Since the deadly assault by the Hamas terrorist organization on southern Israel on Saturday, in which over 1,200 people in Israel were murdered and some 3,000 people were injured, Jews and Jewish organizations from around the world have sought to help those affected by the war and the country more generally, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.

Grassroots efforts: This has taken many forms. For people in Israel, there are a myriad ways to help as individual communities from across the country and of all faiths are coordinating aid efforts: offering homes, supplies and child care to those forced to flee southern Israel; helping the spouses of reservists called up for duty; sending meals and equipment to military units; transporting people out from areas under fire; mental health-care professionals offering free assistance to those affected by the war; and so much more.

From abroad: For Jews — or anyone — outside of Israel who wants to help the country, the scale of both the devastation and the relief efforts, from both established groups and new initiatives, can make it difficult to know how best to help. In order to facilitate the desire to contribute to the State of Israel and Israelis, eJewishPhilanthropy has put together a list of organizations and initiatives that are and will be needed based on conversations with people on the ground as well the relevant organizations.

Read the full list here.

TEL AVIV — A nurse and midwife who has delivered more than 1,000 babies. A soldier who swapped weekend shifts so that he could attend his brother’s bar mitzvah. A young man attending an outdoor rave with friends. A father awaiting the birth of his third child. The families of four American citizens who believe their loved ones are being held by Hamas in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon to deliver a public, emotion-laden plea to both the Israeli and American governments, neither of which, relatives say, have provided adequate support or information about their family members, reports Melissa Weiss, executive editor of eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider, from the press conference.

Something terrible: Rachel Polin-Goldberg, who grew up in Chicago and now lives in Jerusalem, last heard from her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, on Saturday morning. Goldberg had turned her phone off on Friday evening as the sunset ushered in Shabbat and Simchat Torah. After a siren alerted her to a rocket attack near Jerusalem on Saturday morning, she turned on her phone, concerned about Hersh, who was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. “I turned my phone on, I believe, at 8:23 in the morning,” Polin-Goldberg said. “And when I turned it on, there were two texts in a row from Hirsch at 8:11. The first one said, ‘I love you’ and immediately at 8:11 also it said, ‘I’m sorry.’ And so I knew immediately wherever he was, it was a terrible situation.”

A pogrom: Of the roughly 400 residents of Kibbutz Nahal Oz more than half have been killed or taken hostage, according to Jonathan Dekel-Chen whose 35-year-old son, Sagui, was taken hostage as he and other men on the kibbutz attempted to overpower the terrorists who had infiltrated the property. The roughly 160 survivors “call this a pogrom,” the elder Dekel-Chen said. “As such,” he continued, “it seems to me that the United States, my original home, and still a very beloved place for me, always wants to be and must be on the side of good.” He called on the “United States government, to the Congress, to do what they can on the side of good here. We’re waiting to Sagui to come home.”

Read the full report here andsign up forJewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.

BOSTON — Thousands of Jews and supporters of Israel gathered in Boston Common on Monday afternoon for a vigil in solidarity with Israel after Saturday’s brutal terror attacks and subsequent rocket fire in which over 1,200 people were murdered and thousands injured, reports Tori Bergel from eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider from the event.

Time for action: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a staunch progressive who has at times been at odds with Israeli policy, was moved during her remarks, telling the crowd, “My heart is with those who lost their lives too early, with those who have lost loved ones, with those who have been wounded in body and spirit. I am here to grieve with you. I am here to stand in solidarity… But standing in solidarity does not mean standing still,” she added. “Standing in solidarity means action, it means shouldering the obligations of a strong and faithful ally,” a sentiment others who spoke during the afternoon’s event mirrored as well, including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Read the full report here.

“From youth educators to congregational rabbis to executives at organizations and foundations, many of us are facing hard conversations with the young people closest to us at home or at work, and are anxious about how they are processing the tragic events of this past week. All of the professional training in the world for talking about Israel might feel insufficient when the situation is this fresh, unprecedented and frightening,” writes Betsy Stone, author of Refuah Shlema: Reflections on Healing and Growth, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Heart, head, hand: “Heart is how we feel. Head is what we think and believe. Hand is what we can do. Very often we rush away from ‘heart’ because it’s simply too painful; but feelings matter, and they get in the way if we don’t name them. The response to ‘I am scared’ is not reassurance that there’s nothing to be afraid of. The better response is simple: ‘Tell me more.’ Make space for your children, and you, to feel. Humans feel.”

Let them lead: “Remember that conversations with children about a challenging subject — whether it is war or sex or divorce — should be led by children. They let us know how much they can absorb at a time. Create space for their questions, and answer those. Speak in sentences, not paragraphs. They don’t need your opinions about this government. They need to know that you are a person who will listen to their concerns.”

Read the full piece here.