HFI Delegation Sets Foot in S'derot

We met Mordecai the week before Purim.

Of course, this was not the Mordecai who raised his cousin Esther and instructed her to appeal to King Ahasuerus for the salvation of her people.

The Mordecai we met was a man hundreds of miles and thousands of years removed from that life-changing sequence of events, but whose circumstances gave us a poignant reminder of the millions of people today who are forced to face some of the worst demonstrations of hatred and inhumanity.

On a recent tour through Israel, our delegation from the Hope for Israel Relief Fund spent half a day in S’derot to observe firsthand the work of one of HFI’s humanitarian-aid partners. As we dialogued with the local director, listening intently nearby sat a man wearing a striped polo shirt and a faded baseball cap.

The director introduced him to us as one of the mission’s aid recipients—Mordecai, whose personality seemed to illustrate great resilience and a secret hope, characteristics steeled in him in spite of – or perhaps because of – the continual devastation that rains upon Israel.

The rockets do keep coming, even though they don’t often make the news anymore. At least one per week hits S’derot.

That is the reason every S’derot resident knows the 15-second rule. When the sirens sound, there are exactly 15 seconds to reach a place of protection from the skies—usually inside one of the town’s communal bomb shelters.

That is also the reason Israel’s government has ruled that every house and apartment in S’derot must now have its own bomb shelter.

The shelter at Mordecai’s had been built not long before we arrived, and after our briefing with the mission director, Mordecai invited us to visit. When we arrived at his house, we noticed a circular pothole three feet in diameter a little more than three yards from the front steps of the house.

“That is where the rocket hit,” he said and began to paint a scene from a year and a half ago.

The siren had sounded. 15 seconds. Mordecai and all his neighbors pounded the pavement, trying to reach shelter before the sky exploded.

How many times could a heart beat in 15 seconds?

In one of those moments, Mordecai’s wrenched for a young neighbor: a little girl, confused and crying in the street. If any life was to be saved, it was going to be hers first. Mordecai found the girl a nook of shelter and then turned toward his house, touching the steps before that fateful rocket landed, riddling him with shrapnel.

Mordecai’s detour cost him his job and almost his life. Numerous surgeries in subsequent months allowed him more time on Earth, but he spent 15 months of that valuable time in rehabilitation, and his disabilities – accompanied by the terrible wartime economy – prevent him from finding work.

When we entered Mordecai’s house, we discovered his electricity had been cut off just that morning. After coming to understand Mordecai did not have the money to pay the electricity bill, we conferred with the local mission and assured that he would receive financial support for that purpose.

During our last couple hours in S’derot with Mordecai, we met some of the local children—a very friendly bunch who asked to take pictures with us. An 8-year-old among them still had rocket shrapnel in his left shoulder.

Mordecai also showed us where a girl, about 9 years old, had taken her last steps while running for a bomb shelter. And we saw the mangled shell of a car that had suffered a direct hit from a rocket. In fact, I brought a piece of the car home.

Witnessing all these things brought us – grown men – almost to tears. Simply seeing the consequences of the rain of Gaza’s rockets battered us emotionally; so what must living through such things do to people like Mordecai or the children of S’derot?

In light of everything, Mordecai tries to give back where he can—though his disabilities prevent him from working in anything but a light-duty capacity. He has volunteered at the mission, sorting donated clothing and helping with a rain-water-reserves project for use in the dry season.

The day we visited S’derot not only falls two days before the Fast of Queen Esther for her people Israel but also lies on a week the Jewish calendar designates for reading a Torah portion titled “Terumah”—or “Offering.”

Online resources give the impression that “terumah” most closely implies an offering designated specifically “for a higher purpose.”

You might say Mordecai manifested that concept, using much of his ability (however little) to fight even still for the protection and betterment of the lives of his neighbors. Even as the Mordecai of old, he seems to identify that he did come into his position “for such a time as this.”

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As The Hope for Israel Relief Fund’s partners, you also embody the spirit of terumah, allocating some of your heart and financial resources to the poorest and most vulnerable of Israel.

By joining with The Hope for Israel Relief Fund, it is people like Mordecai you impact every day.

We thank you and encourage you to continue in the heart of terumah, for “who knows whether you didn’t come into your position for such a time as this.”