“This is Our Strength – That We are Together”

IFCJ Canada  |  March 13, 2026

As air raid sirens sounded intermittently across Tel Aviv, Fellowship Israel staff—part of a Fellowship affiliate organization—were ensuring that the city’s public shelters were stocked with essential supplies. Because of the security situation, families and elderly residents have been forced to remain in shelters for long hours—sometimes even days.  

Meir is an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor and longtime resident of Tel Aviv who lives with his wife in a building without a bomb shelter. Had it not been for a nearby public shelter, they would nowhere to go for safety.

Their stays there often lasted for hours. Sleep came only in brief moments when the sirens stopped, as they shared a hard, worn mattress on the floor. As Meir told Fellowship Israel staff, this was not his first encounter with a threat seeking to eliminate the Jewish people.

Born in 1938, Meir was still a young child when Germany invaded his homeland, forcing his family into hiding. Eventually, they were discovered along with 60 of their neighbours. The Nazis told them they would be taken to work, but instead brought out a truck fitted with a mounted machine gun. Some people ran before the soldiers began to fire. Meir and his parents managed to escape and remained hidden until the area was liberated.

Of all the hardships he endured as a child during that time, Meir remembers the hunger most vividly. The only food available to his family was canned food meant for animals. Because his mother spoke Russian, she was able to ask the Allied troops for help when they arrived, and the three of them were rescued.

Meir made aliyah (immigration) to Israel in 1948 and has lived in Tel Aviv for the past 50 years.

“I love this country,” he said as emergency supplies were delivered by Fellowship Israel staff. “I am a proud Jew. Enough with baseless hatred. We must be united. This is our strength—that we are together. No one can overcome us because we are united. Continue what you are doing. With God’s help, everything will be alright. We will see the light at the end.”

With Israel in crisis, your support and help are more needed than ever. Holocaust survivors living in the Holy Land like Meir are once again facing violence motivated by anti-Semitism.

Stories like this reflect the kind of work IFCJ Canada supporters make possible—helping care for vulnerable Jewish people through Fellowship‑supported programs in times of crisis.