Dear Friends,
It says in Lamentations(*): "נהפך לאבל מחולינו"
On the day in our calendar when we are "שמח"
We rejoice with the Torah, it reverted to: "חמס".
To counter the negative influences of this current war on the Jewish People, we ought to refrain from giving in to the forces of evil.
Do not follow the news, as you may be negatively affected by the news reports on this conflict:
Remember: נחש = ראשי תיבות: נייעס, חדשות, שמועות
Do listen to Rabbi Shea Fink at דרשה לאור המצב מאת הגר''י פינק (in Yiddish - sorry!).
As the Rebbe of Belz said:
By becoming hooked up to the news, one causes an increase in the suffering of Jewish People as a whole - as well as to himself. This is because our pampered generation is in no way equipped to handle with the abhorrent, horrendous and vile updates making their rounds on social media!
We should instead concentrate on the three approaches that our forefather Jacob taught us:
Doron = Give Tzedokoh!
From teenagers, to youth at risk, back to teenagers
Many of the 16-18-year-olds who have been living in cramped hotel rooms with their families after fleeing their homes after October 7th have been suffering real personal losses and trauma. Overnight, they were transformed from teenagers to youth at risk. They don’t have school, and numb their pain by turning to drugs and alcohol. Enter Lawrence Kasmir, who is generating healthy adrenaline by organising a programme of rock climbing, desert trekking and stargazing. Parents have remarked on a large positive change in their children’s physical and mental state. Anyone wanting to help expand Lawrence’s programme can donate through https://www.charidy.com/hlh/14535 .
Giving charity not only helps those caught up in this conflict - it causes an enormous wave of empathy and compassion up Above. This is all we need: the Heavens should shower Am Yisroel with blessings of protection, prosperity and happiness - ingredients that have been ruthlessly denied from so many!
Donate | Help a fallen IDF heros family 💔 Yossi Hershkovitz BDE (thechesedfund.com)
The highest form of Tzedokoh
As per the Rambam (=Maimonides) in the Laws of Charity part of his magnum opus - the highest from of charity is to place and keep people in employment.
In the past weeks, so many people lost their place of work, either due to closure or because workers are afraid to leave their loved ones alone during the constant sirens.
It so happens that many businesses have employed English-speaking Arab workers to man their helpdesks. These teleworkers service customer service contracts, which have now been terminated on the back of the current conflict.
Why not fill the empty seats with those who lost their livelihood?
More ways to give charity:
There are so many charity organisations, who advocate for important causes and beg us to help them alleviate the suffering of communities and individuals who have been caught up in this melee.
See: Lives Changed Forever 
See: Support for Israeli’s impacted by the war
See: Use Amazon.co.uk to fulfil a Wish!
See: The Tzedek organisation is bending over
backwards to help those who are stuck without sleeping accommodations: TxT
00447520667881 if you can help.
See: bit.ly/48Rp6sK for the special offer by RCUK
for £10.00 worth of free credit.
See: https://colelchabad.org/donation/?ref=EMT3&listId=014
See: Donate to Zaka Tel-Aviv Fund (zakatelaviv.org)
See: https://giveback.co.il/project/74986
See: ISRAELI SOLDIERS NEED VESTS: Save A Soldier’s Life! - Chesed
Today
See: The Sderot Fund: קרן שדרות - The Ofakim Fund -
See: Donate to Feed Israel, Urgent Request - The Situation in Eretz Yisroel is affecting 10,000's!, Standing Together in Times of Crisis
Reduce Trauma via your Teruma: Emergency Appeal | British Emunah Fund
BABIES, CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY: ZAKA are Working Hard, With Bombs Overhead, to Save The Bodies of the Fallen. Donate here to Protect these Warriors! https://chesedtoday.com/campaigns/zakaprotect
See a request from an IDF soldier: Rock the House with Your Kabalat Shabat! Look up the nearest Shul in your vicinity that is struggling with a Minyan - see: GoDaven
For Part II see this link: https://trybetter.blogspot.com/2023/10/what-can-we-do-in-time-of-war-part-ii.html
Go Forth and Help Each Other Out
With the war on the holy land dragging on, there are tens of thousands of displaced and displeased Jews who lost their work of place and livelihood, literally living off government or NGO handouts.
These people have suffered from being displaced, living in a strange place far away from their homes, with people they do not necessary know and on top of that their place of work is inaccessible.
If they are given a change to become employed, they will regain their confidence and might even find the means to settle down in the place where they were 'exiled' to.
Wishful thinking?
Ask all the nonagenarians who came over from war-torn Europe as displaced persons - they built their lives up from scratch and went on to create a new world for themselves, for their families, for the Jewish community and for the whole world.
Perhaps we could set up an online hub for businesses and NFP* organisations based outside the holy land, to help these unfortunate people by allowing diaspora-based companies to tap into this pool of very able, talented, innovative, clever, motivated but needy candidates?
If you ever heard of any of the websites below, we might already have solved a major part of this endeavour:
If we could find a couple of voluntary job matchmakers in every country (US, UK, IE, FR etc.) and allow displaced people to log on with their resumé, we could lift the spirits of this motley group of Israelis.
"Yisroel Arevim Zeh baZeh" - Jewish people look after each other - let us put this age-old axiom into practice!
See: https://trybetter.blogspot.com/2024/11/links-to-work-help-with-finding.html
(*) איכה פרק ה' פסוק ט"ו
