On August 28, Gilad will mark his 24th birthday - his fifth in captivity. Two weeks later, the call of the shofar on Rosh HaShana reminds us all of our obligations and responsibilities to raise our voices and do everything possible to gain Gilad's freedom, and to offer strength to his family until they are reunited with their son and brother.
The Conference of Presidents is launching a new website, www.giladgreetings.org, to provide people across the United States, in Israel and around the world a vehicle to express their solidarity with Gilad. Many thousands are expected to visit the site, where they can view a new video about Gilad's plight, write virtual birthday and/or Rosh HaShana messages to Gilad, access background information, read Elie Wiesel's recent message, view Congressional resolutions on Gilad's behalf, and find other action items.
The Conference is also working with the JCC Association, Magen David Adom and others to provide local "mailboxes" where people can drop hand-made and printed cards for delivery to the Conference of Presidents. Please let us know if synagogues, schools or other institutions in your are are able to serve as collection points for giladgreetings.org. Each location will post a photo of Gilad and tell his story, further raising public awareness of his plight. The Conference of Presidents will collect all the messages and cards and deliver them to the International Committee of the Red Cross with the demand that Hamas allow the ICRC to visit and deliver the messages to Gilad in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Please post the following button on your organizational website with a link to www.giladgreetings.org to help meet the goal of collecting tens of thousands of cards.
For more information or to volunteer to serve as a collection point, please contact Hod Klein at (212) 684-9713 or by email at hklein@thejcpa.org.