Episode Details

 We Learn
from the Fruit of the Earth to Reinvent Ourselves in the Month of Elul so that
We Will Be New Creatures at Rosh HaShanah 

Based on
Shvilei Pinchas – Rav Pinchas Friedman  

I can
start with the story  

Can a
person be reborn? 

Last
night Chantelle took me along to an Emunah Dinner. I say Chantelle took me
because if she didn’t make me come out, I wouldn’t. She lights the fire.  

Her
friends Liz Gindea and Fran Hirmes have been very involved with and generously
supportive of the organization for years. Emunah funds a number of children’s
homes in Israel, along with schools, an arts college, daycare services and
these days many mental health programs. My son in law, Daniel’s brother Michael
through his organization Kol HaNearim also works with these children’s
homes.  

Chantelle
and all of my kids have volunteered and worked in some of these homes over the
years especially with Yehuda Kohen of Bet Elazraki.  

At the
dinner, a young lady spoke and shared her very moving story.  

She grew
up in the north of Israel in no mans land. Her mother did nothing and her
father raised goats. She was one of ten siblings. They had no rules, no
discipline, no money, sometimes no food and ran amok. The kids sometimes fought
and often got in trouble.  

When she
was ten, social services showed up. After investigating, they took some of her
younger siblings to be raised outside the house. She convinced them that she
should stay. But her situation went from bad to worse and a few months later
they came back and took her as well. 

She was
placed into one of Emunah’s homes and was angry with her situation and everyone
around her. She was angry that she had been taken from home. She was angry that
her parents had not provided a real home. She was angry to be told when to wake
up and when to go to sleep. She was angry to be sent to school. She was angry
to be pressed to do homework. She was angry that she was subject to structure
and in her mind lost her freedom. She was depressed and alone in the world. At
eleven years old, she had reached rock bottom. 

But
within a few weeks, things started to change. The people at the Emunah home
made her feel loved and wanted. She made friends in the home and at school. The
social workers and teachers encouraged her and in a short time she began to
soar as a phoenix rising from the ashes.  

She was
encouraged to pursue drama studies and loved it. In 2013 she joined the army
and became a combat paramedic assisting injured soldiers and people in the
field, sometimes under fire. When she completed her army duty, she continued
her studies focusing on drama. She eventually went to work for channel 12 news
in Israel. She currently heads their social media team and pursues feel good
stories to help lift people.  

Emunah
became her family. Her goal is to raise her own family and break the cycle.  

Her story
was very moving. Chantelle noted that she wished she could have her share her
story with our own community children in school. She would surely touch some
and encourage others. Some might be lifted and others might consider assisting
in the homes one summer. Perhaps we can get a video from Emunah and share that.