A little update

Hi Readers,

This past Monday, March 17, my Great Grandma Goldie passed away. It's hard to believe that when I started my Bat Mitzvah project, both my Grandma and Great Grandma were alive.My family and I are going to miss them both. 

Well, now I want to tell you about the recent activity I've had with Shira.

I have recently sent Shira her own new laptop. She is super excited and is still creating an email. Shira sent me many letters, including two articles Shira's mother was interviewed for. It was very hard to read the articles because it was very heartbreaking. While reading the article, I learned the bus bomber pulled the door open and exploded the bomb right infront of Shira and her mother. While on the way to the hospital Shira nearly died and was given CPR. 

I'm very happy to announce I'm over my goal of $3,600. I'm at $3,938!!!!!! If you'd still like to donate, do it soon because I'm leaving for my trip very shortly: http://www.gofundme.com/50jj0s

Thank you to all of you who donated to my Chai-Raiser. 

Blogging soon,

Samantha

Letters From Shira

Dear Readers,

I'm so happy to have recently received 3 letters from Shira in the past few days. It is nice getting to know her more and more every time I receive a letter. 

I've learned she likes to read books and literature and studying Torah are her favorite things to do in school.  Shira has two brothers and two sisters and she is the fourth child. She loves to play the violin and Shira's favorite color is green. 

One afternoon, I came home from school and there was a special delivery from Israel. It was from Shira! she sent me two gifts. Lotions that smelled amazing, and Israeli candy. I tried one of the candies and it was delicious. With the package there was a letter. In the letter Shira had included  pictures of her in the dress her mother made  for her Bat Mitzvah. It was beautiful. Shira also sent a picture of herself with her brother. 

As a present for Shira, my mom and I bought her a camera. But, I wanted to give her something more personal and symbolic of becoming a Bat Mitzvah.  Alex and Ani jewelry is so popular that I decided to see if they had anything related to Judaism.  I wanted to see if there was anything that  Shira and I could both have,  like a  friendship bracelet. While I scrolled through all of the bracelets, there it was, the bracelet I was looking for. It was a gold Star of David, it was so pretty! I told my mom about the idea of buying Shira and I these bracelets for our Bat Mitzvah. I think Shira will LOVE the bracelet as much as I do.

I have  almost reached my fundraising goal of $3,600 dollars.  If you haven't donated to my fundraiser but would like to, here is the link http://www.gofundme.com/50jj0s

Samantha K.

One of the pictures Shira sent to me int her package.

The bracelet I got for Shira and I to wear at our Bat Mitzvah

The Mountain of Masada

Dear Readers,

In this weeks post, I'd like to share with you where I'm having my Bat Mitzvah. My Bat Mitzvah will be at the historical sight, the Masada.  The story of Masada is so amazing that I wanted to share it with you.

King Herod was a governor of Israel in the 1st century of BCE. He decided to build a fortress on the top of a mountain surrounded by the Dead Sea called Masada. In Herod's fortress, he had big rooms, a lot of extra food that he did not need, and he had twelve big cisterns. Cisterns are bowls that collect gallons of water when it rains. 

In 66 CE, the Romans began to take over Jerusalem. They also destroyed the Second Temple  in the year of 69 CE. The Romans made a deal, if you want to live, you had to join them and become Roman. But, if you want to be hunted down, you could chose not to join and run away. Well, a lot of the Jews decided to join the Romans but, there was still Jews that stood up for what they believed in. 

The Jews went up to Masada and stayed in Herod's fortress. Since he had extra food and the cisterns, they thought they would be able to stay there for a while. 72 CE is when Flavius a governer of the Romans, decided to try to get the Jews in the fortress. There was over 1,000 men, women, and children who were in Herod's fortress who had to go up against the Romans and their Jewish slaves.

They tried to get at them but, it wasn't working. The Jews on the top of Masada had rocks that they threw down at the Romans. All the Jewish slaves were sent to make a path and kill their own kind. While they tried to make the path, all the men decided to kill themselves and their families. When all the Jews that were in the fortress finally came to the top they discovered everyone was dead. 

Out of 1,000 Jews,two women with five children remained and  stayed in a cistern until the Romans finally came up to the fortress. They were the only ones who survived and shared the information so we can learn about it today. 

Today, Masada is open for everyone to see and I will be going there on my trip. 

I decided to have my Bat Mitzvah at the Masada once our Rabbi shared the story with me. I found it really interesting because the story symbolizes the strength, determination and courage the Jews had. I also think that Masada shows that even though Jews died in the process, they still won. That is, because they probably felt that even though they did suicide to each other, they didn't get captured by the Romans. They kept Yiddishkeit and wanted to die as Jews. So, I think is that the story of Masada is a very inspirational story. 

So far, I have raised $2,438 towards my fundraising goal of $3,600. I would like to thank all my friends and family who have donated to my Chai Raiser so far. If you have b een following my blog and have not donated yet, but like to make a donation please visit http://www.gofundme.com/50jj0s.

Have a wonderful New Year,

Samantha

Here is a picture of what Masada looks like 

L'chaim

Dear Readers, 

Happy Thanksgivinukka! 

Today is a day of being thankful, spending time with family and friends, and bringing light into the world. I'd like to thank all of you who have contributed to my Chai Raiser. I can't believe how quickly the fundraiser has grown. We've received donations from friends, family, and even strangers. I'm happy to announce that the next part of my fundraiser is going to be at the Blackstone Valley Ice Arena in Hopedale at an event called Chanukkah on Ice on Sunday December 1st.

I also received an email last week with pictures of Shira after the bus bombing and what she looks like today. When I saw the picture of her today, I would not have known she was so badly injured. Shira  has scars and wears glasses. It was heartbreaking to see her as a baby because she looked so sad and injured. Now that I see what Shira lookes like, I feel even more excited to help her. 

Have a great Chanukkah,

Samantha

P.S. If you'd like to donate money to the Chai Raiser here is the link

http://www.gofundme.com/50jj0s

Shira after the bombing

Shira now

Chai in my Mind

In this weeks post, I'm going to share with you information about my fundraiser called The Chai Raiser and about the many meanings of Chai. This fundraiser will benifit Shira and her family and the Chabad Terror Victims Project (CTVP).

"The definition of the Hebrew word chai means "life". Life... anyone's life... is something very important to the Jewish people and culture, because it is G-d's gift to us. You may be familiar that when Jews toast one another, they say: "L'chaim!" It means "to life," as to also wish good luck in life. We don't quantify what "kind" of life, rather we celebrate life just for life itself! Many Jewish women and girls (like myself) wear a chai necklace around their neck, it is another way to connect to G-d and remind us how precious life is. The numerical value of Hebrew letters on the chai signify the number 18. Chet (ח) equals the number 8 and the yud (י) equals 10. When you add those two letters together it equals 18 (חי ). It's common for Jews to give gifts in multiples of 18 for this reason."

When I was 5 years old and my grandmother and great grandmother moved to Florida. Each time I went to Florida to visit my grandmothers, my grandma Hedy would always give me a 1, 5, 10, and 20 dollar bill. I never really paid attention to how much money she gave me, I was just thankful to have money to buy something. She usually gave it to me during my last visit before I would go home. But, this summer, the summer my grandmother passed, she gave me the dollar bills the first day I visited. In fact, she had given it to me right when I walked in the door. At the time, she didn't even know I was doing this Chai raiser. Once I was settled  in, I began to tell my grandma about it.

As you now know, chai means luck and when I counted out my money it add up to 36 dollars. At that moment, I realized that she always blessed me with good luck. So, when I realized this, I told my grandmother that I was going to use this 36 dollars to kick off my fundraiser. I know that my grandmother always gave a lot to charity and  she is looking down on me saying that I'm doing a good thing and is smiling proud.

My "Chai-Raiser" is an opportunity to ADD LIFE, where terrorists have destroyed life!"  So as part of my Bat Mitzvah project I want to raise 3,600 dollars (200x chai) to help Shira and her family. Please visit my fundraising page at http://www.gofundme.com/50jj0s  for more information.

I dedicate this entry to my grandma Hedy who passed away on July 24, 2013.

Samantha

The Call From Israel

On Thursday the 17th, the phone rang very early. I saw that it was from Israel and picked up the phone and on the other side was Shira saying hello. It was 2 pm in Israel while it was 7 am for us when they called. While I was on the phone with Shira, she told me that she was very excited about meeting me in Israel for my Bat Mitzvah (which actually is our Bat Mitzvah). She told me that she wanted me to make her another rainbow loom bracelet because I enclosed two with my second letter. I asked her what her two favorite colors are and they are blue and pink. Shira and her mother asked me what I wanted for a Bat Mitzvah gift and I responded that the gift was to meet you. After Shira got off the phone, her mother had told us that she doesn't let her injuries stop her from being happy. In my mind, I felt a connection, because I have an auto-immune disorder that causes my hair to fall out. I don't let that stop me. I think it's great that Shira also has a lot of supportive friends like me. 

I learned that Shira is having cornea surgery very soon because she still has three shraphnel in her left eye. her mother also mentioned a future trip to New York is being planned for Shira to have plastic surgery. I hope to visit her if she comes to New York. 

I just had a meeting for my Bat Mitzvah and I will soon be announcing where the ceremony will be held in Israel. I'm hoping to have it on a mountain. If you think you know what landmark I'm talking about, comment down below. I have a lot of special ideas in the works.

Will blog soon,

Samantha

The Shmuel HaNavi Bus Bombing On August 19, 2003

Dear Followers,

Today, I am visiting with my great-grandma Goldie and with her company I am researching the bus bombing that Shira and her family were involved in. It was August 19, 2003 and Shira was 1.5 years old. She and the rest of her family were on their way home from the Western Wall in Jerusalem and were on bus #2 when a Palestinian suicide bomber disguised himself as an Orthodox Jew and set off a bomb killing himself and eighteen other people who were a mix of children and adults. The victims ranged in age 3 months to age 73.  There was also over 110 injured and due to some injuries, some did not survive.

Hamas, a terrorist organization in Gaza had claimed responsibility for the attack.  August 19, 2003 in the Jewish calendar is the month of Elul. Elul is the month of selihot. The week before Rosh Hashanah, Jews recite special penitential prayers. That is prayers for forgiveness.  As I think about Shira, we are coming upon Rosh Hashanah and I want to wish everyone a Happy and Sweet New Year!  

 Luckily, Shira and her family all survived but, out of her two parents and four other siblings, she was hurt the most. As I said before, she still gets surgeries from the accident because she has shrapnel  which is the metal from the bomb in her skin.

Hope you have a Happy New Year,

Samantha

Blogging with Great Grandma Goldie.

A picture of the bus number 2, the bus Shira was on.