Women’s concert to  benefit terror victim families

Jewish Herald Voice, July 15, 2004, Page 14

 

A concert sponsored by Mikveh Taharas Yisroel, The Jewish Community Center, and Debbie and Mark Gottesman will benefit families of terror victims. It will be held on Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. at the JCC’s Kaplan Theatre. A diverse group of women from various communities and synagogues are pooling their talents and resources to make this evening both inspirational and entertaining.

 


 Tom Delay comforting Dvir Kinarti from Shomron at Chabad's summer camp for Terror Victims. Dvir was injured in a shooting attack while in a car driving to Jerusalem.

The concert will be given by rising star Karen Daitchman, who is a gifted pianist and vocalist. Karen has preformed for audiences throughout the United States and her album “Yivarechecha” pays tribute to her unique talents. She is a music teacher in seven schools in the New York Metropolitan area and lives in Queens with her husband and five sons.

 

This evening will also include a dessert reception during intermission.

 

The Tzeirei Chabad Program for terror victims and their families provides both immediate emergency intervention and long term assistance. More than 220 Chabad houses are an indispensable part of its nationwide support network, enabling it to respond whenever and wherever an attack occurs.

 

The “One Voice Evening of Solidarity” will benefit the families of the terror victims who are in need of financial assistance.

 

As demonstrated in the terrorist attack in Mechora in the Jordan Valley, Aug. 10, 2002. Yafit Herenstein was murdered. Her husband, Arno, was seriously wounded and hospitalized at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Yafit left behind two daughters, aged 6 months and two years, who were cared for by their grandparents in Gadera.

 

Chabad's Jerusalem branch immediately attended to Arno in the hospital and gave support to the family at his bedside while Rabbi Karniel, Chabad shaliach fom Gadera, visited the orphans during the week of shiva. Financial aid was given to the grandparents to purchase new clothes and toys for the two little girls.

 

According to Prof. Van Der Kolk, establishing a sense of safety is the first step in healing: "Traumatized people feel G‑d forsaken," he explains. "They are all by themselves. They feel lonely and disconnected… when people's own resources prove inadequate to deal with a threat, they need to rely on others for safety and care… Traumatized people need to be helped with shelter, food and other means to get back on their feet. "

 

A main component of Chabad's Program for Terror Victims and their families is financial and material support. As Prof. Van der Kolk says, such support not only eases life's burdens, but acts as a tangible demonstration to the family that the world continues to care about them; that they are safe and not alone. Financial support is community concern in action. It relieves the burden of economic stress, provides much needed resources, and is accepted by the family as a tangible expression of the collective Jewish community's concern for them.

 

Chabad provides emergency money for food, for an electric wheelchair, school tuition, or for transportation for those no longer able to ride buses in Israel. Depending on the availability of resources, aid is given to restructure debt, pay off loans and electric bills, or meet mortgage payments.  This concert hopes to boost those resources and give the families the support they need.

 

Women and Girls are invited to take part in this special event. Tickets are available for purchase at Elijah’s Cup, the JCC, Jumbo Judaica, KD Grill, and Saba’s, or online at www.mtyhouston.org. Seating is limited.  Group, Student, and Senior Citizen discounts are available.

 

More information on this concert is available on Mikveh Taharas Yisroel’s Web site, www.mtyhouston.org or by calling 713/777-2000.

 

For more information about the Victims of Terror project, visit www.chabadisrael.com.