Screening launches next mission to Kerem Shalom.
On Sunday, December 1, at 8 p.m., the Jewish Center of Teaneck, in partnership with Bergen B’Yachad, is extremely proud to present the American premiere of the story of Yaron Shai, z’l, “Crazy Diamond,” with English subtitles. Yaron, a young officer in the IDF, rushed to Kerem Shalom in the earliest moments of the mass terror attack on October 7, fighting a heroic battle, and eventually sacrificing his life to save the residents of the town that has become our sister city since the outbreak of war.
The screening of this film will be followed by a conversation with Yaron’s father, Yizhar, regarding his son’s life and heroism. Yizhar served as minister of science and technology in the Israeli government in 2020-2021. Please see the ad on the opposite side of the page to register for this special premiere evening at The Jewish Center.
The screening of this film will serve as the launch for our next mission to Kerem Shalom, which will take place February 18-20, 2025. This mission, open to the entire community, and based in Jerusalem at the Dan Panorama Hotel, is designed both for those who participated in the previous two missions and those who were not able to do so. The trip will feature time with Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon, Rav Doron Perez, MK Matan Kahane, and other notable speakers and volunteer opportunities. We will spend the first two days of the mission with our dear friends from Kerem Shalom, including with Yizhar Shai, including touring the battle site where Yaron, z’l gave his life in defense of the kibbutz.
Our partnership with Kerem Shalom is not only rooted in its strategic location, as the closest Israeli town to Gaza, separated from Rafah only by 40 meters. It is a testament to the remarkable achdut and ahavat Yisrael that Kerem Shalom represents. While some believe our people are somehow hopelessly divided, Kerem Shalom is a place where deeply observant and religious Jews live with love and understanding for our brothers and sisters who do not presently share the same practices. In this way, Kerem Shalom is a model for all of Am Yisrael, and we are so proud to have formed our own profound bond with our brothers and sisters there over the last year.
Please join us on Wednesday, December 4, at 8 p.m., for a virtual information session regarding this 2025 mission, taking place in partnership with Mizrachi and Sulamot. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].
With gratitude for your incredible generosity, we are 70% towards our communal goal of raising $1 million for our brothers and sisters in Kerem Shalom, to help ensure that Hamas is granted no victory for launching its pogrom on October 7, 2023. We will never, God forbid, allow a town in the Land of Israel to be rendered judenrein. On the contrary, we will, with God’s help, not only ensure the return of the residents of Kerem Shalom to their homes, but to a place more beautiful and more secure than it ever was before October 7.
In particular, our fundraising efforts for the final 30% will focus on a state-of-the art children’s playground and a sports complex dedicated to Yaron’s memory, as in his all-too-short life, he loved and enjoyed playing sports. His family feels that this will be a most fitting legacy for him, so that generations of children can grow up playing and enjoying the place he gave his life to protect.
In addition to the investments we have already made in the medical and security infrastructure of Kerem Shalom, by investing in the children of Kerem Shalom, we are ensuring that generations of our People will be able to raise their families in peace and security in the Land for which we waited 2,000 years to return.
Rabbi Daniel Fridman is the rabbi of the Jewish Center of Teaneck and vice president for Community Relations, RCBC.
