Rick and Marci Mayer Eisen also join the group to assess the situation in Southern Israel and see the response of Jewish federations first-hand
Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg joins a delegation of two dozen leaders from across the country to serve as the St. Louis Jewish community’s representative on a Jewish Federations of North America solidarity mission to Southern Israel from Dec. 4 to 6. Rabbi Rosenberg is Chair of the St. Louis area Rabbinical Association and Senior Rabbi of United Hebrew Congregation. St. Louisans Marci Mayer Eisen, Director of the Millstone Institute for Jewish Leadership, and Rick Eisen, attorney, were already in Israel and are joining this group.
“Rabbi Rosenberg brings broad leadership and experience to the mission and will communicate our community’s solidarity with the people in the south,” said Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., Jewish Federation of St. Louis President and CEO. “We look forward to hearing Rabbi Rosenberg’s impressions of the situation in the aftermath of the recent conflict when she returns. In the meantime, you can follow an update on her work while she is there through her blog at: https://brigitterosenberg.blogspot.com/.”
In addition, Federation Chair Bob Millstone, who is in Israel for a special Jewish Federation of St. Louis and MOBIO (Missouri Biotechnology Assn.) legislators’ visit, went on his own to visit the hard-hit areas in Southern Israel. “The ongoing crisis being faced by the people of Israel, particularly those in the south, will not be fought by the Jewish State alone,” Millstone said. “I am going to Southern Israel to express Jewish Federation’s firm solidarity with Israel and to say that as always, when Israel is in need, we are here.”
Throughout the JFNA “Resilience and Recovery” solidarity mission, participants will meet with residents and leaders of the most affected areas in the South, hear from senior military and political figures, and see the response of Jewish Federation partners on the ground to help those in need after eight days of intense rocket fire from terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.
The itinerary includes briefings from senior political and military officials, including Mark Regev, international media advisor to the Prime Minister; Brig. Gen (res) Doron Gavish, former commander of the Air Defense – Iron Dome; MK Yuli Edelstein, minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs; and Dan Shapiro, U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
The group will visit Jewish Federation partner agency sites where Israelis are benefitting from programs and services supported by the Israel Terror Relief Fund – established by JFNA to aid Israelis during and after Operation Pillar of Defense – and other Federation funding. Although a cease fire has gone into effect, Jewish Federation of St. Louis continues to raise funds to help with the aftermath of the violence. The funds will be distributed by JFNA to address the most critical needs in Israel — helping children, people with disabilities and special needs, as well as seniors and families who are victims of terror.
In Ibim, Federation leaders will spend time at The Jewish Agency for Israel Ibim Absorption Center, where Ethiopian immigrants – some of whom arrived in Israel just weeks before the rockets started to fall – are beginning their new lives in the Jewish State. In Beer Sheva, the mission will visit the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)-supported Center for Independent Living, where JDC provides assistance to the elderly and disabled, and World ORT’s Kadima Mada Kav-Or program, which ensures hospitalized children can continue their education in the midst of medical treatment. In Sderot, the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC) will talk about how the Federation community enables them to aid those dealing with the recent violence, and resulting trauma, in Southern Israel.
The group is the second JFNA mission to visit Israel since Operation Pillar of Defense began. In the midst of the eight-day military operation, a group of 15 Jewish Federation and other Jewish community leaders traveled to Southern Israel to assess the needs on the ground and see firsthand the work of our partner agencies. In between running for cover as air-raid sirens sounded, the lay and professional leaders visited children, elderly, new immigrants and other Southern Israelis, including family members of some of those killed by rocket fire just days earlier.
