A triple celebration was held yesterday in the central Gaza community of Netzarim. The new synagogue-yeshiva building was dedicated, two new Torah Scrolls were danced into the Holy Ark, and Rabbi Tzion Tawil was officially installed as the community's Rabbi. One of the Torah scrolls was donated by three families from the Haifa area, and the other by the Yered family, whose grandson lives in Netzarim.
A still-joyous participant, Naamah Turjeman of Netzarim, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today that the community is thriving, despite its perceived isolation. "We still have to travel in convoys from Nachal Oz [on the border of the Gaza Strip] to our homes," she said, "but it's not difficult at all. Everyone has the schedule posted on his refrigerator, and we just adapt ourselves to the times." She said there are some 60 families living there, and that a new yeshiva - named Netzer Mata'ai (a Biblical phrase referring to G-d's choicest growths) - is well into its second year, under Rabbi Tawil's leadership.
A bit further south, but accessible only by leaving Gaza at Nachal Oz and re-entering at the Kisufim Junction, lies Atzmonah, where other members of the extended Yered family live. Yossi and Liyah Yered report that their 3-year-old son Ariel is doing very well, after suffering shrapnel injuries to his head during a Palestinian terrorist mortar attack when he was just 15 months old. Ariel was the most seriously injured civilian in well over 1,500 mortar attacks directed at Gush Katif in the past 30 months; reserve soldier Barak Madmon, 26, was killed outside Kfar Darom when a mortar shell hit his IDF outpost in November 2001.
"We spent a year and a half in intensive therapy in Alyn Children's Hospital in Jerusalem," Ariel's mother Liyah recounted, "and now, thank G-d, we are home and Ariel is progressing very nicely. Because of the injuries to his head, he does not have use of his right hand yet, and there is still what to pray for, but he is happy, he talks, he runs, and goes to nursery happily."
Several days ago, another Torah Scroll was joyously introduced into Yeshivat Yamit, a hesder yeshiva in N'vei Dekalim, just up the road from Atzmonah. The scroll was written in memory of Elkanah Gobi, student in the Sderot hesder yeshiva, who was tragically killed a year ago during a Palestinian terrorist attack. He was mistakenly run over by an army jeep when he got out to fire back at terrorists who had shot at him.
A still-joyous participant, Naamah Turjeman of Netzarim, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today that the community is thriving, despite its perceived isolation. "We still have to travel in convoys from Nachal Oz [on the border of the Gaza Strip] to our homes," she said, "but it's not difficult at all. Everyone has the schedule posted on his refrigerator, and we just adapt ourselves to the times." She said there are some 60 families living there, and that a new yeshiva - named Netzer Mata'ai (a Biblical phrase referring to G-d's choicest growths) - is well into its second year, under Rabbi Tawil's leadership.
A bit further south, but accessible only by leaving Gaza at Nachal Oz and re-entering at the Kisufim Junction, lies Atzmonah, where other members of the extended Yered family live. Yossi and Liyah Yered report that their 3-year-old son Ariel is doing very well, after suffering shrapnel injuries to his head during a Palestinian terrorist mortar attack when he was just 15 months old. Ariel was the most seriously injured civilian in well over 1,500 mortar attacks directed at Gush Katif in the past 30 months; reserve soldier Barak Madmon, 26, was killed outside Kfar Darom when a mortar shell hit his IDF outpost in November 2001.
"We spent a year and a half in intensive therapy in Alyn Children's Hospital in Jerusalem," Ariel's mother Liyah recounted, "and now, thank G-d, we are home and Ariel is progressing very nicely. Because of the injuries to his head, he does not have use of his right hand yet, and there is still what to pray for, but he is happy, he talks, he runs, and goes to nursery happily."
Several days ago, another Torah Scroll was joyously introduced into Yeshivat Yamit, a hesder yeshiva in N'vei Dekalim, just up the road from Atzmonah. The scroll was written in memory of Elkanah Gobi, student in the Sderot hesder yeshiva, who was tragically killed a year ago during a Palestinian terrorist attack. He was mistakenly run over by an army jeep when he got out to fire back at terrorists who had shot at him.