Translation by Yehoshua Siskin ([email protected])
Shalom from Eilat, the most southern city in Israel. I met several everyday heroes on a recent visit to Eilat and Dina Huri is one of them.
Dina has been the principal of an elementary school in Sderot for 25 years. After Simchat Torah she set up a makeshift educational complex in a parking lot for 450 evacuee children at record speed, working day and night.
Dina explains as follows: “This year we opened the school year four times, beginning in Sderot on September 1st. Two other times we started school on temporary sites and now we are here in a real school.
The Ministry of Education recruited retired teachers to return to work. Every morning we check to see how many new families arrived and how many families left. Today for example four families arrived who had been living in hotels by the Dead Sea and three families returned to Sderot. The guard at the entrance to the school in Eilat is the same guard we had in Sderot and this helps the kids by giving them a sense of continuity.
I call upon those who feel burnt out after a hundred days of war to find work in the educational system. We need people. For example, mothers with sons in Gaza work with us and this is the best therapy for them — to be active in caring for the next generation.”
Thank you, Dina. In Eilat, I heard third graders from Sderot recite “Modeh Ani” (morning prayer of gratitude to God) and I was inspired. These are days of incredible heroism on every front. The battle over our everyday routine, with emphasis on our children’s education, is an important part of this war.
May we all hear good news.
