After a special meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri approved NIS 4.5 million ($1.25 million) for Mevo Modi’im and Kibbutz Harel, two communities that suffered serious damage in fires two weeks ago.
Bridges for Peace and Israel365 have partnered to help the people of Mevo Modi’im through this difficult period.
The community of Mevo Modiin was founded by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, known as the singing rabbi. His brand of Judaism, based on love and inclusion, attracted many from the hippie counterculture in the 1960’s. Many young Jews came to his small synagogues in New York City and San Francisco called “The House of Love and Prayer.” Many of these people followed him to Israel, settling in Mevo Modiin in 1975 when the region was largely unsettled. The group is a collection of eclectic individuals, including musicians, artists, organic farmers, wine makers, perfumers, and Torah scholars. Their hand-painted synagogue, itself a work of art, was filled with joyous service based on the songs of Rabbi Carlebach.
The community had an open-door policy and brought many people, Jew and non-Jew, closer to Torah with their unique brand of joyous service to God. This undoubtedly was an approach they learned from their ‘rebbe’ (spiritual teacher), Rabbi Carlebach. Known simply as ‘the Moshav’, the extended family of these very special Jews circles the globe.
Unusually high temperatures generated dangerous conditions leading to more than a thousand fires being reported last weekend destroying more than 3,700 acres of forest. Fire authorities now suspect the fire that destroyed Mevo Modi’im the result of arson.