03/18/2025
Federation Leaders See War Devastation on Mission Trip
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
ABIGAIL PREISZIG
Leadership from the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, J. David Heller, from left, past chair and the Jewish Federations of North America national campaign chair, president Erika B. Rudin-Luria, board chair Daniel N. Zelman, and president emeritus Stephen H. Hoffman on a three-day mission in Northern Israel in January with JFNA.
North American Jewish communities and federations stand behind Israel and will help on its journey back to normalcy, Daniel N. Zelman, board chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, told the Cleveland Jewish News.
However, many aspects of uncertainty, especially in the country’s northern communities, the “substantial needs” have not yet been identified for rebuilding, he said.
“It’s important that people in Israel know that there’s a country of Jewish people here, and federations leading the way, that care about them,” Zelman said.
In January, the Jewish Federations of North America brought more than 15 federation leaders on a three-day mission to Israel. Cleveland attendees included Zelman, president Erika B. Rudin-Luria, president emeritus Stephen H. Hoffman and J. David Heller, Federation past board chair and JFNA national campaign chair,
Rudin-Luria told the CJN that she and others were “on the ground” to get a sense of how the federations can make an impact in communities devastated by the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel by Hamas and subsequent war.
Destruction in Metula. Submitted photo
They met with individuals living in or involved with communities in the north of Israel, including Kiryat Shimona, Metula and Moshav Margoliot.
“As you can imagine the physical damage from missiles is very, very significant throughout these communities and given that many have been evacuated for 15 months, there’s damage just from being evacuated,” she said. “There’s serious trauma from people from these communities as well because of they felt taunted for a number of years by the growth of Hezbollah on their borders.”
Leaders in these communities are determining how to rebuild and prepare for the eventual return of more than 25,000 residents displaced by the fighting, Zelman said. A lot of the buildings are in “horrible shape,” hit with missiles and infested with rodents and mold.
“There’s just a lot of uncertainty because they don’t know when there’ll be a ceasefire that is lasting,” he said. “They don’t know when they’ll be able to rely on having adequate security. And then they don’t know how many people will want to come back because after 15 months, people will have established lives and school for their kids. And they don’t know whether they’ll get a critical mass or enough people or how community will look.”
People they met with were “inspirational and committed to creating this new community and working full time on it,” Zelman said. Several people stayed to take care of essentials and farms “at considerable risk to themselves.”
For example, the mayor of Metula has operated a dispatch center in a bomb shelter with cameras set up by the Israel Defense Forces for more than 15 months as he prepares for the eventual return of his citizens and in Moshav Margoliot, on the border of Lebanon, two chicken production and egg packing facilities remain in operation to supply more than 150,000 eggs per day to the IDF, the largest provider of eggs to the IDF during this time period, he said.
“It’s an example of somebody’s heroism, along with others in his community, to continue to work and produce for the country in the face of missiles flying from time to time that causes the whole group of workers that stayed to go into shelters,” Zelman said.
Many homes and buildings in Northern Israel, including Kiryat Shmona, face destruction from missiles. Submitted photo
Federation leadership also saw several examples of funds raised by North American Jewish communities, including Cleveland, through the Isreal Emergency Campaign in action, Rudin-Luria and Zelman both said.
They met with The Jewish Agency for Israel and discussed what it has seen and how it is addressing the trauma of those in the Gaza envelope “who survived horrible, horrible things and many of whose family members did not survive” as well as those in the north, Rudin-Luria said. Through the agency’s Fund for Victims of Terror, which the Federation has been a significant supporter of, it has lightened the load of and helped survivors of tragedy recover from trauma and rebuild their lives through financial aid and services.
They also met with an Israeli sent to Camp Wise in Claridon Township for respite in summer 2024, she said. The camper shared that “she awoke from being dead, that she started to remember who she was again and that she was alive for the first time since Oct. 7 (2023).”
The most important part of the trip was the opportunity to show Israelis what kind of support they are receiving from American Jews and allowing them to give testimony, Rudin-Luria said.
“The people of Israel need us so that they have a full and complete recovery and part of going there is demonstrating that we show up for people,” she said. “We have a long history of supporting the people of Israel and we’re going to be there through this as well.”
