Tzedekah Day 5

Our fifth day in Israel showed us all a side we rarely hear about from the news; we called it Tzedakah (the Hebrew word for justice). The day began with an early wake-up in order to leave the hotel, followed by discussion time. This discussion involved the poverty in Israel that is rarely seen by tourists. Our first stop of the day was “Pitchon Lev,” an organization very similar to the Salvation Army. Here we divided into two groups, one was in charge of sorting clothing while the other group did inventory in the food bank. Then it was back on the bus to stop for a quick lunch before we headed off to the green house in Ein Shemer. Upon arriving in the greenhouse we were given a short tour. It was here that we learned that all the projects and experiments occurring in this greenhouse were conducted by student’s grades 7-12. We were then given some homemade tea and taken into a room where we talked about art and expression with one of the greenhouse workers, who is also a modern artist. After a short presentation we were all given the opportunity to create our own art on the canvas of hats. Let’s just say that we should leave the art to the artists. Our last and final stop of the day was to visit Marlena Librescu, wife of Professor Levi Librescu a Holocaust survivor who heroically gave his life to save his students’ lives on April 16, 2007. Marlena welcomed us with opened arms to her home located in a beautiful retirement community. We were also fortunate enough to meet Jamal, one of the students who Professor Librescu saved with his actions. After this heartfelt visit we got back on the bus and made our way to Ashqelon and our hotel for the night. Upon arriving at the hotel we quickly grabbed dinner and headed to the marina for an hour of free time, before heading back to the hotel for the night.