Chanukah Gifts for Orphans
Monday, December 28, 2009
By: Jo Kaplan

This Chanukah season, the MJAA was blessed to send needed gifts to children living in two different orphanages in Israel.

We donated quality winter shoes worth $20,000 to 400 children living at Ben Shemen Youth Village Orphanage. These special children are orphans or have only one parent. The young people were filled with excitement as they waited their turn to choose a shoe style and size at the distribution tables. They each said “Thank you” with a twinkle in their eyes. Even the staff was deeply moved by this MJAA Chanukah surprise.

A troop of Israeli soldiers was invited to the Orphanage Chanukah party and each soldier also received a pair of winter shoes from the MJAA. They felt warmth in their hearts as well as their feet.

We also attended a Chanukah party at the Chabad Orphanage. This time the MJAA gave winter jackets* to 300 boys who are living at the orphanage. These boys all come from rough situations or circumstances where their parents can’t take care of them. You could see by the look on their faces that they were happy to receive the new winter jackets, just in time for cool weather.

Rabbi Slavin greeted us with joy at the Chanukah party. As he was lighting the candles, he said, “Last night we lit 4 candles, and that was perfect. Tonight, if we light 4 candles, it will not be enough. We must light 5 candles. Likewise, what we did yesterday is not enough for today – we must do more.”

This is a good message for us at the MJAA. No matter how many people in Israel we help with humanitarian aid, there is always more to be done. It is an amazing feeling to be able to help Israelis with things they really need. But these projects always involve a lot of work, whether it’s donating toward shipping a container and getting it through the Israeli port, trucking goods to our center in Israel, or delivering shoes and jackets to the orphanages – it is all such a blessing.

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*The jackets were donated to the MJAA by Nachamu Nachamu Ami (Comfort Ye My People ministry) in Holland.