OU leaders Savitsky, Weinreb and Diament joined with leaders of other American Jewish organizations in a visit to Sderot, Israel today.

At a visit to the central AMIT sponsored school, a clinical psychologist described the trauma the town’s residents are experiencing (ie: nearly 2/3 of children are experiencing ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’) and a government leader spoke with resolve of not shrinking in the face of the threat – and how it is drawing many Israelis across the political spectrum closer together. Sderot high school students we met with were touching in their “normalcy” – appreciating the closeness of their community and their aspirations to go on to the IDF, college and to succeed. Rav Dov Fendel, the head of the Sderot Yeshiva, spoke passionately of the town as emblematic of the Zionist enterprise and their work to not only defend, but expand, the yeshiva’s presence in Sderot.
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