Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund

On a tragic night several years ago, a young married woman named Rachel, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and the mother of a little girl, lost her husband in a horrible crash on the roads near Shiloh. For a couple of years, it seemed as if she was in a state of emotional collapse. She couldn’t handle both her own pain and that of her daughter. I remember meeting her one day in Jerusalem and listening to her trembling voice describing her efforts to find a good psychotherapy program for her young child. I told her about the subsidies that Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund was offering for our various play therapy programs in Shiloh and I am convinced that that very moment was the beginning of their recovery from trauma. I am happy to report, and Rachel has said it herself many times, that our therapy programs were a life-saver for Rachel’s daughter.

Tonight was Rachel’s wedding at Tel Shiloh, the site of Ancient Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle stood for 369 years in Biblical times. It is also Shiloh to where the men of the tribe of Benjamin came in the summer to find wives from the young maidens of Shiloh who were dancing in the vineyards in their white dresses (Book of Judges 21:19-22).  So too in our times, Rachel’s young groom found his wife in Shiloh and there was singing and dancing in the vineyards once again.

Congratulations to Rachel, to her daughter, and of course, to Rachel’s new husband. Mazal Tov to them and to all those who have the privilege of turning trauma into miracles in our times!

David Rubin

Shiloh, Israel