Those of us who closely  followed the news in Israel during the days of the Second Intifada were faced each day with word of terror attacks on buses, in cafes, just about anywhere. Soldiers’  and civilian lives were lost at a frightening rate and every day the names and ages of those killed were published. Very early on we came to realize that the regularity, the frequency and the numbers were almost numbing and one could forget that each name represented a life lost (many in their prime), a family forever changed and a country where ordinary citizens commit themselves each day to assuring that their nation will exist. That was the impetus for a list we compiled each week that was eventually circulated and read in synagogues each Shabbat. Sadly, “the list” was around for years and each week grew until it was finally several pages long.

This past Monday reports arrived announcing the death of eight soldiers and for some reason my mind went to “the list” and I began to compile names and ages and places where these people came from. All were shocking losses, not the least of which was the death of Dror Hanin, a tzadik, a good soul, who went to the front lines to deliver food to the soldiers and was killed by schrapnel from a rocket. As this week progressed we would check the news and sadly add  more names to our “list”.  It is only Thursday and the list takes up almost a full page of two columns. In addition to the soldiers killed are a Thai worker, toiling in a field so he could earn enough money to send back to his family, and a Bedouin who lives where bomb shelters do not exist. Each name represents a life lost.

The Good People Fund is really about mitzvahs and Jewish values–these are the things that drive our work. It is in that spirit that we publish this Tzedakah Diary…so that all of us who read each name will remember that life that was lost.

We pray that this is the final list.

Lives Lost in Operation Protective Edge (as of 7.24.14)