“Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are home-born in Israel shall dwell in booths.” (Leviticus 23:42)

As reported in the Jerusalem Post, Holocaust survivors in Jerusalem gathered to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, in a very special community center this week.  The center, located in a bomb shelter in the middle of a park in the upscale neighborhood of Rehavia, was renovated and is maintained by the Jerusalem Prayer Team.

The Jerusalem Prayer Team, a Texas-based Evangelical organization headed by Dr. Mike Evans, a popular author, humanitarian and journalist, acquired the bomb shelter from the Jerusalem Municipality.  With a goal of creating a safe gathering place for local Holocaust survivors, the organization invested $400,000 to repair and upgrade the place.  It now features a  flatscreen TVs, an electric chair lift, fully stocked kitchen, air conditioning, art, bathrooms, couches and chairs.  For the holiday, it also has a sukkah built outside, where Monday’s gathering took place.

“We decided to turn it into a community center as well as a bomb shelter,” Evans told the Jerusalem Post.  “The fact that it’s a bomb shelter is comforting for them because they’ve been traumatized and it’s a place they can feel safe and be together,” he said.

The shelter had been built in the 1950s, but was run-down and not in use when Evans acquired it.  It is now used by the Group Of Holocaust Survivors in Jerusalem,  created six years ago by child survivor Dr. Lilian Glazer, for weekly gatherings and High Holy Day services.

Glazer’s group provides support for about 110 survivors living in the city, many of whom are in need of meals, medical attention and companionship.  Glazer herself moved to the country from the Ukraine in the 1970s, along with her family.

Glazer praises Evans’s assistance: “Every few months, Michael comes to visit us.  He is part of our family, and we feel so proud of this connection because we are the last generation [of survivors] and he helps us be together and feel safe.”

For his part, Evans says his organization never hesitates to fund whatever Glazer says is needed.  The survivors who benefit are grateful.

“We’re the last generation [of survivors], and I’m happy I can meet my friends who are in the same situation,” said Alexander Vishnevetsky, a survivor from the Ukraine who also works as a journalist.

“We can sing songs, listen to our music and speak to each other in Yiddish,” he said.  “This makes us happy.”

According to their website, “The Jerusalem Prayer Team is a national effort to mobilize Christians to pray for and encourage the people of Israel, according to their Christian faith.”  It is a registered non-profit organization whose goal is to enlist “1 million people in America to pray daily and 100,000 houses of worship praying weekly for the peace of Jerusalem.”  Charitable donations received by the organization are used, among other things, to support charitable causes within Israel.  It was inspired by Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman whose family saved some 800 Jews during the Holocaust.  Arrested by the Nazis for their activities, Corrie was the only family member to survive the camps.  The Jerusalem Prayer Team follows the family’s 100-year-old tradition of holding weekly prayer meetings for the welfare of Jerusalem.

Evans reports that the group has also completed a similar project in Haifa, to accommodate survivors in the northern part of the country.

“My prayer is that this will be an inspiration for others to do the same throughout the country,” he said.