We are getting requests for help and we are doing our best to help as many as we can. As we set up the machinery to get supplies out to those in need, we are a bit overwhelmed…many of our volunteers have fled from Sderot. Those of us who are here are doing all we can, as we can.

There was no update yesterday… yesterday was Shabbat and more so than ever a needed day of rest; to be able to turn it all off for a day. Sometimes it becomes so overwhelming, the constant threat of Kassams, the constant news and fake news and all of the “what ifs”.  You just need to turn it off and try to regroup.  You can’t turn off the “booms” but you can turn off the rest of it, and that is exactly what I did.

As Shabbat we ushered in Hamas began to fire Kassam after Kassam. There was one house that took a direct hit; Thanks be to YAH the people had evacuated out of Sderot.

There are those who need to have prescriptions refilled, the problem is, there is no pharmacy open in Sderot now. We are waiting for word back from the medical group if we can go to the next city over and pick those prescriptions up. Once we get the O.K., we will put the word out and pick up as many as we can.

There are many stories coming to light about what happened on 7 Oct. Here is one that may never make the news because it is a story of selfless love.

Meet Shlomo Rom…

Shlomo Ron was not armed. Shlomo Ron wasn’t on patrol or anything. He was an old man, a quiet gentle person. Shlomo loved theater and music and books. He loved Hannah, his wife with whom he lived for many years. He loved his daughters. And he loved his grandson very much.

Among other things, he also liked Rachel the Poet’s poems. And also, the works of Naomi Shemer. He loved art.

Shlomo and Hannah lived in Nahal Oz. They never left the place. Even in really scary times. They lived there. That’s where they chose to live. They were also there on the morning of October 7, 2023.

Their daughters were at their house. Their grandson was at their house for Simchat Torah holiday, almost the end of the Sukkot holiday. They must have had a good time together.

Mass murderers raided their kibbutz. Criminals against humanity. There was no defense against them. Intelligence collapsed. The border had been breached. The army was not there. Neither was the border guard. They were left alone against armed, trained and well-equipped war criminals.

Shlomo was not armed, He was not a general in Miluim (reserves). He was a just a quiet, kind man with a mustache and glasses and a gentle soul. 

He came out of the safe room where his beloved Hannah and his beloved daughters and the son of one of them – his beloved grandson – were hiding.

He sat down in the living room of his house. He was sitting there alone. He was waiting for the killers. And they did come.

When they saw him alone in the living room of his house, the murderers shot him to death.

They saw an elderly and rather sick man sitting in an armchair alone. And they executed him alone. “An old man, a man on his own, a childless man”, they thought. There is no reason to linger there any longer.

So, the murderers left the house and continued on their way.

This was Shlomo’s plan: to wait for the criminals against humanity alone in the living room. So that they would think he is an old and lonely man. Childless. living alone He knew they would kill him. He hoped that after they killed him, they would move on. They will think he lives at home alone.

Shlomo Ron thereby saved the life of his beloved Hannah. He saved the lives of his beloved daughters. He saved his beloved grandson. All of them were saved while sitting quietly in the safe room. All of them were saved thanks to Shlomo.

Shlomo Ron was buried in Kibbutz Kinneret. He is now buried next to Rachel the Poet and Near Naomi Shemer.

Shlomo Ron was not armed. He wasn’t on patrol or anything. Not even a general in the military. Certainly not a skilled fighter or trained in any martial art. Shlomo was just an old man, rather sick, with a nice smile and a kind look. Shlomo was a soft and gentle person who loved theater and music and books. A soft and gentle person who loved Hannah and their daughters and grandson.

Shlomo Ron was a gentle person without physical strength or anything like that. No weapon. Without training in counterterrorism. Just an old and rather sick man. Just a soft and gentle Israeli with a mustache and glasses. Just a gentle-looking Israeli who loved his wife and daughters and grandson.

 

There are many people we can help, many things we can help to fix and repair or replace… but there are somethings we just can’t do anything about. May Shlomo Ron’s memory be  a blessing.

Day 16     Oct 22,2023