For four days, two visitors from the United States made a whirlwind tour of Israel in order to distribute aid to victims of terror attacks and visit with their families.
Joined by Rabbi Menachem Kutner of the Chabad Terror Victims Project, Yudi Zeller and Zelig Bergman’s first stop upon their arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport was the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Aviv’s Tel Hashomer hospital. While there, they presented Osher Tuito with a laptop computer to help the nine-year-old boy derive some enjoyment while he rehabilates following a terrorist attack that claimed his leg.
Tuito has been hospitalized since February, when a Palestinian rocket struck his hometown of Sderot, injuring him and his older brother.
In addition to the stop in Tel Aviv, Kutner and the visitors delivered condolences to the families of the eight students killed back in March when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav Yeshiva. They also distributed funds to the family of a 13-year-old boy who had been shot in the head in another terrorist attack. According to Kutner, the financial help will allow the family to afford a tutor to help the boy integrate back into school.
The Chabad Terror Victims Project, which is run under the auspices of the Chabad-Lubavitch Youth Organization in Israel, regularly coordinates relief for Israeli terror victims and their families, including home visits and arranging bar and bat mitzvahs for orphaned children.
Before their return to the United States, the businessmen also met with residents of Sderot, the northern Negev Desert town frequently targeted by Palestinian missile crews in the nearby Gaza Strip, and made a stop in Ashkelon to visit with residents injured in a missile attack back in May.
“What these two men are doing is tremendous,” said Kutner. “It’s very important for the victims to know that people from so far away also care for them.”
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