The Hoffmanns are back in Israel

Review

We set off from Prague for Israel on 2 December. We were able to spend the first few days with our Stern family. In Rechovot we met Doron Seifert with his partner Shula - Doron is a descendant of Holocaust survivors from Leipzig. He has successfully established a supplier company for baking ovens in Israel. The mayor Rotem of Gezer (Grimma's partner region) and her colleague Roni visited us at Sterns. We talked about a possible youth or school exchange programme in which our great grandson Yehonatan could participate. After a lovely Shabbat evening with the family, we travelled to En Hod to visit the artist and presenter Dan Chamitzer to discuss a project for Jewish Week with him. He is known throughout Israel for his puzzle programmes. We then travelled on to Haifa to visit Avishay and Chava Golz, with whom we have been friends for two decades now. With Heleni, we went to the grave of her husband Jonah, who died in 2024. He had survived the Shoah in Uzbekistan. Together we travelled to Upper Galilee in the north to Meni and Miri. Miri's grandparents lived in the same house as Avishay's grandparents in Leipzig. We were the first visitors after a whole year of rocket fire shortly after the ceasefire with Hezbollah. From there we went to Jerusalem, where we met Harald Eckert from the CFFI ( https://cffi-deutschland.de/) with Rabbi Adlerstein, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem (https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/regional-offices/jerusalem.html), to discuss a commemorative event for 9.11.25 in Berlin. We were impressed by his openness to followers of Yeshua and his passion for the Word of God and for the youth. After passing Manahe Yehuda, we travelled with a daughter of the Glik family to their beautiful guest flat in Sede Boker (https://www.desertrose.co.il/). Jaron and Kelly were already waiting for us with Baruch Maayan and Jeanie. We shared our hearts with them and enjoyed the fellowship. Military aeroplanes and helicopters regularly flew overhead towards Gaza. With Kai Glik we discussed her part in the youth conference "Jesus Way" (28.2.-1.3.25 in Bad Lausick). The next morning Rahel Boskey visited us and we had a valuable exchange. Then we went to the soup kitchen in Sderot. A lorry picked us up directly at the Re'in site of the Nova Festival. We experienced a great willingness to help on the part of the Israelis, who immediately called the police and ambulance. Maria had suffered a slight whiplash injury. Soldiers from Gaza are being fed on the site. This is done by volunteers from Israel and Christians from the USA and England, with whom we got chatting. Maria was able to watch a 3D film about 7 October. Avichai Amusi came to us with his Zaka van and we were able to give him a pair of binoculars and discuss details for further work. Volunteers and donations are always welcome at the soup kitchen. Then the car hire company picked us up and provided us with an upgrade at no extra charge. We could hardly believe it - an SUV from Mitshubishi after a small KIA! The next day we had arranged to meet Liraz at Kibbutz Magen. She welcomed us at the gate and led us to the kibbutz's large dining room. Tamar helped us choose some delicious dishes. The teenagers who had visited us in Grimma in July were given an extra hour off school to join us for lunch. We experienced a warm welcome with hugs. Parents of the teenagers came and thanked us. We were allowed to visit Baruch Cohen, a central figure in the kibbutz. He was the first to notice Hamas and drove towards the terrorists, firing at them to stop them. When he could no longer feel his right leg, he let himself fall out of the car. Avi and Nadav got him out of the firing zone and were also badly hit. Help only arrived after seven hours. Baruch lost his shattered leg and Avi died. Nadav was able to accompany the group to Grimma in July. Together with Sharon, we discussed a possible partnership with Diakonie Leipzig Land and Liraz invited us to her home. Her house is only 200 metres away from the fence that Hamas had destroyed. Only now, after a year, does she realise the danger she was in. A bullet could have hit her at any time. 20 men defended the kibbutz against over 200 attackers. They experienced a great miracle of protection, which unfortunately did not happen to their neighbouring kibbutz Nir Oz. Liraz would like to develop the kibbutz, especially the kindergarten, and already has many ideas. We were touched by the warmth, openness and friendly interaction in this kibbutz. Then we went back to our Stern family. A donation was to be given to those in need. Our son-in-law Ron put us in touch with Maor, the "Lego man". He took us to the Ramat Gan Health Centre to see severely traumatised soldiers. They often can't sleep at night. Working with Legos helps them to calm down. Among others, we saw a young woman in a wheelchair. She was part of a guard unit at the border fence to Gaza on 7 October. After the rocket alarm, they went into the shelter. Shortly afterwards, Hamas came and threw grenades into the shelter and shot at the soldiers. After 14 hours, this young woman was rescued alive with many bullet wounds. Her comrades were all dead. After 16 operations and over a year in hospital, she will be able to go home next week. We will never forget the sparkle in their eyes when we gave them a Lego box and said that we were from Germany and would pray for them. Filled with these positive experiences, we then made our way back to Germany.