Friends of Itamar

Itamar News April 25th 2012

1. Commemorating Memorial Day and independence Day- Testimonies were given this week by division 9 tank commander Efi Dafrin who was the commander of a tank regiment in the Second Lebanese war spoke to the Itamar high school boys. He came together with Avi Gerbovski(also a high army officer)  the father of Ido, who was killed in battle together with two other soldiers Ami Mishulami( whose brothers live on Itamar) and company commander Shay Bernstien. Efi was critically wounded and was literary saved by a miracle. A doctor on call created an airway for him to breathe and breathed life into his lungs for a few hours until a helicopter evacuated him to an Israeli hospital. He gave an amazing account of the battle and described how these boys who gave their lives for the sake of Israel’s safety are the best we have and our youth must learn from their self-sacrifice. He spoke about how the army is the best bridge builder that serves as a place where all Jews whether right or left become one happy family.
2. Itamar commemorated Memorial Day with two very special ceremonies one in the evening as Memorial Day began and another at the Itamar cemetery on Wednesday morning. Both ceremonies were very moving. Amongst the speakers of the evening ceremony was Rabbi Ben Yishay, the father of Ruty Fogel who gave a very inspirational message to the community. The day ceremony was lead by Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith Mayor of Itamar who was the master of ceremonies. Amongst the speakers were Rabbi Natan Chay the Rabbi of Itamar, Gershon Masika the head of the regional counsel, and family and friends of those who gave their lives for the land of Israel.
3. A Special and warm thanks to Jessica Katz of the Yad Leah organization of New Jersey USA on sending yet another shipment of clothing for the people of Itamar. It goes without saying that this project has been amazing help for the large (and small) families on Itamar.
4. Watch Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith’s important lesson on Independence Day. Note that it was divided into two parts since It was longer than the time allowed on one movie for you tube.  Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith explains the importance of celebrating the holiday of Yom Haatzmaut religiously.