When I had need for extra funding for double-eye cataracts
surgery, Ari Bussel was a primary contributor. I mention Ari’s generosity
because helping to raise funds for his friends’ daughter Odelia to attend IDC
Herzliya located in Israel. In checking out the situation the opportunity for
Odelia is both educational and cultural relating to building a Jewish heritage
connected to the Land of Israel.
Be sure to read Ari’s heartfelt promotion for funding an
American Jewish gal to Israel, but below is the text from Odelia Shor’s
GoFundMe page which I highly encourage readers (especially those
that feel a connection to Israel) to visit and donate:
My name is Odelia Shor and
I have recently had the privilege of being accepted into a three year BA
Program in Communications at one of the finest universities in Israel, Raphael
Recanati International School IDC Herzliya. This is an amazing opportunity for
me to move forward with my goal of becoming a spokesperson for Israel. Having
the experience of living in Israel while studying in this program will provide
me with the tools to find positive and creative ways to benefit Israel and
other worthy causes.
To pursue this dream is a huge financial undertaking for me and my family, but I believe it will make all the difference in the outcome of my life. If your heart is inclined towards Israel, as mine is, I humbly ask that you consider sowing seeds of faith towards my endeavors.
From the beginning, my Jewish identity and the Land of Israel have been ingrained into my life and etched in my soul. My name – Odelia – translates from our ancient language, “give thanks to God.” I am so thankful for my faith and rich heritage.
To pursue this dream is a huge financial undertaking for me and my family, but I believe it will make all the difference in the outcome of my life. If your heart is inclined towards Israel, as mine is, I humbly ask that you consider sowing seeds of faith towards my endeavors.
From the beginning, my Jewish identity and the Land of Israel have been ingrained into my life and etched in my soul. My name – Odelia – translates from our ancient language, “give thanks to God.” I am so thankful for my faith and rich heritage.
I grew up with an unwavering sense of self in supporting Israel. My parents’ lives revolve around their love and appreciation of Israel. My father is a journalist and the editor of an Israeli newspaper in Los Angeles. My mother works with a non-profit that raises support for the IDF, under-privileged children, victims of terror, as well as encouraging Christian support of Israel.
I love Israeli roots, history, and culture. I stay up to date on what is going on with current events in the arts and entertainment as well as the political situation. I sing, play piano, guitar, and perform Israeli music. One of my favorite things to do is capture footage and edit together short film and I have recently had the privilege of working on the set of a major Israeli TV production in L.A.
Some of the classes that will be available to me at the IDC include Culture and Society, News Media, Digital Storytelling, TV Production, and Radio Broadcasting. With media being a strong force in the future, I will gain the skills to create media content that reflects the beauty and the truth that is the state of Israel.
Currently, I am working as a receptionist at About Space Interior Design in El Segundo and attending classes at my local community college.
If given the opportunity, I will gain the knowledge, wisdom, and experience that will assist me in playing a part in a bright future and the chance to become an example of Israeli excellence.
With love and appreciation,
Odelia Shor
,באהבה
אודליה שור
JRH 6/25/18
*****************************
GoFundMe - Odelia, Lisa & Gal Shor's Daughter
Sent by Ari Bussel
Sent 6/24/2018 6:04 PM
I copied you here first to see and recognize and know, then
if you can and would like, to act (and donate).
At the very least, I hope it will be an interesting reading,
a tiny gift from me to you for having spent the time!
In last week’s issue of the Beverly Hill Courier was the
insert Summer 2018 Beverly Hills Style. There, on p. 34,
Dina Leads, Bel Air philanthropist, born in Egypt and raised in West Hollywood,
who is often seen on the pages of the paper in her role supporting Rabbi Mark
Borovitz's Beit T’Shuvah, is quoted:
"When anybody tells you what
his or her charity is doing, if you’re human, it’s impossible not to have a
heart for it.”
Why do we give? Some (many in our community) give
because they need to do so for tax reasons. Most give for something close
to their hearts.
There is not a university in Israel, or a hospital or even
one of the major museums that does not show the name of a member of the Beverly
Hills community.
And then, especially (but not only) in Beverly Hills, one
gives because her friends ask her to give, and then - as the world turns around
- she asks them to give.
Most known of all is likely Stanley Black, who along
with a group of friends (Max Webb and others) constantly give; so people
for very many years became accustomed to going to see them on Sunday morning
and pitching for their projects at Cantor’s, the deli on Fairfax. (Since,
members of the group passed away, others moved and the rest are not young any
more. But fear not, money keeps flowing, and SB opens his estate on a
regular basis for various charities as well as political endeavors.)
Let us turn to the case on hand. My very dear friend
and the editor of the largest circulation
Hebrew paper in Greater LA and his
wife are struggling to send their second daughter to college. The first
left a year ago to Israel to study at the IDC
[See Also HERE],
and now her sister is following suit.
Although the daughters are extraordinarily nice young women,
full of the joy of life and passion and enthusiasm, they are part of a generation
that is accustomed to getting everything, a generation that expects everything
and is willing to assume little if any responsibility.
I come from a generation that had to do with what it had,
had to work hard for everything it earned and knew to tighten the belt and to
do with less, as circumstances may have dictated.
We also had dreams and aspirations, and as children we
wanted a lot; more than our parents could afford.
I remember my greatest disappointment, when I could not go
with a group of students from Beverly to the trip to Europe with Mickey
Freedman and Dr. Henry Dersch of blessed memory. It was 1985 and the
group went to the Soviet Union. One of the students was the daughter of
the personal assistant to Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum. (We all
know the Oxy building in Westwood, with the top double glass-floor and the
Armand Hammer Museum at the bottom.)
Hammer was the only person in the West who had complete
access to the Soviet Union, having years earlier spent his money to send ships
full of grain to the starving Soviets.
And thus, the students and teachers were treated to some
places that only a handful of people ever saw or visited before, and that the
chances that any of us would see in our life time was de minimis
at best. Who could have foreseen, who could have expected that not even a
decade later the Soviet Union will collapse, and that the places visited would
become accessible to all?!?
Life laughed with me about a dream that did not materialize,
yet an opportunity that has not vanished!
Life; a most interesting concept. I and others blind
copied on this e-mail, dedicated two decades of our lives to serving in an
organization founded by the late Gen.
Shimon Erem, the Israel
Christian Nexus. After millennia of persecution, after
the Destruction of the Temple, the Expulsion from the Holy Land, the
Inquisition and dispersal throughout the Ottoman Empire, and most recently the
Holocaust, Jewish-Christian relations were strained.
We, the Jewish People, murdered the Son of God, and for some
two thousand years we suffered as a result of the notion that we were
responsible; that we deserve punishment.
It is in this framework that Israelis and Jews on one side
and Christians on the other did not trust one another, and still have deep
feelings and issues.
In the midst rose a branch of Evangelical Christians who
love, support and bless Israel and the Jewish People. They believe in God
and Country, family values and integrity and honesty. They subscribe to
the notation of what God wants from us:
Micah Chapter
6 מִיכָה
|
ח הִגִּיד לְךָ אָדָם, מַה-טּוֹב; וּמָה-יְהוָה דּוֹרֵשׁ מִמְּךָ, כִּי אִם-עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וְאַהֲבַת חֶסֶד, וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת, עִם-אֱלֹהֶיךָ.
{ס}
|
8 It hath been told thee, O man, what is good,
and what the LORD doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God. {S}
|
Into an unchartered territory came in a knight on a white
horse. A very stubborn and determined knight, one of the founders of the
modern Jewish State of Israel. Of course - he was Jewish, and the Jews
have a tendency to be a very stubborn and stiff-necked people.
Shimon Erem established, long before Pastor John Hagee of CUFI (Christians
United For Israel) and others more known today, an organization that set out
to build bridges between Jews and Christians, for we must stand united.
It was Gal’s mother-in-law, Polly Pauline Grimes,
who introduced Shimon z”l
to the idea of working with the Christians. We were all the
beneficiaries, humble servants in this great army of people determined to work
together, determined to protect and safeguard the tiny Jewish county, the fate
of the 14 million Jewish people in the entire world.
Genesis Chapter
12 בְּרֵאשִׁית
|
ג וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ, אָאֹר; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ, כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה.
|
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and
him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the
earth be blessed.'
|
So now we close a circle. Mrs. Grimes’ daughter
converted to Judaism, together with her husband Gal they had two daughters, the
youngest who is 20 just completed her first year at the Interdisciplinary
Center IDC Herzliya (sister city of Beverly Hills).
Now her older sister wants to do the same.
Not everything in life happens as we plan, wish or want; but
in this case, we can all do our part to help.
Ecclesiastes
Chapter 11 קֹהֶלֶת
|
א שַׁלַּח לַחְמְךָ, עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם:
כִּי-בְרֹב הַיָּמִים, תִּמְצָאֶנּוּ.
|
1 Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou
shalt find it after many days.
|
Not every dream should [be]come a reality, so easily just
for the asking. I have seen firsthand how an American young woman, who
speaks very little Hebrew is flourishing and changing as a result of being and
studying in Israel.
During my generation, instilling a Jewish and Israeli
identity happened by serving in the IDF. The entire Lone Soldiers
framework was recreated as a result of collaboration between a Minister of
Defense (Rabin
z”l), a local Consular Consul (Moshe Peer [?]),
a colonel in charge of recruiting in the IDF (Tziko Oren) and a local father
(my father, Dr. Bussel). I was the test case.
Not enough went to Israel, and so American Jewry (not including
Orthodox Jews) managed to lose the next generation. They do not speak,
read or write Hebrew. They do not really know what to do in a synagogue.
They celebrate some of the holidays, and mix them with the culture
around. They intermarry. And most regrettably, they do not see
Israel as crucial to their existence any more.
Little do they understand that without a Jewish homeland in
the Land of Israel, the Holocaust is bound to repeat itself. That no Jew
is safe anywhere around the world; current comforting appearances to the
contrary.
Then came a program called Birthright Taglit,
that exposes young Jews to the notion and meaning, beauty and existence of
Israel. It has successfully exposed Israel to this generation that has
otherwise disconnected itself from Israel.
Living in Israel, be it for school or otherwise, makes one
dedicated to Israel; and then that person continues serving this tiny-mighty
country, the only Jewish Homeland in the world - our home and shelter and very
essence - for the rest of one’s life.
So if you can, and if you are so inclined, be it at a most
modest or a more substantial amount, or in some other manner, in a prayer or a
blessing, please join and help:
SHALOM!
Always,
Edited by John R. Houk
Text enclosed by brackets and
links hopefully providing clarity are by the Editor.
© Ari Bussel
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