Ruthi - a true Zionist

People often ask me what my ministry is. I am happy to say it’s a ministry of helps; It brings me thank-you letters from social workers and grateful people whose lives have been touched by visits, by my taking time and listening, timely gifts and hospital visits and by prayer. My old file of letters has filled up, and I just opened a new one with a note from Ruthi, a social worker in Tzfat, in northern Israel: "Thank you for your financial assistance to Natalia. We took her to buy a baby crib and the rest was used for the needs of her other children. Your gift, without doubt, contributed greatly to lifting the spirit of this broken woman. She was touched that you would drive three hours to deliver money to help someone you have never met. Your act of kindness and compassion touched her more deeply than the money....”

That trip was in February, and rain poured down the whole day. It was not the best weather for driving, but the need was urgent, and Ruthi, the social worker, begged me to find a way to help this new mother. Ruthi was not allowed to receive the money directly so I decided to just jump in the car and drive there with it. Perhaps my years of financial struggles motivated me, or it could have been just my mother's heart. Either way, I was a woman on a mission to help a mother with a newborn who was feeling completely overwhelmed.



Tzfat is home to 28,000 people. In Ruthi's office there are nine social workers who cover the whole city and deal with some of the worse cases in Israel. They have a new mayor whose dream is to turn the city around by bringing in a medical school to help keep the educated from moving out to other cities. His dream is to attract stronger and healthier families to the city by lifting the quality of life and education. He is motivated and focused and just what Tzfat needs to move forward and away from the image of a forsaken city on a hill.

Ruthi glowed as she spoke about the mayor and his long-term goals. I could see that she had been inspired by his vision. It was hard for me to grasp what keeps Ruthi working in her field. Her job is a thankless one. She's the department head, and yet all she has in her office is a 20-year-old desk, two chairs, and an old fax machine. She has spent the last 25 years of her life working with the poorest in her community and admits the demands are great, her salary low, and she works long hours. But Ruthi loves her job and loves helping people. I went to Tzfat to help Natalia feel that she has hope, but left feeling totally inspired by Ruthi and her fellow workers. They are the true Zionists, the silent minority, building a country with vision, compassion and hard work. Ruthi kept telling me how amazing I was to drive all that way, and I kept thinking how amazing it is there are still people in Israel who put their values above personal ambition. I am a small-project person. I have discovered that when you help little people, you meet true giants of faith along the way, like Ruthi.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" 2 Cor 4:18