The time that it takes you to read this paragraph out loud, is about the amount of warning that families in Sderot get that a Kassam Missile is about to strike. 15 seconds.
 
Now imagine that you are an almost 13 year old boy, just a few months short of your Bar Mitzvah. You have grown up in a town, Sderot where the threat of a Kassam Missile attack has been part of your daily existence for over eight years, over 60% of your lifetime.
 
Try to imagine what it would be like to grow up with instructions not to play outside, or not to play further then your front yard. This so that if there is a Tzeva Adom – Red Alert you can make it inside the safe room within 15 seconds, the amount of time that it took to read the first paragraph out loud.
 
Sderot is a Development Town, founded with the birth of the State of Israel, it has been the home to Olim form some of the poorest areas. Jews who were expelled from the Arab countries with nothing. Later, Jews coming from Russia with nothing. Most recently, Jews coming from Ethiopia with nothing. There has never been an abundance of wealth in Sderot. Combine that with the situation of living life under Missile bombardment over the past 8 years and there has been a significant decrease in the economic situation in Sderot.
 
Connections Israel is working with the Social Services Department of the Sderot Municipality to assist 15 boys soon to be Bar Mitzvah. These boys are slipping through the cracks because of the combined physical situation and the diminished economic conditions.

Their parents are not able to provide them with the basic essentials to mark their important day of moving to the next stage in their lives.
 
Connections Israel is asking you to become a coordinator at your school, congregation, organization, work place, neighborhood, car pool etc. for the sponsorship for the Communal Bar Mitzvah learning and celebration that will take place in Sderot around Rosh Hashanah.
 
Here is a link: http://connectionsisrael.com/educational-programs/share-your-barbat-mitzvah-celebration
For additional information, you may contact Sharon at [email protected] or phone her at 011-972- 2-623-6893.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)