Reply To: The White Shul's Shliach

imagined! But things only continued to

became

more and more meaningful as the day

went on.

I landed in Eretz Yisrael over two hours

late, and had already missed two

out of the three homes that the OU was

planning to visit.

So I met them on the way to the Shaer

home which is located in Talmon, a

neighborhood of 280 families, which is

surrounded on all sides by Arab

Villages. We arrived there at 3:30, and

were told by the Policemen, that

the family was resting until 5:30. So the

OU van decided to leave, but I

chose to stay and wait it out.

So there I was, alone, in a far flung Yishuv

that I have never heard of,

drenched with sweat, with not a living

person in sight, in any direction.

I begin to walk around looking for a Beis

Midrash, and after about a

minute, a woman walks out of the Shaer

residence, and I sheepishly asked

States, but I live in Talmon for over 20

years. How can I help you?”

anything, as I had a last minute flight,

and they would not provide me with

food on the plane, and I am feeling very

into her home, quickly served me a

beautiful platter of fresh fruit; gave

me a tour of the local shul and mikvah,

acquainted me to the local shomrim

and Chayallim, and proceeded to

introduce me to many of the local

families

the other, families began to break

down crying, as they heard that a guest

had arrived from America to share

in their pain.

But I watched as these incredible

families, walked up and down the streets

with bottles of water, delicious cake

platters, freshly diced fruit, tuna

and egg sandwiches, and everything else

you can possibly imagine; offering

the crowd that was beginning to form

outside of the Shaer residence. Their

outpouring of love was quite

overwhelming to watch, and it is

something

that is so hard for me to properly express

in words.

Signs were posted by a table at the

entrance to the door, asking all

visitors to write down what services they

might be able to offer the family

in the coming months, and when they

would be available to render them. A

plumber wrote that he has off on

them should they ever need. A therapist

wrote that any day after hours they

could feel free to use her services. A

young teenage girl from Beit Shemesh

wrote that she has the summer off, and

would be happy to entertain anyone

in the Yishuv who was busy caring for the

the list went on and on and on.

Politicians began to gather and many

people could be seen waiting for the

school friends of Gilad began to

recount stories of his youthful

personality, but after just a few minutes,

Mr. and Mrs. Shaer asked that people

please make way for the Kehillah who

has sent someone all the way from

him; his visit means the most to us right

now; though we may be closer to

many of you sitting in the room.” I then

received the most warm, gracious,

gentle, and highly emotional embrace

from Mr. Shaer, who was completely

gesture.

The room grew silent and we began to

speak with one another; I then

proceeded to present the letters from our

shul, which threw the room into a

complete hysteria, and Mrs. Bat Galim

Shaer began to speak with me about

her feelings of love for our Kehillah.

Although there were numerous signs

posted, that no pictures be taken at the

shiva house, Bat Galim encouraged her

friends and relatives, to take

pictures and share them with both her

family and our Kehillah, so they

would remember, and that we would be

able to see how much this special

visit meant to them.

Surprisingly, she then proceeded to

personally address our wonderful shul

on video as well, and asked her friends to

share her personal message with

our shul via email before Shabbos; so we

could all appreciate the Shaer

and incredible sense of strength

that they felt by our gesture.

I then traveled to Nof Ayalon to visit the

Frankel family. I got to speak

very personally with both Mr. and Mrs.

Frankel, and they too were

overwhelmed with our sense of

connection and achrayus to Am Yisrael

and its

terrible tragedies.

only you who feel it for us, you

feel a connection to your shul. The

Torah that you teach in The White Shul, I

and listen to the shiurim on YUTorah, and

is, that one of my personal Rabeim has

come from abroad to share this

difficult time with me.”

Mrs. Frenkel then told me that when

Ambassador Dan Shapiro, came to speak

with her last week about the continued

mission to rescue her son, he said,

us.” To which she res