Protection in the Hills
Surrounded by enemies. Isolated from nearby Jewish communities and towns. This is Revava, a community of 500 Jewish families in Samaria, and every day they face the grim, overhanging threat of violence and terrorism from their Arab neighbors. Security is a grave concern to Revava; in the past they have suffered through infiltrations, attacks, and the theft of critical security equipment, and the community is at its breaking point. You are their only hope. With your help, Revava will be able to purchase life-saving infrared surveillance equipment and install the necessary infrastructure so that the community can be protected on all sides. The people of Revava want only to live their lives and raise their children in peace. Won’t you help them?
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Meet the People Making a Difference
Keith Buxton: Shoulder to Shoulder With Israel
March 11, 2011. Shabbat night. What should have been a night of quiet and peace was shattered forever when 12-year-old Tamar Fogel returned home to a scene of horrifying carnage: her house had been trashed and her parents, two brothers, and infant sister had been ruthlessly, brutally murdered. Extremist Arab terrorism had lunged at the Fogel family, and life in Israel – for everyone – would never be the same.
It was on the heels of this unspeakable tragedy, amid the international eruption that followed, that Keith Buxton found himself in Israel with CFOIC Heartland, standing on a hilltop deep in Samaria just outside the community of Itamar. This was not his first time in Israel, but it was the first time he’d come to the Biblical Heartland of Judea and Samaria. He and his group stood at the Three Seas Outlook, and looked out over the green, rock-studded hills of Samaria. Keith saw the budding green of the Oak of Moreh, the twin mountains of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal and the city of Shechem cradled in the valley between, and listened as Sondra Oster Baras read from Genesis 12: And Abram passed through the land, to the place of Shechem until the plains of Moreh… and God appeared to Abram and said, “To your children I will give this land.”
Pioneer In Our Day
Rabbi Benjy Myers: Building Community
It’s hard to move houses or towns. Even harder to move countries. But Rabbi Benjy Myers doesn’t see it that way, when reflecting on all the places he’s lived and all the countries he’s seen. To him, every stop along the way was just that – a layover, a stepping-stone leading him to Israel, and to his beloved kibbutz community, Migdal Oz.
Benjy was born in England, but “My earliest memories are from Israel,” he says. His family made Aliyah soon after he was born, so Benjy spent his formative years in Israel. Israel in the early 1980s was rapidly growing, developing, and coming into its own; it was a poignant time for Benjy to grow up here, as though he and his Homeland were growing up together. Fitting, for a boy born on Israel’s Independence Day!
Giving Thanks
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for the incredible donation that you have
generously sent to us to aid in the construction of Tekoa’s brandnew
arts center. You have been supporting our community’s
security needs and providing for our children for years, and we
are so incredibly grateful for your continued support!
In early 2019, the murder of nineteen-year-old Ori Ansbacher, a
Tekoa native and gifted poet and songwriter, shook our community
to its core. Friends of Ori Ansbacher turned to song and art in their
mourning and crafted beautiful tributes to her and her blessed
memory, and beautifully illustrated the healing effect that art can
have, especially in the face of tragedy.
The Tekoa Art Center that you have generously donated will be
a monument to the resilience and strength of our community.
Through this center, the community will be able to heal from
our tragedies and share the benefits and beauties of this art with
everyone. Art workshops, classes, and studio spaces will all be
housed in this Art Center, all of which will serve to help strengthen
our community’s economy, social development, and the special,
personal connections forged through art between people all over
the country. All of this, of course, is only possible because of you.
Thank you so much for your support! We are excited to begin
creating with you.
Sincerely,
Aviva Yisraeli
and the People of Tekoa
Aviva Yisraeli loves to host CFOIC Heartland groups and takes particular pride in showing them her beautiful community of Tekoa.