In response to desperate pleas of Israeli citizens living in bunkers in northern Israel to escape the barrage of rockets from Lebanon, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria opened their doors. No questions asked. Dorms in yeshivas and midrashas normally used by students, guest houses and other facilities were made available without charge.
Unable to assume the expenses, institutions and communities began to ask government and private agencies for help. They were turned down because of their location in Judea and Samaria.
The United Jewish Communities received $130 million to help Israelis in the north. Working with the Jewish Agency and JDC, they took thousands of children to week-long camps, and provided assistance to the elderly, disabled and problematic families. Air conditioners, ventilators and TVs have been provided for public shelters, as well as food and medicine.
Thousands of hotel rooms were offered to families for a few days of respite. But eventually, the refugees and their children had to return to their miserable shelters. They had no choice and were given no option.
Efforts by the government were intended to make life in the shelters more bearable and certainly helped. But what about those who couldn't withstand the daily bombings and wanted to leave, but had little or no resources?
And what about the millions of dollars that were raised?
Some reports indicated that there was no coordination or planning. Food and supplies were dumped and sometimes taken by hoarders or taken to Arab villages in the West Bank. Nor was any attempt made to take extra food to soldiers in Lebanon who had none.
According to Effie Rifkin, director of Orot Hesed, a charity organization in Jerusalem associated with the national-religious camp, 3,000 rooms were available, more than half in Judea and Samaria - without cost or for a minimal charge. Most remained empty.
Public and private institutions, the Prime Minister's Office, the Jewish Agency and JDC refused to help, or even to supply food to families from the north who had moved to Judea and Samaria, deferring that they aren't mandated to help this population.
Maale Levonah, for example, a community near Shilo, hosted 20 families in the dorms of Ulpana (girls high school) Levonah. The community incurred debts of thousands of shekels for food and asked agencies for help, only to be turned down because of their location. There was room for more families, but the community couldn't afford to feed them. And the organized Jewish community turned their backs on them.
Hebron's midrasha took in 15 families for a period of one week each, supplying them with three meals a day during the month-long crisis - a total of 60 families. They incurred a debt of $24,000; a major Jewish American organization gave them a check for 1,000 NIS (about $200).
Throughout Judea and Samaria, from Elon Moreh to Gush Etzion, Hebron and the hills to the south, communities took in scores of families, but because they are "over the Green Line" they will not be compensated.
Some non-profit organizations that collected money to help those in the north refused to offer direct assistance to families that had moved to settlements. Sacta-Rashi would not; One Family said they had no money, etc. The Prime Minister's Office had this response to requests for assistance from settlements: "We're not overruling the possibility of hosting citizens of the north in other places. Our plans are based on demands for additional places." They would not elaborate and would not help.
"Strange," Rifkin sighs, "the IDF drops leaflets over Lebanese villages advising the residents to leave so they won't be harmed, but the government won't help residents of the north find safe refuge in Judea and Samaria."
One administrator told me, "They should have thought about where they would get the money before they were so hospitable." Her salary, no doubt, won't suffer.
The mandate of every Jewish organization is to help Jews wherever they are in need - without exception. Or at least, that's what it should be.
Unable to assume the expenses, institutions and communities began to ask government and private agencies for help. They were turned down because of their location in Judea and Samaria.
The United Jewish Communities received $130 million to help Israelis in the north. Working with the Jewish Agency and JDC, they took thousands of children to week-long camps, and provided assistance to the elderly, disabled and problematic families. Air conditioners, ventilators and TVs have been provided for public shelters, as well as food and medicine.
Thousands of hotel rooms were offered to families for a few days of respite. But eventually, the refugees and their children had to return to their miserable shelters. They had no choice and were given no option.
Efforts by the government were intended to make life in the shelters more bearable and certainly helped. But what about those who couldn't withstand the daily bombings and wanted to leave, but had little or no resources?
And what about the millions of dollars that were raised?
Some reports indicated that there was no coordination or planning. Food and supplies were dumped and sometimes taken by hoarders or taken to Arab villages in the West Bank. Nor was any attempt made to take extra food to soldiers in Lebanon who had none.
According to Effie Rifkin, director of Orot Hesed, a charity organization in Jerusalem associated with the national-religious camp, 3,000 rooms were available, more than half in Judea and Samaria - without cost or for a minimal charge. Most remained empty.
Public and private institutions, the Prime Minister's Office, the Jewish Agency and JDC refused to help, or even to supply food to families from the north who had moved to Judea and Samaria, deferring that they aren't mandated to help this population.
Maale Levonah, for example, a community near Shilo, hosted 20 families in the dorms of Ulpana (girls high school) Levonah. The community incurred debts of thousands of shekels for food and asked agencies for help, only to be turned down because of their location. There was room for more families, but the community couldn't afford to feed them. And the organized Jewish community turned their backs on them.
Hebron's midrasha took in 15 families for a period of one week each, supplying them with three meals a day during the month-long crisis - a total of 60 families. They incurred a debt of $24,000; a major Jewish American organization gave them a check for 1,000 NIS (about $200).
Throughout Judea and Samaria, from Elon Moreh to Gush Etzion, Hebron and the hills to the south, communities took in scores of families, but because they are "over the Green Line" they will not be compensated.
Some non-profit organizations that collected money to help those in the north refused to offer direct assistance to families that had moved to settlements. Sacta-Rashi would not; One Family said they had no money, etc. The Prime Minister's Office had this response to requests for assistance from settlements: "We're not overruling the possibility of hosting citizens of the north in other places. Our plans are based on demands for additional places." They would not elaborate and would not help.
"Strange," Rifkin sighs, "the IDF drops leaflets over Lebanese villages advising the residents to leave so they won't be harmed, but the government won't help residents of the north find safe refuge in Judea and Samaria."
One administrator told me, "They should have thought about where they would get the money before they were so hospitable." Her salary, no doubt, won't suffer.
The mandate of every Jewish organization is to help Jews wherever they are in need - without exception. Or at least, that's what it should be.