Boo! Hey,
Journal file photo by Jordan Wald
SOCIAL
OTMJ OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL u OTMJ.COM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023
SAY HELLO TO HALLOWEEN FUN!
Details on the most SPOOKTACULAR events in the Over the Mountain area this HALLOWEEN season, including MYSTICS OF MOUNTAIN BROOK PARADE (above from 2022), can be found on page 6.
SPORTS
‘Dire Need’ Birmingham Families Launch Campaign to Assist Frontline Communities Near Gaza
By Rubin E. Grant For decades, the Duvdevani family from Birmingham has lived in Moshav Talmei Yosef, a small village of about 300 near Gaza, where residents grow flowers for export. Now, Birmingham is mobilizing to help the moshav and other frontline Israeli communities in the Eshkol region near Gaza as they reel from the surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The area includes approximately 32 communities with nearly 20,000 residents. Some communiChabad of ties lost significant portions of their Alabama is taking residents in the the lead on a massacre. About campaign to send 10% of the 1,000 residents of funds to support Kibbutz Be’eri people in the were killed. Chabad of region. Alabama is taking the lead on a campaign to send funds to support people in the region. Jeremy and Dovrat Duvdevani, who grew up in that region but now live in Mountain Brook, set up the relief effort. Also involved in the campaign are the Kartus, Downs and Datnoff families of Birmingham. The initial goal is $200,000, which will go toward “essential necessities.” “These 32 communities have been significantly impacted, experiencing casualties, wounded and missing family members and friends, and extensive damage to their homes,” Jeremy Duvdevani said. “Many have been forced to evacuate and are currently stranded, relying on the generosity of others who have opened their homes to offer shelter. They are in dire need of essential necessities, including food, clothing, lodging, defensive gear, generators and funeral expenses for their loved ones. “Some families have been left with nothing, as their communities have been entirely devastated and wiped out. With businesses, farms and factories destroyed and shut down, the livelihoods of these families have been completely upended,” he continSee DIRE NEED, page 11