Dear Friends,

This morning at 7:30 a siren woke my kids up, not the alarm clock. We ran downstairs to the bomb shelter, not the best way to start a Friday morning.

We are going through difficult times. Two days ago 9 soldiers were killed in battles in Southern Lebanon, at the location from which Hizballa launches their missile attacks. It is horrible to open the paper and see the pictures of the soldiers who fell in battle. We will say Kaddish for them on tonight at Kabalat Shabbat.

In Haifa we continue to go to the bomb shelter several times each day. Out of 2,600 katyusha rockets, over 100 landed in Haifa. The city seems to be almost abandoned and people are grocery shopping in fear.

We managed to get Or Hadash back to routine. Most of the workers came back to work except for some workers who are afraid to come or workers who called in sick (usually with anxiety problems).

On Saturday we were supposed to have 4 Bar Mitzvah ceremonies, and fortunately only one family cancelled, but I still hope that the family will be back this Saturday. The remaining three Bar Mitzvah families decided to have the Bar Mitzvah as scheduled, with whomever decides to arrive. I must tell you how proud I am of their courage and their determination. Yesterday we had a Bar Mitzvah rehearsal in our bomb shelter and the young boy was photographed near the air purification unit instead of in the synagogue.

We started preparations to turn our bomb shelter into a synagogue, ordering a Holy Ark and a television.

There is a big problem getting electrical appliances fixed during these times, since technicians are afraid to come, so we are left with no cable TV and no air conditioning at Or Hadash.

Yesterday the Reform Movement CEO, Iri Kassel and the Chairman, Avraham Melamed came to Or Hadash to support us and during our conversation the sirens went on. Our cook was hospitalized and she asked to stay at home one more week so there is no one to cook for us. Luckily one of our preschool teacher’s assistants was happy to cook for us, so we had Moroccan food. Our Preschool Coordinator prefers to be here since she says it is safer then being at home. Going down to the shelter is very difficult for our book keeper who has to carry her one year old daughter with her down the stairs every time the sirens go on.

The economic situation is getting worse. Yesterday the government decided to compensate the workers in the north by paying only 52% of their salaries, the workers will not receive 20%of their salaries and the rest of the amount, Or Hadash will pay. It means that in July we will loose more than $10,000, paying the salaries of the 30 Or Hadash staff members. This doesn’t take into account the cancellation of life cycle events and the fact that parents want to receive a refund for their preschool payments.

I want to finish this letter by telling you about one of our heroes, Immediate Past President, Dr. Yishai Lachter, who has been working non stop as an M.D. at the Rambam hospital in Haifa and at a hospital in Nahariya, helping soldiers and civilians who were wounded. I heard about people who lost their hand or leg from the explosion and I don’t want to go into detail but I wanted to emphasize that Yishai Lachter is one of the heroes that you don’t always see on TV and we are proud that he is an active member of Or Hadash.

Our preschools have never been so clean and ready with welcome signs and we are praying that any day they will declare the end of the war and the children will return to Or Hadash.