By ICEJ Staff Writers

For a time as this… 

Well before this latest war with Iran started ahead of Purim last week, the ICEJ Homecare team had already begun their preparations for Passover.

The Homecare team had put together 140 beautiful gift packages to be given to many elderly people in Israel, including Holocaust survivors and other immigrants originally from the former Soviet republics, as well as some single-parent families facing illness or in need of assistance. Normally, each gift package is personally hand-delivered by our team ahead of Pesach to homes across Israel, which allows for a special time to share their joys, sorrows, needs and fears over a cup of tea.

Despite the flurry of Iranian missiles flying overhead, Homecare nurse Corrie van Maanen began her pre-Passover home visits last week amid the expanding war.

“In a time of war, everything changes dramatically”, Corrie noted. “Travelling becomes stressful, as you never know when the siren will sound, and the need to seek shelter in time due to the threat of an incoming missile.”

When the Homecare team arrived at a hospital to visit a patient, the siren suddenly sounded. They all hurried to the hospital’s basement, where they stood with over a hundred people. Doctors and nurses, medical staff, religious Jews and secular, Arab Muslims, young children and the elderly all huddled together for the same reason: to find safety in a frightening situation. 

Shortly afterwards, they could leave the shelter and go upstairs again to sit together at a table with the woman and enjoy a cup of coffee. She was so happy that Corrie had come to visit her.

“I thought you wouldn’t come. Last night we were in a shelter three times,” she said. “You are brave, and I am so thankful, especially because I have been so sick and I was inside the house for a few weeks, by myself, alone with my fears. With your visit, you have brought me light.”

“This is why I came”, Corrie replied, “not out of bravery, but knowing that spending time together could help you to continue with increased hope.”

Upon receiving her gift package and a Passover greeting card, the lady held them close and embraced the items, expressing her gratitude and appreciating the sincere love they represented.

Corrie returned to Jerusalem in the afternoon, where she visited an elderly couple who also were so happy to see her. They are house-bound, and when the siren goes off, they stay in their house, unable to run to a shelter.

“It is not only fear,” explained the elderly man, “but this is on top of all the difficulties we already have, which make daily life an even greater challenge.”

Upon hearing another siren, the elderly lady gets out of bed, fragile and forgetful, and is gently helped by a caregiver into her wheelchair.

When Corrie gave her the holiday gifts and card, the lady held them with a joyful smile, not wanting to let them go. Corrie smiled and said that for her next shower, she could use the new towel included in the gift package.

Corrie shares how another lady, a religious Russian immigrant who receives weekly homecare visits, had walked to the synagogue on Shabbat morning, but found the door closed. Suddenly, the siren sounded!  She walked home during the siren, unable to walk very fast.

The woman ended up worrying all day about her children and her great-grandchildren, ages 6 and 8. As soon as Shabbat was over, she called her granddaughter to ask how they had handled all the sirens. 

“Babushka, you don’t have to worry at all,” came the surprising, amusing answer. “The children couldn’t wait for another alarm to go off so they could run to the bomb shelter as quickly as possible, and continue playing with their friends there!” 

It is not so much the gifts that matters, but rather the love and attention with which they are delivered. Love is what brings a ray of hope in such uncertain times filled with fear and danger. 

Although many more visits remain to be done before Passover, the Homecare team already senses a confidence that during this frightening time, the heart of the God of Israel is beating with love for those in need in this land. 

Please support the compassionate work of ICEJ Homecare by giving today.