Welcome to Ofakim, a town whose name means “horizons” in Hebrew. The town is located approximately 20 kilometers west of Be’er Sheva and 28 kilometers east of the Gaza Strip. It has received a heavy barrage of rocket fire during Operation Protective Edge, and its citizens, who are used to their normally quiet town, are struggling to cope with the difficulties brought on by the current conflict.

Ofakim was established by Jewish immigrants from North Africa back in 1955 and has flourished as a regional center for nearby rural and agricultural communities. Among the many families who call this city home, one in particular who volunteers with The Summit Institute to help foster children from broken homes, has an incredible story.

Oded and Shlomit Rabinowitz* began working with Summit by volunteering as an emergency foster family. They would receive children who needed to be evacuated from their homes due to abuse, violence, drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or a variety of other reasons.

The Rabinowitz’s had a revolving door of children whom they sheltered and gave hope to.  These children would come and go before finding permanent foster families elsewhere. All of that changed when three African asylum seekers arrived to their home one day.

The three children (aged 6, 4 and 2 when they arrived), who were all siblings, had been badly abused. They were abandoned by their alcoholic father and were neglected by their mother, who could not care for them after the family had escaped the barbarism of their home country in Africa and arrived in Israel.

The father abandoned the family and the mother, like many other asylum seekers, could not find steady work or a place to live for her and her three children. The children were abandoned and left to fend for themselves. In a country far from home, having to deal with a language that they did not understand, the children were at a loss for how to cope.

The Summit Institute provided the answer, and sent the children to Oded and Shlomit who welcomed them with open arms and a loving and stable environment.

The children began to learn the language, and social customs. They were enrolled in schools, made friends with the local children their own age, and began to show signs of recovery, flourishing in their stable environment. But Oded and Shlomit were not done helping the children or their family.

Over the past few months they have somewhat adopted the father as well, and have begun working with him to help him straighten out his life. He is currently going to rehab on a regular basis, and Oded and Shlomit welcome him into their home to visit his children, and even take him with them when they go to family outings so that he can be involved with his children in a healthy atmosphere.

The father’s gratitude toward Summit and Oded and Shlomit is unending.

“I cannot give to you at this stage everything that you receive at Oded and Shlomit’s,” he said to his children. However, the father has begun the journey to empower himself to do so. Hopefully in the future, he will be able to be reunited permanently with his family.

Summit’s success stories are many and heartwarming. To bring a child from the streets, abandoned, neglected, alone, and to give that child a new home where they are loved and cherished, is a true work of loving-kindness.

A family who engages in this holy work and is right there, by the side of the child as they go through their daily struggles is giving that child something that no one else can – a true chance at having a better life. As children such as these grow up in a safe and loving environment they have a much higher chance of becoming successful and productive members of society. And that is exactly what Summit together with their volunteers all over the country is working towards.

*Please note all names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.