Crossing the Yarden

By Yarden Frankl

Want to Help?

The story begins with a robbery. Actually it neither begins there or ends there.

The story really begins with Dr. Shmuel Gillis and Tzachi Sasson. Shmuel and Tzachi were residents of the Gush. Both were murdered while driving home from work by terrorists six years ago. They left children and friends behind. They were killed while driving the same roads that I and my friends don’t think twice about as we work, take our kids to school, and run errands around the Gush. I remember they were killed during a time that I lived in Maryland and along with all my friends, feared logging on to the news on the Internet. Every day was more depressing.

Their deaths are the beginning of this story but not the end. To commemorate a loved one who has passed away, people dedicate Synagogues, Torah scrolls, and classrooms. These are wonderful ways to keep someone’s memory around when we cannot fathom that they are no longer with us. Yet the family and friends of Shmuel and Tzachi came up with an even better idea.

Their idea was to build a place where soldiers who are guarding our roads and towns could stop in for a bite to eat or drink, or maybe just to take a break. The “Warm Corner” was born and volunteers rushed to prepare and serve food. Within no time, the tables were filled with soldiers from all over Israel who relaxed from the stressful duty that is a soldier’s life out here. All the time, the pictures of Shmuel and Tzachi looked over them.

For six years, thousands of Israeli soldiers have found a home in the Warm Corner. In the heat of a Gush Etzion summer, ice coffee is available with a slice of watermelon. In the midst of the damp, cold fog of a Gush Etzion winter, hot tea and cakes baked by one of hundreds of volunteers is always at hand. A few years before making Aliyah, I wanted to “do something” to help out during the Intifada. Like many other Jews visiting from America, I volunteered serving cakes there. Sure, the soldiers benefited from my experience, but I benefited even more.

Although I drive by the Warm Corner all the time, I hadn’t spent much time thinking about it. That is, until I saw the e-mail about Yom Kippur. During the holiday, the local commander had decided that guarding all of us was more important than guarding the hang-out. The soldiers spent Yom Kippur night protecting our lives, not their popcorn machine. In the middle of the night, when the place was closed, a truck pulled up, broke all the locks and emptied the place out.

Everything was stolen. The refrigerators, the soda taps, even the popcorn machine disappeared. One of the only things they did not take was the pictures of Shmuel and Tzachi, now looking down on a much depleted Warm Corner.

I do not say an empty Warm Corner, because almost half of the twenty thousand dollars needed to replenish the place has already come in.

Now they need the rest. The fact that the robbery happened disgusts me. On the other hand, how often do you get such a chance to have an immediate impact on the welfare of soldiers guarding the holy land of Israel?

Thanks from me, and I am sure the soldiers thank you also.

To donate, send checks to

The Pina Chama
8/2 Rechov Haziporen
Efrat, 90435
ISRAEL

Or go to the website http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/2007/09/the-pina-chama-.html to read more, see pictures, and donate online.

Shabbat Shalom from our blessed nation.

© 2007 Yarden Frankl