MERCAZ USA A Message I Wish I Did Not Have To Write Donate Now.
Click Emergency Appeal in the Gift Allocation. | Once again, Israel faces crisis. Once again you, as I, will receive a multitude of appeals for funds. You may recall that earlier this year the Masorti Foundation worked with our colleagues in the Conservative movement to coordinate fundraising efforts. We were successful in providing support not only for programs in and for residents of Sderot and nearby areas, including support for summer day camp for young children, but also in underwriting the bulk of the cost for significant physical improvements to the Masorti kehilla in Ashkelon. This was especially important because of the 200 young children in the gan program at the kehilla. We need your help again. Day trips out of the affected areas have proven to be quite important from a psychological perspective. The Masorti movement in Israel has already sponsored close to 40 trips from Sderot. Participants are selected by local community organizations. All trips include sightseeing and a good restaurant meal. Masorti will now do more such trips, and will expand them to include the Ashkelon area. Masorti will also provide special programming in both Sderot and Ashkelon through its NOAM youth group and MAROM program for college age young adults. The MAROM programming in Sderot, in conjunction with Sapir College, has already been able to involve several hundred. More work needs to be done in Ashkelon, including more reinforcement for the kindergarten area, air conditioning for the shelters, more protective covering for windows and funding for a social worker to help with problems of traumatic stress among the children. Masorti rabbis, as was true during the time of the Lebanon War, will be visiting in Ashkelon, Ashdod (where there is also a Masorti kehilla), Sderot and other areas to provide counseling and support. Funds are urgently needed for all of the above. Checks should be sent to the Masorti Foundation, 475 Riverside Drive Suite 832, New York, NY 10115. Checks should be marked Emergency Appeal. Online contributions can be made at www.masorti.org. Click Emergency Appeal in the Gift Allocation. If there are questions, please call the Masorti Foundation office at 212-870-2216. David H. Lissy,
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel | 
