The Meaning of the New Year for Beit Ruth

June 2017, by Danielle Burenstein, Executive Director

I am blessed to start my year as the executive director of Beit Ruth, an amazing place and community that brings promise, possibility and opportunity for so many young at-risk girls in Israel, girls who otherwise would be out in the streets, lost, forgotten and desperate. At Beit Ruth, every day for them is a beginning of life and hope.

When I first came to The Beit Ruth Village a few months ago, a flood of personal memories greeted me. I was in Israel where my Mother, a hidden child during the Holocaust, came 69 years ago, first aboard the Haganah Ship Exodus 47 that was turned away from the shores of Palestine — and then again later to be reunited with her mother, sister and brother in the newly created state of Israel. I tried to imagine how she felt: a strange and wonderful new life in a new nation that was as fresh, young and hopeful as she was.

Imagine my emotions when one of our Beit Ruth girls used the same exact words to describe to me what she felt about Beit Ruth — as my Mother said to me countless times as a little girl and all while growing up: “No matter what, I will always love you and I am always here for you. No matter what.” I knew then I was where I was meant to be.

That’s what Beit Ruth means to our girls: a trusting and loving place in an unpredictable world, a secure place to be safe and to grow, a place that is always there for them, “no matter what”.

For the new year here, I look forward to working together, to strengthening and growing our own programs, to building our community of champions and partners, and to reaching out and thanking every one of our supporters and friends. I look forward to advancing Beit Ruth as a center of excellence, a model program and a beacon of hope — and strengthening its voice in Israel on behalf of all at-risk and vulnerable girls. So much is at stake, and they are our future. These young girls and so many others like them have been lost to our society. With your help, Beit Ruth finds them — and in doing so, helps them find themselves.

I know my Mother would be so proud that I have brought her promise to the girls at Beit Ruth. Her faith and belief in this nation and its future was unswerving and I am very honored and eager to take my own place in making it stronger.

I am blessed. On behalf of all of us, I wish you all peace, joy, fulfillment and love. Thank you for being on this journey with us. G'mar Hatimah Tovah, and may you be sealed for a good, meaningful, kind and purposeful year.