5 Towns Chesed Center’s Yom Tov Shuk

Nearly one year after Oct. 7, the Israel Chesed Center in Hewlett maintains a busy schedule of community-unifying activities that support our brothers and sisters in Israel.

The center, in a former bank building at 1315 Peninsula Blvd., opposite the Peninsula Shopping Center, drew nearly 1,000 people to a Yom Tov Shuk on Sunday, Sept. 15. Local vendors sold food, wine and gifts, with a portion of their proceeds going to the center.

The center was conceived immediately after Simchat Torah to support IDF soldiers, displaced civilians, local security teams and medical volunteers in Israel. It has grown into one of the largest support organizations in the United States and offers a fast and efficient way to transport critical gear to Israel.

In establishing the center, Moshe Bodner and Jeff Eisenberg set two primary goals:

•To deliver critical gear and supplies to Israel

•To encourage community engagement — ensuring that members of the greater Five Towns community and beyond remain informed of the needs, aware of opportunities to assist, and receive support for their own initiatives.

The ICC encourages and enables everyone, from pre-schoolers to senior citizens, to become ambassadors for projects, and offers every community member the opportunity to identify a need that he or she can fall in love with.

“We hope the war will end today and we can close up,” Bodner said. Eisenberg added that they would remain open for at least two months after the war ends — “which we pray will happen very soon” — to helping anyone who needs assistance.”

Meanwhile, along with a team of volunteers, Bodner and Eisenberg will continue to engage the community, especially over the next few weeks.

Next Sunday and Monday, Sept. 29 and 30, the Chesed Center will host a bake sale, with over 50 local bakers signed up so far, offering challah and other baked goods for Rosh Hashana.

The center will feature a full-service Sukkah Shop, and an Arba Minim Shuk will open on Sunday, Oct. 6.

Simultaneously, the center is running a campaign, in partnership with the IDF and Kehillat Shir Chadash in Jerusalem, to provide 5,000 Arba Minim sets to chayalim. For $27 per set, virtually anyone can share in the mitzvah of ensuring that any chayal who wishes to receive his own arba minim set will be accommodated.

With the one-year anniversary of the Simchat Torah massacre looming, the Chesed Center plans to be “open to the entire community as the place to go on Oct. 7, to commemorate and to mourn,” Bodner said.

“In Israel, you can go to the Nova site or to one of the kibbutzim, and every community will have its observances. Here, you can come to the Chesed Center, to express your grief and to be connected to all of Am Yisrael.”

A full day of activities on Monday, Oct. 7, is scheduled to begin with a Unity Shacharit for high school senior boys from local yeshivot, continuing with an all-day Am Echad B’lev Echad mosaic project in which visitors will make mosaic art to commemorate Oct. 7 (the art will be displayed locally and in Israel).

At 6 pm, the community is invited to join a “Israeli-style” memorial ceremony, featuring a massuah (torch) lighting in memory of the victims, Tehillim and personal messages from local students, and a musical performance by Israeli singer Avi Perets.

In addition, schools and youth groups are invited to join in a Unity Flag project, allowing children to express themselves in designing flags that will connect us with our extended family in Israel.

The Israel Chesed Center is open daily. For more information about any of its activities or projects, visit IsraelChesedCenter.com or, to join its WhatsApp chat, go to tinyurl.com/ChesedVol