In the past week, over 1,000 homes were destroyed and 70,000 evacuated due to a wave of arson attacks in Israel. The over 100 fires also engulfed more than 30,000 acres of land. The forests will need more than 30 years to recover.
Seeing the horrific attacks that have taken place in Israel over the past few days, the Hebrew Academy started a fundraiser to help the victims of the rampant arson. This past Wednesday, students could donate five dollars to the fund and wear anything related to Israel. The Warrior Wear Wednesday event was spearheaded by the Hebrew National Honor Society and student activities director Rabbi Ney, raising over 700 dollars.
While the Hebrew Academy took initiative after the devastating attacks, the week of over 100 blazes was glaringly missing from national news coverage. Stories about Donald Trump’s latest act as president-elect and Colin Kaepernick’s most recent gauche behavior littered the media, but it was impossible to find mention of the over 70,000 people forced to evacuate their homes in Israel.
Most people don’t even realize that terrorists have laid waste to cities and forests in the land of Israel. And many more just don’t care. Sadly, we live in this anti-Israel, anti-Semitic world. It is times like these where we need to realize how few friends the Jewish people have.
I am very happy that the RASG Hebrew Academy is a friend of Israel. At our school, we are kept aware of current events in the country and taught to care about our people’s homeland. When the whole world ignores Israel, the Hebrew Academy doesn’t. This is why I am proud to call myself a member of the RASG Hebrew Academy.
By: Jack Benveniste-Plitt (10th Grade)