Category: Current Events

 

The Itamar children are really enjoying their summer camp program in merit of our wonderful friends of Itamar  – please enjoy the pictures.    

 

The summer is a great time to get to know the land with your feet. We invite you to come and hike the mountains of Shomron. Itamar is surrounded by beautiful biblical vistas and nature – now is the time to choose a trail and explore the beautiful homeland.

 

Baruch Hashem the Yeshivah of Itamar named after the Fogel family continues to grow! The building of the dormitories is in full swing. Enjoy the pictures.  

 

Mazal tov to Rabbi Roee and Leah Zak on the bar mitzvah of their son Harel this Shabbat.

 

Mazal tov to Merav and Roee Machluf on the birth of a daughter this week.

 

Mazal tov to Moshe and Leah Goldsmith (the parents of Merav) and family on the birth of a granddaughter this week.

 

The Itamar news is now being translated into French by one our dear friends, Ilan Braun. We want to bless him and thank him for his amazing kindness in investing his precious time and energy in helping us get the word out to the masses.

 

Watch Rabbi Goldsmith’s lesson on this week’s portion where he responds to the recent decision of the Eu to boycott Judea and Samaria.

 

 

Guess what? We have great news! The city plan of Itamar is now in its final stages before being officially approved.  This will allow us to build freely and legally while we continue to grow and prosper in our Promised Land. Of course G-D has already approved of our city plan many times over – for example look in Isaiah 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your dwelling places be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.”

 

This week a special event was held on Itamar to give tribute to all the wonderful volunteers of the community. There is a large variety of areas where residents are constantly lending a helping hand in making Itamar the special place it is. Some of these areas include education, security, culture, agriculture, and building. The event was attended by the head of the region counsel of Shomron Gershon Masikah and many other friends of the community.

 

This week a memorial service was held for the massacre that took place in our Chitzim Yeshivah High School in 2002. Three of our high school boys were murdered then when a terrorist from a nearby village entered the Chitzim High School grounds and opened fire on the basketball court and in the dorms.

 

Another memorial service will be held this week on remembering the Shabo massacre that took place also back in 2002 where a mother and three children were killed as well as the head of our response team, Yosef Twito, HY”D..

 

Mazal Tov to Yosef and Eynat Ben Yaakov on the birth of a daughter.

 

Mazal Tov to Avraham and Ofrah Cohen on the birth of a granddaughter

 

Mazal tov to Ruty and David Shushan on the birth of a grandaughter.

 

Mazal tov to the Yaron and Ronit Dgani on the engagement of their daughter Faigy.

 

Itamar welcomed a huge group of non-Jewish tourists from America and Europe that came to show solidarity with Judea and Samaria. They were truly inspired by the visit and want to come back and visit with us soon.

 

A special welcome to a small group of high school girls from Maaleh Levona that are making a movie that will portray the love of the land of Israel. They came to interview people and film the beautiful landscapes of Itamar.

 

Watch Rabbi Goldsmith’s lesson on the weekly Torah portion.

Right now we are in a fundraising drive for Itamar. We are asking our donors to respond kindly to our request for assistance at this time, especially for our children’s Summer Camp program. Without your support we would not have been able to reach all of the goals and projects planned and completed- thanx to you! Shabbat Shalom from Itamar Israel! See our project list.

 

Memorial Day on Itamar when we remember our dear residents that were taken away from us before their time. It is in the merit of these great souls that we continue to grow and thrive in our homeland. The community held two memorial services. The first one took place in our new, still unfinished, synagogue with a very moving ceremony. A movie was shown to the community called “Rachel is crying over her children” where the mothers of those that lost their lives on Itamar shared memories of their beloved children. Another memorial service was held at the Itamar cemetery in the morning lead by the students of Itamar’s high school Chitzim. Students studied the lives of the fallen and gave their testimonies.

Itamar celebrated Independence Day which is also the birthday of our community as we were founded in 1984 on Israel Independence Day. The celebration was marked by our annual community dinner which takes place outside in our basketball court. The Itamar children preformed skits and other entertaining events like juggling etc. A beautiful display of fireworks was show as well to end the event. Special thanks to all our dear friends of Itamar for helping finance the event.

A group of Holland tourists visited Itamar this week and met with our dear residents Shimon and Sarah Barda. Shimon and Sarah have set up a perfume factory on Itamar back in 1993 and are trying to expand their sales abroad. Shimon addressed the group and explained how all his products are organic and natural made from plants grown in Israel. A special welcome to our dear friends Henk Poot and his daughter Shifrah who have been helping the High School here for years and participated in the tour as well.

The cucumber season begins again on Itamar! This week despite the cold weather the first cucumbers were picked in the Eidan hothouses. May it be a very fruitful season for our Itamar farmers.

Watch Rabbi Goldsmith’s new lesson on the weekly portion.

Itamar welcomed the visit of Yehivat Lev Hataroh from Ramat Beit Shemesh this week.  They planted trees and heard an inspiring message from Rabbi Avi Ronski former chief Rabbi of the Israeli army and head of Mishkan Ehud Yeshiva here on Itamar.

We welcomed Aaron and Hodayah Huhemwho came to visit the community. They had a fantastic time and enjoyed the beautiful panoramic view from one of Itamar’s look out points called Mitzpeh Matan. This site is named after Itamar’s first officer of the young generation that was killed when he jumped on a suicide bomber saving the lives of many civilians in the city of Ariel.

Thank G-d finally work on the Itamar water line for our hilltops is underway. For many years, we were losing tremendous amounts of water because of weak and exposed pipelines not to mention our hilltop neighborhoods that were suffering because of constant water shortages. It is certainly a challenge to pump water UP to farms while water naturally flows DOWN!

Mazal tov to Aviad and Shoshanah Bahrav on the completion of their new home. They held the Mezuzah fixing ceremony this week, a big party it was! We bless them with only happiness and success with enjoyment in their new home.

Special thanks to Jessica Katz of Yad Leah from Passaic NJ and all those involved with her in this important mission for her amazing care and generosity for sending clothing for Itamar and its hilltop neighborhoods. This chesed drive has been going on for many years and we know that if begins with the donor of the clothing, the volunteers that go and collect, sort and send- all of this entailing lots of hard work. May Hashem give Jessica and all involved much shefa and nacahat from this awesome endeavor!

Next week Itamar celebrates its 29^th birthday on Israel’s Independence day. We bless our community that may it continue to flourish and prosper in the heartland of Israel. We invite you all come and celebrate the fruition of prophecy in the land becoming redeemed and blessed- We take this opportunity to thank you for being a friend of Itamar!