Every Little Bit Helps

Only parts of this post are applicable to each person, but please read the whole thing anyway to see the ones applicable to you.

As Chaim so aptly noted a few days ago, Israel is fighting two wars: One with Hizbollah/Hamas, and one with world opinion/media/et al. The former is not something many of us can help with directly (though charity, assistance, support, and of course prayer are all helpful and important), but the latter is. Just about every Jewish blog that generally does cover Israel, politics, and the news has done a wonderful job, and surely will continue to do so even as the need to not spend all of one's time on it takes some of the focus away. It's definitely healthy to take a bit of a break from all of it. (Woah, that was quite a tangent.)

Anyways, you've probably noticed the icons to the left. Those icons are links to what I think are important blogs and posts: A Balaboosteh is putting up images from the war, some of which you might see, many of which you would not see, when you read or see the news. J-Blogosphere, meanwhile, has links to many of the bloggers who have and still are "live-blogging" the war, giving an insider's perspective to what's going on. Equally important are the comprehensive list of charities, so carefully compiled by Chaim.

Also important are the rallies that have occurred and will be occurring around the world. The rally icon to the left links to a very comprehensive list, including recaps we've found of those which have already happened. For example, rallies have just started in Toronto, Ontario and Wilmington, Delaware, and there are more later tonight in Oklahoma City and Waikiki, Hawaii. (You read that correctly.) Closer to home, there's one just a block away from us in Kew Gardens Hills next Monday at 6:30, which I haven't even added to the list yet.

At the Back of the Hill asked me to announce one as well, and I think it has added importance: This rally will likely get a larger piece of media attention than most rallies, which are simply ignored. It's a counter-protest rally in San Francisco, against a protest that accuses Senator Feinstein of "supporting Israel's war crimes" against Hizbollah. The previous rallies and protests on both sides in San Francisco have garnered much attention, and this one undoubtedly will as well.

I was going somewhere with this post, but I got completely distracted and I have no clue where. (This was supposed to go up hours ago.) So... please look at the charities and see if you can help - every dollar helps - and check to see what rallies are in your area. We haven't even included the countless tehillim gatherings around the country, simply because there are (thank God) just too many to include.