Why are the children of Abraham compared to the stars? Hannah Senesh was a brave heroine who volunteered to leave Palestine to fight with the partisans against the Nazis. In one of her beautiful poems she wrote, “There are stars whose radiance is visible on earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for mankind.” Like the stars in Senesh’s poem, the Jew’s role in this world is to be a “light unto the nations”. Today, the children of Israel have returned to the land. Unfortunately, this return has been accompanied by many hardships and tragedy, especially for communities which have been directly affected by war and terrorism. While the Biblical city of Shiloh has been revived into a modern and flourishing city, many of its inhabitants have been traumatized by acts of terrorism. The Shiloh Israel Children's Fund is working to provide the care and therapy required to the affected children of Shilo.
|