby who was injured by a gun shot to the leg and whose father was murdered by the terrorist R”L. Rabbi Menachem Kutner saw that the baby is there alone with only his aunt by his bedside. He immediately returned again with his hands full of toys and games to make it easier for the baby and the healing process.

Please take a moment to recite a Psalm for the speedy recovery of  those who have been wounded.

Their names are: 

Odel bat Miryam

Natan ben Odel

Moshe ben Orli

Meir Yitzchak ben Sara Imenu

Aharon Moshe Chaim ben Chaya Chana

Dvir ben Shoshana

Avraham ben Rut

Ron Shai bat Sigalit

Adi ben Rut

Niv ben Yardena

Moshe ben Daizy

Meor Efrayim ben Furtuna Daniela

Moshe ben Edgach

Liat bat Yael

Orla bat Limor 

Yosef Chaim ben Zahava 

 

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