NOVEMBER 2 • 2023 | 35

nalist and Knight-Wallace 
Journalism Fellow Efrat 
Lachter, who agreed to speak 
with one day’s notice. Efrat 
shared stories of bravery, 
in particular that of Inbar 
Lieberman, the 25-year-
old security coordinator at 
Kibbutz Nir Am, who saved 
the kibbutz through her quick 
and daring mobilization of 
their security team.
Efrat is a seasoned war cor-
respondent who has heard tes-
timonies from other atrocities 
over the years. “Never in my 
life did I imagine something 
like this can happen again to 
the Israeli people,” she said. 
“Hamas is ISIS. The last time 
that 1,000 Jews were murdered 
in a day was the Holocaust. 
Israel was established so it will 
never happen again.”
Rabbi Danny Schiff, rab-
bi-in-residence at the Jewish 
Community of Greater 
Pittsburgh, lives half the year 
in Israel and has children 
serving in the Israel Defense 
Forces. He spoke passionately 
about the imperative of stand-
ing together and of taking 
action. He spoke of the need 
to contact friends and family 
in Israel to express concern 
and solidarity, and to donate 
to address the overwhelming 
needs of the thousands of 
families impacted.

TAKING ACTION
From so far away, it is easy 
to feel helpless here in the 
U.S. But there are things we 
can do. First, reach out and 
embrace our Israeli family 
and friends. They need our 
love and support. Federation 
has been in contact with our 
friends in our partnership 
region of Nahalal, as well as 
with our funding partners in 
Israel, and will continue to 
hug them from afar through-
out this crisis. 
You can also respond 
generously to the needs of 
the people, families and 
communities impacted. The 
Jewish Federation of Greater 
Ann Arbor, together with 
communities and national 
Jewish organizations across 
North America — including 
the Conservative and Reform 
movements — is participating 
in a $500 million campaign to 
be divided as needed between 
urgent humanitarian needs 
and longer-term rebuilding 
and rehabilitation. 
Less than a week after 
Hamas’ attack, Jewish 
Federations of North America 
had already sent $10 million 
to 20 organizations provid-
ing emergency relief and 
support in Israel. Those 
organizations include the 
Jewish Agency for Israel, JDC, 

World ORT, Israel Trauma 
Coalition, United Hatzalah, 
Magen David Adom, ZAKA, 
Barzilai Medical Center and 
the Soroka Medical Center. 
To donate to the Israel 
Emergency Campaign, visit 
www.jewishannarbor.org or 
contact Eileen Freed (eileen-
freed@jewishannarbor.org).
Finally, continue to support 
Israel in its efforts to eradicate 
the terrorist threat and return 
safety and security to its peo-
ple. This will not be easy, and 
it will cause pain to innocent 
civilians in Gaza. 
Federation and other local 
organizations will provide 
resources for community 
members to remind their 
friends, neighbors and col-
leagues how this started and 
why Israel must take this 
action.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE
By the time this article is 
read, there will have been 
many more opportunities 
provided by Jewish commu-
nal organizations to receive 
support, gather as a commu-
nity and take action to help 
our family in Israel. This 
community is blessed to have 
such caring and collaborative 
leadership.
To stay in touch, learn about 
upcoming programs and get 
information about how to take 
action, visit JewishAnnArbor.
org and subscribe to 
Federation’s e-newsletters, 
which contain information 
about activities across the 
community. 

Eileen Freed is executive director of 

the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann 

Arbor.

Congresswoman 
Debbie Dingell

Efrat 
Lachter

Rabbi 
Danny 
Schiff

