Show solidarity with Sderot
WELL known Australian Jewish communal figure Joe Krycer (pictured) is inviting members of the community who are in Israel over Pesach to join a free tour he has arranged to Sderot to view conditions in the well-known border town that has weathered an onslaught of Hamas rockets over the years.
WELL known Australian Jewish communal figure Joe Krycer is inviting members of the community who are in Israel over Pesach to join a free tour he has arranged to Sderot to view conditions in the well-known border town that has weathered an onslaught of Hamas rockets over the years.
Krycer, who was the executive director of JNF Victoria for 18 years, made aliyah last year and has made his home in Jerusalem.
He has developed strong ties with Yeshivat Hesder, which is organising the trip to Sderot on April 26.
Yeshivat Hesder is an Israeli army program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with service in the Israel Defence Forces.
Speaking to The AJN from Jerusalem, Krycer said the involvement of Yeshivat Hesder in Sderot has lifted local morale and appears to have reversed a population drain over the past decade, with numbers on the rise again in the past three years.
The tour, he said, will “show solidarity” with Sderot’s 22,000 plucky residents.
“I thought the best way to familiarise people with the situation in Sderot is to get them to meet locals and talk to people who have lived through the crisis,” he said.
The tour will include meetings with civic leaders in the town and the leaders of the Sderot Hesder Yeshivah, the largest Hesder yeshivah in Israel, as well as with local citizens and soldiers.
“There is an amazing spirit in Sderot,” Krycer said, and local residents have a way of turning adversity into something positive. One of the highlights of the tour will be to see a menorah that was sculpted using captured Gazan missiles as the lights.
Coordinating the tour with Rabbi Dov Fendel, who is the head of the Sderot Hesder Yeshivah, Krycer said he is expecting a significant number of Australians, as there are always high numbers of visitors from Down Under in Israel over Pesach.
With that in mind, Krycer’s tour will be preceded by a special outing on Anzac Day, with a visit to the British cemetery in Jerusalem, after which the travellers will head to Sderot.
Anyone interested in joining the tour is asked to contact Krycer and make a booking by Thursday, April 21.
PETER KOHN
For more information and to make a booking, contact Krycer on (+972) 547 776 696 or email conferwithjoe@gmail.com.
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