Post-Bombing Aid for Victims and Families Prior to Passover

Just a day after a bomb exploded on a Jerusalem bus and injured 21 people, the Chabad Terror Victims Project is moving into high gear to ensure that those who were hurt and their families have everything they need for Passover and beyond.

“We went this morning to visit the injured at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital and Hadassah Ein Kerem,” reports CTVP director Rabbi Menachem Kutner.

He explains that CTVP has several levels of assistance for the families; the first is assessing and addressing their immediate needs after an attack. For instance, he says, “Are there young children at home who need a hot meal or a babysitter? Does the family need help getting to and from the hospital?”

In phase two, CTVP works with local social workers to continue to provide needed support to the injured and their families. Over the long term, Kutner continues, CTVP will evaluate ways to help give the families a bit of normalcy.

During his visits to the injured at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital on Tuesday, Kutner was joined for a time by Chabad Rabbi Yoni Schneerson. Together, they offered support to the families, and handed out handmade shmurah matzah and copies of the Passover Haggadah.

Matzah is more than just a holiday food. Quoting the Lubavitcher Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—Kutner says the Zohar calls it the “food of faith” and the “food of healing.”

Kutner, left, director of the Chabad Terror Victims Project, and Chabad Rabbi Yoni Schneerson made hospital visits to the injured after Tuesday's bus bombing in Jerusalem, distributing boxes of matzah and copies of the Passover Haggadah.

It’s not only the healing of those who were injured in Monday’s terror attack that CTVP is helping with as the holiday of Passover approaches.

For instance, after hearing that the family of a man who was injured in a stabbing attack a few months ago is still in need of aid, CTVP went to work. Kutner visited the family on Monday and gave them a basket full of food for Passover, with enough funds to purchase other items for the holiday, including new clothes and shoes for the children.

In other cases, CTVP provides babysitters who help with homework or play games with the children of terror victims so that their parents can get an hour or two of respite each week.

The organization asks that people pray for the speedy recovery of Michael ben Valentina and Joseph ben Sarah, who were seriously injured in Monday’s bus bombing.

To help CTVP and victims of terror in Israel, visit www.ctvp.org.

CTVP offers assistance to individuals and their families, including holiday food and funds.