Toronto resident Belinda Schneeweiss spearheaded a campaign to raise $120,000 CAD ($87,000 USD) to provide mezuzot and build kindergartens for Kibbutz Be’eri residents who survived the October 7 attacks.
The peace-loving kibbutz experienced untold horrors that day when Hamas infiltrated Israel’s border and killed 1,200 people, including about 100 from Be’eri. With the kibbutz largely in ruins, 306 families will be relocating to Kibbutz Hatzerim in the Negev this Fall.
Schneeweiss was inspired to help this beleaguered community after participating in a solidarity mission to Israel in January with The Forest Hill Jewish Centre, in which they visited the Gaza envelope including Kibbutz Be’eri and the site of the Nova festival massacre.
“I stood in these destroyed homes where there was nothing left,” Schneeweiss said. “It was a surreal experience. There’s reading about what happened and watching the videos, but once you stand in someone’s burnt kitchen you feel the full weight of what happened and think, what’s my purpose of being here and how can I make things better?”
Her vision and action plan came together after attending a leadership seminar in Toronto that was hosted by Momentum, an organization that brings Jewish parents (the majority of whom are mothers) from around the world together with the goal of connecting them with Israel and their Jewish heritage. Momentum works closely with the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.
Schneeweiss formed a group of women known as the “Mezuza Mamas” who collaborated in rallying and engaging the community to help support Kibbutz Be’eri. Together with fellow members of her community, Ora Somogyi, Felicia Gopin, Stacey Urbach and Miriam Blumstock, they reached out to their respective social networks and organized needlepointing circles in which between 15 – 120 women would get together to craft the inserts for Mezuzot In doing so, they raised awareness and funds for the residents, all while creating a common bond and uniting the Jewish community in Toronto.
“People came together to DO something, and to find comfort and give support, at a time when connecting with one another and with Israel was so needed,” said Schneeweiss.
The Mezuza mamas have crafted more than 300 mezuzot for the new homes based in Hatzerim and raised over $120,000 CAD for the rebuilding of the Be’eri community, which far exceeded the original goal of $36,000, earmarked towards building six kindergartens and providing children with new books and toys.
“Momentum helped me realize my power to connect people united with a common purpose and gave me the confidence to scale this project to a larger format and have greater impact,” Schneeweiss said.
This project is just one example of the work of the Momentum Action Network, which inspires the organization’s community of dedicated women to tap into their connections and become agents of change for their own communities and for Israel. There are currently 628 projects listed on the network’s website, which consistently updates that collection of initiatives for assisting Israel in its post-October 7 recovery. The global network of Jewish mothers and fathers, leaders, influencers, change-makers, and partner organizations have created and participated in more than 500 grassroots initiatives in 24 different countries.