In the work that we do, we can always be certain of emotional highs and lows. Some days, the juxtaposition of those feelings can occur within hours of each other. Today was one of those days.

The morning email brought me pictures of smiling little girls in their new ballet shoes. The girls all live in a small development town in Israel and we connected with them through Sophie, a young woman we know who is doing her National Service in that particular town. Sophie works with the schools in the morning and helps run the community center in the afternoon. Since she herself loves ballet and has studied it for more than 15 years, she thought it would be a great idea to offer a special ballet/dance class for two groups of girls aged 8-11. All the girls come from very poor families and many are recent Ethiopian immigrants. The biggest problem would be finding the funds to underwrite the cost of some ballet slippers and perhaps, some tights. When Sophie wrote us, we knew this was a tzedakah opportunity we could not pass up and sent her out to find the best deal she could for her new students. Before long we were talking to a Jerusalem ballet store, arranging payment for twenty sets of shoes and tights for the budding ballerinas. As promised, Sophie sent us some great photos of the girls in their new attire. What a great tzedakah investment!

Within a few hours of receiving Sophie’s beautiful pictures we received an email from a social worker we know–also based in Israel. Her problem? She is working with a single mother whose husband is not living with the family but continues to threaten that he will kill her. They have no bars on their 4th floor apartment and no money to pay for them. Could we help?

So the day goes…