Project SMS Sderot

A Guest Post by Rafi G.

I just received this news release by email. It seems like a good program...

NCYI LAUNCHES PROJECT SMS

Initiative Urges Solidarity With People Of Sderot

The National Council of Young Israel announced today that it has launched an innovative initiative intended to give people the unique opportunity to develop an understanding of just how little time the people of Sderot have to react each time a rocket is fired at their city. Project SMS (Solidarity Messages for Sderot) utilizes text messaging technology to enable people throughout the world to stand in solidarity with the citizens of Sderot by getting a sense of the urgency that they have experienced on a regular basis for the past seven years and taking appropriate action in times of crisis.

"The people of Sderot have been forced to live in a time warp of fifteen seconds for the last seven years," said NCYI Executive Vice President Rabbi Pesach Lerner, "When a rocket is fired at Sderot and the alarm is sounded, they have fifteen seconds to run for cover; find their children; gather the sleeping family from the top floor to the basement; and wonder if today is the last day of their life. I commend NCYI Chief Operating Officer Chaim Leibtag for creating a program that encourages us to stop for a moment and consider how the people of Sderot must feel during those fifteen seconds of sheer terror."

Project SMS, which is a joint initiative of the National Council of Young Israel and the Coordinating Council on Jerusalem, enables people to sign up to receive a real-time text message when a rocket is fired at Sderot, or anywhere in Israel. When the Tzeva Adom (red alert) goes off, subscribers will receive a text message that reads: "A KASSAM HAS BEEN LAUNCHED AT SDEROT...YOU HAVE FIFTEEN SECONDS TO:"

(and you choose)

1.Recite Psalms Chapter 130

2.Give Charity

3. Call the UN, the White House, your Senators and Congressmen

4.Pause for a moment and pray for the people of Sderot

To subscribe to Project SMS and sign up to receive the emergency alert text messages, go to WWW.SMSSDEROT.ORG

"Project SMS gives us a sense of just how little time the people of Sderot have to react when an incoming rocket is hurtling towards their homes," said NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky, "While the citizens of Sderot use those fifteen seconds to try and avoid the deadly rockets and the ensuing damage, we need to use those fifteen seconds to undertake a meaningful action, such as saying a prayer or giving charity on their behalf."