This week marks nearly 19 weeks - more than four months - in captivity,

for the hostages remaining in Gaza.

In This Edition:

• Weekly Message
• Purim Prep Resources
• Women's Voices
• Spotlighted Israel Resources
• Divrei Torah by women on Parshat Terumah

Weekly Message

Friends,

This past week, we welcomed Adar I, which usually begins a celebratory time for Jews, as Purim approaches.

This year, many are finding it challenging to balance the usual joy of Adar with the painful situation that continues in Israel.

But psychology teaches us that joy can mean something deeper: It is an emotion that comes from within — from a sense of purpose and meaning, including finding meaning in suffering — and from relationships with others.

With this in mind, below we share resources for keeping up hope for the hostages' release; supporting the families of our fallen heroes, and helping to address urgent needs on the ground in Israel.

As always, you'll also find women's voices to bring perspective to what is happening, and divrei Torah by women on the parshat hashavua, Terumah. 

Please continue to use and share the resources and ways to help, in this email, on our Supporting Israel resource page, and in our social feeds, to keep up our efforts to help strengthen Am Yisrael amidst this difficult time. 

Besorot Tovot.

Purim Prep Resources

Purim will soon be around the corner -- Saturday night and Sunday, March 23-24!

We encourage everyone to start planning and learning leyning for women's or partnership megillah readings in your communities, and to start listing them here, so we can share the listings with others who may want to attend or participate!

We have several resources to offer, including:

• iPhone app for learning megillah leyning
• Web-based megillah leyning recordings
• source sheets on the megillah verses we read aloud
• a guide for megillah reading organizers
• a megillah reader checklist
• a podcast on halakhic obligations to read and write a megillah
• Hilkhot Nashim, Volume I, which includes a section on the halakhic sources relating to women and megillah

We appreciate your patience as we update our Android leyning app; please use our web-based recordings in the meantime.

Women's Voices

Here we share a range of women's voices, ideas, thoughts, and reflections, as examples of what women are processing and feeling right now, and how they are finding perspective, strength, hope, resilience, and courage during this time. We hope that these writings provide you with new understanding, and inspire you to write and share your own insights.

• I Was a Tour Guide on Birthright's First Trip Back to Israel: Here's What I Saw, by Cat Korren
• The Beginner's Guide to Talking to Western Anti-Zionists, by Tamar Uriel-Beeri
• My Word: Sanctioning Settlers and the Two-State Obsession, by Liat Collins
• The Agunah: A Short Story, by Talya Jankovits
• Since When Do Australian Jews Talk in Whispers?, by Sara Stein
• When the Battlefield is the Basketball Court, by Cheryl Levi
• How to Be Pro-Ceasefire Without Being Antisemitic, by Shayna Abramson
• Signs of Spring, Though It's Still October 7th, by Sarah Tuttle-Singer
• The Kindergarten's 'Wishing Tree' Made Me Cry, by Rachelli Prawer

Staying Active, Persistent, and Vigilant

Even as we feel worn down in so many ways, we must keep up our efforts and advocacy on behalf of Am Yisrael. Please check our Supporting Israel: Ways to Help Now page, where we continue adding ways to keep current and engaged with what is happening in Israel and how we can help -- including raising the voices and stories of how women are impacted, how they are responding, and ways we can support them.

The page includes resources for fighting antisemitism; advocacy; staying informed; keeping attention on the hostages; finding comfort in rituals; ways to contribute; talking to kids about Israel; reaching out; mental health; community gatherings, and more.

We will also continue spotlighting additional resources in this weekly email and our social feeds, and adding them to the page. We hope that each week you'll will find something that speaks to you, helps you stay connected, gives you specific things you can do -- in Israel, around the world, and in your own home and community.

Spotlighted Israel Resources

We continue highlighting examples each week of countless organizations and advocacy efforts. Please see our Supporting Israel page for our continually growing list.

• Keep the Light Going: This grassroots initiative aims to inspire people everywhere to light an extra Shabbat candle to support the hostages who are still in darkness and express our hopes that they return home.

• IDF Widows and Orphans: This organization supports the families of our fallen heroes, including the pregnant war widows who are processing the deaths of their fallen husbands while carrying their unborn children.

• Brothers and Sisters for Israel: Israel's largest civic aid organization, with 15,000 volunteers, has dedicated teams addressing urgent needs emerging from the field. From providing essential goods and services to rebuilding communities and facilitating the return of displaced individuals to their homes.

Divrei Torah by Women on Parshat Terumah

Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach

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