BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.3.5//EN TZID:America/Chicago X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Chicago BEGIN:VEVENT UID:439@amyisrael.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20231119T101500 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20231119T101500 DTSTAMP:20231114T000749Z URL:https://www.amyisrael.org/events/important-program-about-life-in-israe l-deborah-ben-aderet/ SUMMARY:Important Program About Life in Israel - Deborah Ben Aderet DESCRIPTION:This is an incredibly important program about life on a kibbutz on the border and the events on Oct. 7. \; We will hear firsthand fro m Deborah Ben Aderet about her experiences. \; Please feel free to bri ng your friends\, Jewish and non Jewish\, but keep in mind that this progr am is not appropriate for young children. \; We suggest 15 years and o lder.\n\nThe program will be held in our Sanctuary as well as being offere d on livestream. \;\n\nDeborah grew up in Highland Park\, Illinois\, w here she was raised in a Conservative Jewish home. She attended Sager Solo mon Schechter Day School and Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.\nAs an adult\, Debor ah became an active member of AIPAC\, AZM\, and other Pro-Israel organizat ions. In 2012\, at age 34\, she quit her job in Chicago’s Merchandise Ma rt\, sold her car\, rented out her Lakeview condo\, and with her two cats\ , made Aliyah. A year after making Aliyah\, she met the Israeli man who wo uld become her husband. She left Tel Aviv and moved with him to the Southe rn city of Ashkelon.\nThe presence of Hamas just over the border has been an on-going problem. While eight months pregnant with her first daughter\, she lived through the Protective Edge War\, running to her ma’amad (saf e room) several times an hour\, for days. Two years later\, while pregnant with her second child\, she and her husband built a home in Kibbutz Zikim \, about two miles north of the Gaza border.\nShe and her family lived the re until October 8\, 2023. Since moving into their Zikim home in 2017 they have suffered from Hamas\nterror. If it wasn’t rockets\, it was incendi ary balloons floating into their community\, sometimes exploding and setti ng fire to the fields. They suffered from Hamas’ weekly tire burning rit uals on the border\, causing toxic\, smoky air\, forcing all area resident s to keep windows closed and stay inside. And if it WAS rockets\, they had literally 5-8 seconds to get to their ma’amad\, which doubles as their daughters’ bedroom. There are ma’amads placed throughout the kibbutz\, near the daycares\, near the sports fields\, the school bus stops\, and a ll the public\nareas.\nThis was typical of life on the border\, and they h ad gotten used to it. Until October 7 th when everything changed. Hiding i n their safe room\, closing up their house\, arming themselves with kitche n knives\, her family survived the horrific infiltrations only because the small kibbutz security team succeeded in keeping Hamas out of the kibbutz when they tried to infiltrate through the gates.\nDeborah and her family were evacuated on October 8th\, to a hotel in Jerusalem where she\, her hu sband and daughters had been living until she decided to bring her girls w ith her to Highland Park on Oct. 25 th . How long they will stay is undete rmined. Her husband remains in Israel to work\, take care of his elderly p arents visit the family pets\, while still living out of a hotel.\nDeborah is doing as much Hasbara and interviews as she can. She is an advocate fo r Israel and is a moderator in the Facebook group\, Life on the Border wit h Gaza-Things Most People Don’t Know But Should. Her goal now while livi ng in the States is to use her personal experiences to educate people abou t the realities in Israel and the truth about Hamas and their atrocities\, to fight the growing Anti-Semitism the world now faces. CATEGORIES:Community,Featured END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Chicago BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR