My Israel Resilience Campaign Fundraising Page
Josh Mellits
Josh Mellits
These are some of the most difficult and darkest days for the Jewish people since the Shoah. Thousands of innocents of all ages brutally murdered, wounded, traumatized, and hundreds still held captive. While my immediate friends and family in Israel are thankfully physically unharmed, I have struggled to stay informed on the ensuing war and global backlash without breaking down. I’ve even removed signage from my office because it has the word “Jewish.” What’s kept me going is offering and receiving words of sympathy and support, as well as a three-part mantra - give, share, don’t despair.
GIVE. Jewish National Fund is on the ground with communities in the south devastated by the attacks, ensuring immediate needs are met and future requirements are fulfilled. We have worked closely with these southern communities for decades. We know them better than anyone else, and will be there when they start to rebuild their lives in the future. I am supporting JNF-USA's Israel Resilience Campaign, which has evacuated close to 15,500 people from Israel’s north and south; seeing to the ongoing needs of over 25,000 people with shelter, food, clothing, and other daily necessities; supplying firefighting and protective equipment for civil defense; providing psychological treatment and respite activities for the children traumatized by terror; and more. The impact is doubled thanks to a current $1 million nationwide matching gift.
SHARE. It’s imperative to raise our individual and collective voices to friends, media, and elected officials to share Israel’s humanity in the face of inhumanity, as well as uplifting stories near and far. For example, families from the southern city of Sderot are making a new home on the now-empty Alexander Muss High School in Israel campus in Hod HaSharon (where I’m a proud alum), local Sarasota students are selling friendship bracelets to support Israel, and I recently spoke at a solidarity gathering in Fort Myers.
DON’T DESPAIR. The best response to terror is to live our lives. While I considered pausing Two Tweets of Torah, my reflections on the weekly Torah reading/Parashat HaShavua (follow @2tweettorah on X and Instagram!), I am continuing in memory of those lost and to honor the hostages. I’ve attended inspiring solidarity gatherings of hundreds in Sarasota, Naples and Fort Myers, a wedding and two b’not mitzvah. As my friend Yedidya Harush, leader of Halutza community in the Gaza Envelope, said just days after the attacks, “we are going to rebuild every community and make it strong and make it bigger because that’s the only thing we know.”
This attack has decimated many communities, but they will never destroy our spirit. We stand together, as one Jewish community, ready to help Israelis in this difficult time. Am Yisrael Chai.
GIVE. Jewish National Fund is on the ground with communities in the south devastated by the attacks, ensuring immediate needs are met and future requirements are fulfilled. We have worked closely with these southern communities for decades. We know them better than anyone else, and will be there when they start to rebuild their lives in the future. I am supporting JNF-USA's Israel Resilience Campaign, which has evacuated close to 15,500 people from Israel’s north and south; seeing to the ongoing needs of over 25,000 people with shelter, food, clothing, and other daily necessities; supplying firefighting and protective equipment for civil defense; providing psychological treatment and respite activities for the children traumatized by terror; and more. The impact is doubled thanks to a current $1 million nationwide matching gift.
SHARE. It’s imperative to raise our individual and collective voices to friends, media, and elected officials to share Israel’s humanity in the face of inhumanity, as well as uplifting stories near and far. For example, families from the southern city of Sderot are making a new home on the now-empty Alexander Muss High School in Israel campus in Hod HaSharon (where I’m a proud alum), local Sarasota students are selling friendship bracelets to support Israel, and I recently spoke at a solidarity gathering in Fort Myers.
DON’T DESPAIR. The best response to terror is to live our lives. While I considered pausing Two Tweets of Torah, my reflections on the weekly Torah reading/Parashat HaShavua (follow @2tweettorah on X and Instagram!), I am continuing in memory of those lost and to honor the hostages. I’ve attended inspiring solidarity gatherings of hundreds in Sarasota, Naples and Fort Myers, a wedding and two b’not mitzvah. As my friend Yedidya Harush, leader of Halutza community in the Gaza Envelope, said just days after the attacks, “we are going to rebuild every community and make it strong and make it bigger because that’s the only thing we know.”
This attack has decimated many communities, but they will never destroy our spirit. We stand together, as one Jewish community, ready to help Israelis in this difficult time. Am Yisrael Chai.
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