JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two U.S.-based Jewish organizations have launched a Purim campaign in support of Sderot children and Israeli soldiers.
Among several projects of the The Zionist Organization of America and the Orthodox Union, along with their Israeli counterparts, is the distribution of 4,000 mishloach manot packages to soldiers at bases throughout Israel, as well as families in Sderot and the western Negev.
The groups brought visitors from other areas of the country to Sderot and Netivot to do their pre-Purim shopping to support suffering vendors. A Sderot vendors fair was set up at the OU Israel Center in Jerusalem.
Other projects included a toys and games drive for hospitalized children; Purim parties for children in the hardest-hit communities in southern Israel; and a letter-writing project that will distribute letters of gratitude to Israeli soldiers.
Other sponsors of the projects are the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, Emunah Women, Beit Knesset Shir Chadash and the American-Israeli Action Coalition.
