December 7, 2007
Friends of Itamar want to wish all our dear friends a happy Chanukah.
Mazal Tov to the Goldsmith family upon the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Achishena.
The beautiful fall colors of Itamar!
This week the prime minister of Israel Ehud Olmert lit Chanukah candles in the army base just down the road from Itamar. (Two minutes away) We hope that his experience of spending some time in the holy area of Itamar was an inspiration to him
November 29, 2007
1. Special request! G-d willing Itamar will be celebrating the Hachnasat Sefer Torah on January 21st. We need help in finishing this important project. We are planning a very big celebration including a Seudat Mitzvah for 350 people and a band. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Please pass this message on to your family and friends!
2. This week I had the privilege of spending a morning in Gamla with Jack and Lynda very dear friends of Itamar. It was an unbelievable experience and I recommend it for all of you. The ancient synagogue and site are just fabulous. (Moshe Goldsmith)
3. Friends of Itamar come in different shapes, colors and sizes and we love them all.
November 22, 2007
1. Itamar thanks Hashem for the first major rain of the year! Enjoy the beautiful rainbow over Itamar.
2. Itamar had a great time with Jack and Lynda SmithSchick, our special friends from OK City who spent the Shabbat with us. They will be returning to the States next week we wish them a safe trip back.
3. Mazal Tov to Yaakov and Shirah ben Pinchas on the Brit milah of their son Yoav Yitzchak.
4. Mazal Tov to the Shushan family upon the engagement of their daughter Esther.
5. Itamar was happy to host special friends, Eddie Wunsch together with some other friends from the Anshey Chesed Shul of Hewlet Long Island and other parts of NY. Anshey Chesed has been a major sponsor for the Itamar summer camp for the last two years.
6. Itamar is happy to host this Shabbat a group of Anglo-Saxons from all over Israel as part of Ruthy’s Shabbat of Mattot Arim. Sixty guests from different cities all over Israel will be participating in this Shabbat weekend. Yaashar Koach to Ruthy for organizing it!
November 16, 2007
1) Itamar welcomes our dear friends Jack and Lynda SmithSchick from Oklahoma City. We are really enjoying their company.
2) Mazal Tov to the Bar Nitzan, Kinarti, and Ben Pinchas families on the birth of their sons.
3) Yaashar Koach to the Itamar youth on the wonderful performance on their plays Saturday night. Much love and effort went into working with the children. We are very proud of our older youth who did
a fantastic time in activating the younger groups.
4) A picture of an ancient oak tree on Har Kabir(near Elon More and Itamar) native to the Shomron. Pay attention to the width of the trunk.
Parashat Chayeh Sarah November 1, 2007
Abraham and Sarah, the founding “parents” of the Jewish people are the first in the world to sanctify G-d’s name. Living a complete life of chesed, loving kindness, doing goodness, their home being the source of happiness and warmth and bounty; they are constantly tested. Many obstacles in faith come up, whether it being told to leave their comfortable and familiar surroundings to a land that they did not know, or negotiating their release from captivity by various rulers, including the hardest trial of all- the offering up of their son as a sacrifice. Their steadfast belief, however, enables them to overcome all of their obstacles. Wherever they go, they galvanize the masses, and give the service of a five star hotel in their tent. Sarah laughs and Abraham waits upon his guests with a twinkle in his eye. “There is no despair in the world.” “ein yeush ba’olam” – as Rabbi Nachman of Breslov stresses.
Sodom and Amora are the illustration of societies that are steeped in wickedness. Not only do they not attend to wayfarers, are wicked to strangers, but they are an antithesis to any norms of the good of Abraham and Sarah. They are punished and nothing remains of them but fire, salt and brimstone, barely no continuity.
Chesed, loving kindness, is the life giving force that finally rewards Abraham and Sarah with a son, an heir and second stepping stone on the family tree of the Jewish people. Sarah passes on and Rivka is then brought to the tent. Again, the smell of bread baking, the sight of the candle burning and the light of G-d is in the world. In pairs, each partner in her/his distinct way transmits their unique heavenly message and purpose. They have a mission. They are taking hold of the Land.
While Abraham is more associated to movement and motion- “Go up to a Land that I will show you.”, “Go up to the Land of Moriah”, “and he ran to meet the guests”…while Sarah is linked to permanence, not moving from her place in the tent where she kneads the dough, prepares and laughs. Abraham buys her an “Achuzat Kever”- a permanent place of rest for her (where he later joins her).
The Land of Israel is acquired through two functions, each done by the role models in their line of duty. Abraham, “Koom lehithalech ba’aretz”, acquisition by walking the land, making contracts, buying places, while his analogous “co-worker, co-owner”, sits, or rather lays down and claims the land in her right, as it says, “Tzaddikim bemitatam nikraim chayim”- the righteous even after passing away are considered alive-. Chayeh Sarah, the LIFE of Sarah is the name of our chapter, She is buried in a permanent place in the Land of Israel, Chevron. But she lives on.
Shabbat Shalom,
Leah Goldsmith Itamar
November 1, 2007
1.Mazal Tov to the Tene family on the marriage of their daughter, Achinoam, who married Netanel this past Monday. The new young couple will be living on one of our hilltops here on Itamar!
2.We welcomed a group of tourists that came to express their solidarity with Itamar from the communities of Vancouver, Canada and San Francisco, California. Leah Goldsmith addressed the group and was warmly received.
3.A memorial service was held on Thursday for Matan Zagron who sacrificed his life at a bus stop in Ariel a few years ago. A terrorist threatened to blow up explosives on a crowd of people, and Matan, a brave soldier and officer prevented this from happening by becoming a human shield. He gave up his life so that others can live. He was 21 years old. Seen here, is a picture of Benny and Varda Zagron, the parents of Matan, together with his military brigade commander.
4.Mazal Tov to Ava Zimmerman on her 95th birthday, making her the oldest resident in Itamar. We wish her many more years of happiness and good health.
October 26, 2007
1. Mazal tov to Tal and Menasha Kushner on the birth of their baby daughter who was named Eliyah Chen Miriam. A special Mazal Tov to the grandparents Eliezer and Ornah Hershberg who also live on Itamar and had a baby themselves recently.
2. Mazal Tov to Rachel and Menachem Gordon on the birth of a baby boy this week on the Yartzeit of Rachel Emeynu. Rachel had a difficult birth and is still in intensive care, our prayers are with her.
3. Mazal Tov to Elchanan Shushan and Yosef Goldsmith who completed another crucial phase in their combat training in the Golani Bragade. They received their brown beret. Both of them are members of elite forces!
4. Itamar kindergarten children trying on their new hats they received from special friends of Itamar living in Australia, Mr. and Mrs. Brian Dellaca who hand made them.
5. The people of Itamar want to wish a speedy recovery to the soldier that was seriously injured this week by terrorist gunfire near Ariel. The soldier was shot while waiting at a bus stop. He was on his way to Itamar where he is presently stationed.
October 19, 2007
1. Picture of early fall of the mountains of Grizim and Aval which rise above the city of Shechem the opening of this weeks portion Lech Licha– the first place where Abraham comes to when he enters the land of Israel.
2. Itamar children coming back from school on Erev Shabbat.
3. Picture of our almost completed youth center a special thank you to the Israel lottery organization (Mifal Hapayis)!
4. The olive season begins! Barak Melet at his olive press.
5. Lemon season on Itamar as well.
October 12, 2007
1) This past Shabbat Berayshit our community celebrated the completion of the first stage of our Bet Knesset at a communal sit down Siudat Shileesheet dinner which was held on the floor of the building. We would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz for their generous help in this very important mission. Our goal is to be able to pray our New Year services of next year in the shul. In order for us to achieve this we need to raise around 850 thousand more dollars. 
2) The Itamar youth were very helpful in setting up for this event we want to thank them as well!
3) Ofer Head at a workshop with students from our high school Yeshivat Chitzim teaches them how to work with stained glass. Ofer has been given workshops for the last few years as he is specializing in the field. He has made some impressive pieces of art.
4) Aaron and Ayalah Giaan former residents of Kfar Darom in Gush Katif, made a special Siudat Hodayah(thanksgiving meal) at their new home on Itamar. Their Daughter Chanah who was born after the expulsion with a serious heart defect finally this week after open heart surgery and a lot of prayers is now functioning normally. 
October 2, 2007
1. This coming Shabbat, Shabbat Berashit, we are planning to a have a joint Seudah Shilishit(third meal) with the entire community on the building site of our important project – the building of our permanent synagogue. This event was chosen in order to unite and focus our congregation on this major operation.
2. This week we really enjoyed the beautiful holiday of Succoth.
3. Two bus loads of holiday visitors from the city of Rechovot came to visit with us and tour our community. We had a great time together. One of the sites we visited was the Avri and Sharonah farm on the Itamar hilltops.
