From the hostages to HASC and back

Our week started off with devastating news that six hostages, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were murdered by Hamas in cold blood, after surviving terrible conditions in their captivity for over 330 days. Not to mention the additional four Israeli police and IDF officers that were killed that same day in different terror attacks. 
There is something so helpless about knowing what torture and terror these fellow Jews are being put through — as we speak!!! and yet it feels there’s so little that me and you can do about it. 
For many this week felt like another October 7 magnitude blow and it’s really put many of us in a downer. 
It’s for this reason that I want to talk about something that might bring a little comfort, a little light, something the Jewish people ought to be very proud of. 
Right before the school year started, we welcomed our daughter Rochelle back from the 7 weeks she spent in the famed “heaven on earth” known as Camp HASC in upstate New York. 
A fifty year-old institution that provides volunteer opportunities to Jewish young adults to be counselors for a 300 camper camp of children and adults with developmental and cognitive disabilities. 
For Mussie and I, not only is the respite from the incredibly demanding job of parenting a child with special needs, a tremendous help, it is also incredibly invigorating and emotional to watch our precious daughter being loved on, and cared for, and truly seen for what she is; a special, beautiful, fun, vivacious, curious, unstoppable, friend. 
More than anything, in Camp HASC, the children are viewed more than skin-deep. They are viewed as the souls that are deep inside, because all our souls are actually the same. We might be covered with different skin tones, intelligence levels, and social classes, but inside, our souls are identical, as they all come from the same source, and are literally a piece of G-d. 
When we visited her there this summer, it felt like we were walking on hallowed grounds. In a place that is all about viewing the other as the soul they really are, and all day this is being tried, tested and put to action, that is what you will feel.
At the same time as we found out the news about the murdered hostages, we received a gift from Rochelle’s counselors. A beautiful pillow with a picture of them together that made her smile from ear to ear. Although she can't vocally articulate, and it may be hard to know how much she understands right now, the amount of times she snuck a peek at the picture, and the huge smiles that followed told us all we needed to know.
We are so grateful that she had that experience, as a precious human that deserves respect, care, friendship, and an incredible summer, and so proud of our Jewish family that looks out for each other and creates programs such as these to take care of families like these and children and adults that need these services.​