By:Ilan Geal Dor - Chairman of Partnership 2000,Yizhar Hess - Director of the Partnership - the Jewish Agency

We met Menahem at the entrance to the Meyerhoff Community Center. He was returning from the supermarket with his two small daughters and somewhat older son. They hadn't come to use the playground or to have a music lesson. They were carrying shopping bags filled with tomatoes, pitas and drinks, as well cleaning material and snacks for kids. They went into the Community Center, put the shopping bags down on the big table near the classrooms (which have been converted into bedrooms) and then left. Menahem does this almost every day. Later, his daughters will return to play with the children who have been staying in the Community Center for almost two weeks now, but not when they are delivering food. They bring the food in quietly and unnoticed, set it down and leave. They don't hang around to talk to the guests.

Five hundred people - perhaps already 550 - are living in the community centers and schools in Beit Shemesh. All of them are from the North - from Haifa, Nahariya, Shlomi, Maalot, Acco and a number of other towns. It's lucky that the war is taking place during the summer break and that the schools are empty. They came here to get away from the impossible conditions in the shelters and the sounds of the explosions. They came by bus - one family from here, two families from there. They had heard that Beit Shemesh would give them shelter and so they came. One family brings another family, their relatives, their friends. Neighbors, who in normal times, live on the same street in Tsefat and say shalom to each other on the way to the grocer. And now they are here in Beit Shemesh, in the Community Center.

The table is overflowing with food. During the first few days, there was a constant flow of people carrying trays of food and bottles of drink. The neighbor opposite brought down a mouth-watering tray of chicken and baked potatoes. Another neighbor sent a giant pot of stuffed vegetables. And there were homemade cakes, salads and of course Bamba and Bisli. One resident brought his pickup truck and unloaded a refrigerator. "A month ago, I bought a new refrigerator," he explained. "I wanted to sell the old one but I heard that there were mothers who needed to store milk in a refrigerator. So here it is…"

After a few days, when the number of guests had grown to several hundred, the whole community got involved - the Municipality, various non-profit organizations and private donors. Caterers were hired to bring food each day to the seven centers (yes, there are seven already!) in which the guests from the North are being housed. The level of organization is amazing, simply amazing.

Every few minutes, there's another telephone call. In general, the calls are made directly to the mobile phone of Shalom Lerner, the Deputy Mayor, or Stella Walter, the Deputy Mayor, or to Hod Gadanken, the exhausted Director of the Community Center network. "Hello, we are calling from Nahariya. We are eight in the family. Is there room for us?" And they always say yes. Always. All day long they are running between the different canters. Solving problems, mediating between two guests, seeking solutions, when  tensions brought them to vocal arguments,  

This is a time of CHESED - in Beit Shemesh, a time of CHESED in Israel as a whole. We are so proud of being Israelis today. One can't help but be moved by the outpouring of kindness. The whole community has mobilized to help. There is electricity in the air. The whole city is involved - all the non-profit organizations, the factories, the Municipality and hundreds of volunteers every day.

The Community Center network is doing wonderful work. They are responsible for the educational activities and activities for the kids. And every day the activities are even better than the day before. With the help of a budget allocated to the Community Center by the Jewish Agency from funds donated through the Crisis Campaign in Jewish communities worldwide and the efforts of numerous volunteers, the Community Center staff is organizing a high-quality program of activities for the guests. A visit to the zoo in Jerusalem, a visit to Mini-Israel, arts and crafts activity and more. The activities aren't always successful in reducing stress but they are nonetheless very important. While we were visiting the Community Center today, on the eve of Tisha Be'Av, a bus returned from the Western Wall. "We are from Haifa. We always wanted to be at the Wall on Tisha Be'Av," said one of the participants. "It's funny," he added with irony "that as a result of the war, we were able to…"

No, it's not easy for twenty people to sleep on mattresses on the floor, one beside the other, in an empty classroom, children and adults and the elderly together. They won't remember this as an easy time. This war will take an emotional toll but as a society, we are meeting the challenges. Israeli society has proven that it can endure war both on the battlefront and on the home front. "Today we are on reserve military duty," said one of the volunteers, "and it doesn't matter that no one has called us up or given us uniforms to wear. We have been called up to help those forced to leave their homes."

We have already mentioned the Municipality, the Community Center and the Jewish Agency but there are other organizations which also deserve mention: the charity organization Leman Achi (what an organization!), the Kehila organization, Shaalei Torah and Midreshet Beit Shemesh.

The Talmud teaches us that: "Welcoming guests is even more important than welcoming the Lord".