First Fruits

This, for me, was the most memorable day of our journey so far.

After our work at Kaplan we headed south, driving not far from the Gaza Strip, where we were invited to visit Bikurim, a school of the arts for underprivileged high school students. The school is located 2 1/2 miles from Gaza and is subject to mortar and rocket attacks. Friends of Israel has supplied above ground rocket shelters through Operation Lifeshield, an organization headed by rabbi Shmuel Bowman. We were actually able to stand inside the shelters which are located outside the school buildings. Once an alarm sounds indicating a rocket has been launched from terrorists inside the Gaza Strip, an event which happens an average of once a month, people at Bikurim have only 6 to 15 seconds to get to the safety of one of these shelters.

Bikurim, which means first fruits is a boarding school for high schoolers who show unusual talent in the areas of music and visual arts. We were all amazed at the five-piece jazz ensemble that performed for us. These were 15 to 16-year-old young men from all over Israel. The founder of the school, Jonathan and his two sons, have plans to enlarge the curriculum to include dance and theater arts. They hope to increase enrollment from the present 43 students to 120. The campus consists of simple block buildings from the 1950's, which they are renovating - one building at a time.

Rabbi Bowman quoted a line from Psalm 91 as he thanked us for our support in a world that is often so hostile to His people. From Psalm 91:

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
. . . under His wings you shall take refuge;
. . . You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day.

I left Bikurim thankful to see first hand the fortitude of the people we met and for their belief that the God of Abraham will protect them.

Dorothy Kitchin
Columbus, NJ