A phone call:


"Rachel, why are you writing about the suffering in Sderot when your own Gush Katif people are still suffering? Here you are, two years after your expulsion, and you still have

Our dear friend and former N'vei Dekalim neighbor Yaakov Freiman died of a broken heart.

no home, barely any compensation, and many are still without employment. All attempts to set up permanent housing come to nothing. Rachel, open your eyes! See what's going on around you!"


"But I feel terrible about the people of Sderot," I reply. "They're living with the dread of rocket attacks. I lived that way for five years. I know what it can do to you. These people are also neglected."


We argued. We discussed. I saw no disconnect between Gush Katif and Sderot. They are one. The pain is real for both of us. Both peoples suffer from severe health problems. You cannot live with constant fear, a sense of helplessness and governmental neglect without severe mental and physical trauma. Many people from both communities suffer from depression, diabetes, cardiac dysfunction and cancer.


Two weeks ago, our dear friend and former N'vei Dekalim neighbor Yaakov Freiman died of a broken heart. He had buried his first wife in Gush Katif and, with the expulsion, he and his second wife, Miriam, had to rebury her. Their story was filmed by another neighbor, Hadar Bashan. The film, In the Freiman Kitchen, won a place in Jerusalem's Israel Film Festival and was shown several days ago.


In the film, we watch the elderly couple go from disbelief, anger, hope, prayers and finally resignation as they are expelled from their Gush Katif home. The audience, many from Gush Katif, caught in the turmoil of their emotions, sat stunned. They could not applaud. The tragedy had played out similarly in each of our homes. With his death, Yaakov Freiman had become another casualty of the Disengagement.


I received a call from an Ashkelon social worker: "Rachel, can you help? One of your people needs intensive dental care. All of his teeth fell out. The trauma of the expulsion brought it on."


"I'll call people. Operation Dignity will pitch in with the cost. Somehow the money will come through."


Einat is a close friend: "Rachel, we are seeing more and more cases of miscarriages, infertility, marriages falling apart...."


"Rachel," says a voice on the phone, "can you continue paying a monthly NIS 1,000 to the supermarket for the 'X' family? They're desperate."


What will become of my own people? What will become of the people of Sderot?


I witness the death of friends, and the poverty and despair of once-thriving neighbors. In Sderot, I see the same. Tension, trauma and neglect affect both your mental and physical health.


We received a flier, rolled up like a parchment and tied with a ribbon. The "Youth of N'vei Dekalim" are inviting the adults to the third Shabbat meal, keeping the Gush Katif tradition alive: "Remember our communal meal on the grass below the meeting hall? We do not want to forget our past as we move on to our future."


The people of Gush Katif will march to Sderot carrying a Torah scroll to be placed in the Mishkan Ellah synagogue.



Our children are our hope.


This Tisha B'Av, as we remember the destruction of our holy Temple and the city of Jerusalem, remember the destruction of Gush Katif. Two years later, we weep for our past, live in the indignity of the present, and hope for a better future.


On the 10th of Av, Wednesday July 25, the people of Gush Katif will march to Sderot carrying a Torah scroll to be placed in the Mishkan Ellah synagogue - until our return to Gush Katif.


Operation Dignity will be aiding projects in Sderot, as well as continuing to help our people in Gush Katif refugee camps. Operation Dignity needs your help more than ever.


Contributions, earmarked for OPERATION DIGNITY, should be sent to: Central Fund for Israel, 980 Sixth Avenue, New York 10018, USA; or Central Fund for Israel, 13 Hagoel Street, Efrat 90435, Israel.