DENVER — After all the previous trips to Israel, this week’s trip felt very different.
Rabbi Menachem Lehrfield arrived Tuesday. He’s the Director of Outreach for Aish of the Rockies, and leading a group of about 70 people on this trip including several other Jewish Coloradans. They brought with them supplies for Israeli soldiers and donations for families displaced by the war with Hamas.
“Today has been one of the most intense days in my entire life,” he said Wednesday night, during a Zoom interview from his hotel in Jerusalem.
That day, the group volunteered at an Israeli café, making thousands of sandwiches for soldiers. They've posted photos and videos from the trip on Instagram.
“I was flipping omelets and was there with all our people and making sandwiches. There was another section of people writing notes, a lot of children and teenagers,” he said.
“It reminded me almost of when a mom sends her kid to school and puts a little note inside her sandwich – ‘Have a great day, we love you, thinking of you.’ Essentially that’s what we were doing! People packaging sandwiches for absolute strangers, but they saw them as their children, brothers or sisters.”
The group also hosted an event for families who lost their homes, and in many cases, their own loved ones. Lehrfield said he wont forget a conversation with a widow, left with five children, after her husband was killed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.
“Just hearing her talk about her gratitude to us as she’s going through the unimaginable pain nobody should have to go to, is inspiring. It must’ve been difficult for her to talk to us, but she saw it as an opportunity to share with us to stay united and to stay strong,” he said.
“And she [said] they will rebuild – they already have plans to rebuild a community center when it’s safe to go back home. Its so hard to imagine that’s her frame of mind. Not self-pity, its an unwavering faith that this will end soon, they’ll be able to go back to their homes, and once they do they’ll rebuild the communities bigger, stronger, and greater.”
Rabbi Lehrfield was expecting a busy week in Israel, with many similar emotional experiences. He said being in there, on the ground, only reaffirmed his desire to make this trip now.
“We just had this deep feeling like we needed to be in Israel. We just had this feeling at our core that we needed to be there – do whatever we can to help, be there with people of Israel, our brothers and sisters. It’s been so validating to hear so many other people feeling the same thing. And so heartwarming to hear how grateful the Israelis are,” he said.
“Our very presence being here on the ground, to them, has been so inspiring. And to me, that’s made it worthwhile.”
Lehrfield’s group continues to collect donations and fundraising for their mission. There is more information about how to donate on the organization’s website.
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