We sang and danced with twenty or thirty wide-eyed fourteen year olds. Rabbi Berman offered words of encouragement to the students, calling them future leaders due to their ability to withstand the trials and tribulations of living in Sderot.
While it was heartwarming to hear of so much heroism under fire, the fact is that there are hundreds of stories of kids in shock, parents who are unemployed, elderly residents who injure themselves running during a missile attack, etc. Our job at OU Israel is to continue to serve the Sderot community; to stand firm in support of these courageous Jews and help them in any way we can until the evil is destroyed and the community once again returns to a peaceful everyday existence.
As we departed Sderot, we caught a glimpse of a rainbow peeking out from behind the gloomy skies. Just as the biblical rainbow was the harbinger of an end to destruction and the dawn of a peaceful new beginning, we pray that the empowered, inspired, and impassioned residents of Sderot will awaken to a new dawn of peace for themselves and all of Israel.