Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

As the celebration of Purim drew near this past week, Yeshi the director of Hands of Mercy contacted me. He wanted to know what we were planning for Purim this year so our schedules would not conflict with one another.

I told him we had no plans for a public celebration of Purim. He went on to ask what we were going to do for our volunteers this year I told him there was nothing planned, that funds were just not available this year to do anything.

Yeshi reminded me that Esther 9:22 tells us that “as the custom and the decree from Mordecai the Jew their sorrow turned to joy, mourning somersaulted into a holiday for parties and fun and laughter, the sending and receiving of presents and of giving gifts to the poor.” And Yeshi said that Hands of Mercy would like to bless Hope For Sderot.

He asked if we would go shopping with him and if some of our volunteers would come over to their facility and help put together gift baskets, as they had never done this before. Our volunteers were more than willing to help, not knowing they were packing their own gift baskets as well.

Many times organizations can become territorial and keep to themselves, so it was a blessing to see both organizations come and work together and laugh together. Truly “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

For me, it was a reminder of the faithfulness of G-D as he brought the story of Esther and Purim home. He turned sorrow to joy and made it a time of parties and fun and laughter, the sending and receiving of presents and of giving gifts as we worked together in unity.

We might not have received the means to bless our volunteers like we did last year, yet G-D provided in a different way… the key to this whole story… G-D provided, He was faithful and we were blessed!

Please don’t get me wrong, this is not a “bleeding heart story,” it is a story of praise, glory and honor to our faithful L-RD and G-D.