Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.
Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Really fragile ceasefire in Israel, right? This very moment on the ground in Israel. There are families, right?
There's victims of missile attacks and terror of all sorts of different kind. And I'm sure that if you're like me, you've noticed that when the unthinkable happens, God often sends someone, an encourager, a helper, a comforter. You know, so the question that I would love you to call in and share today is, has your family, or have you ever experienced something like that? Who was that family that came for you, or maybe it was a pastor, or who knows? That God sent them, and you know they did. I would love to hear the story.
866-348-7884, 866-348-7884, the number to call. Or maybe God just sent a promise from his word, right, that got you through. Is there a verse, right? How wonderful would it be that we could share in what that verse was, because somebody could be in that kind of a situation and loss or trauma or something that they could really hold onto. And the story behind you held onto it.
866-348-7884. Well, I became aware just this week of this amazing—I'm telling you, the more I know about it, it just amazes me more and more— ministry that is in Israel. It's called One Family. And so One Family is literally a lifeline for Israel's victims of terror and war, and so when terror attacks, you know, the trauma is only beginning. And so I've got Naomi Nussbaum with me, and Naomi, I got to tell you, it almost takes my breath that you guys have hundreds of volunteers going into hospitals finding these people that have just been blown out of their houses, or who knows the trauma that they've undergone and what it is that they're going to need. Yeah, we have staff and volunteers visiting people just as fast as they can. There, as you know, right, more than two dozen people were murdered within the last two weeks. Hundreds, I think more than a thousand, actually, have been severely wounded and hospitalized, and more than 8,000 people have been displaced or lost their home this week. So we have a lot of people to visit. It's so amazing. I like that I know that God is sending people.
He simply always does. And the beginning of One Family, which is essentially saying, okay, there's one person that needs help here. We need to—was actually a young lady, from what I understand, that forwent her bat mitzvah, right? Yes. So tell us that story. It's amazing.
Sure. Well, the founders of One Family are the Belzbergs, and they—Mark is originally Canadian, and Chantal is originally from Belgium. They lived in Manhattan for a few years. And then they made aliyah, which means they moved to Israel. And one of their children, Michal, had her bat mitzvah, her 12th birthday, in August in 2001. And on the day of her bat mitzvah, there was the infamous deadly Sbarro bombing.
It was the worst terror attack of the Second Intifada, which was going on at that time. And her bat mitzvah party was scheduled three weeks later, because most people in Israel were on vacation at that time, because she wanted all of her friends to be able to come. So they canceled the party. They took all of the money that they were going to spend on the party, and they asked the guests to donate money and asked her about mitzvah projects. Michal and her parents went to every hospital room to visit all the victims. They went to every funeral and every shiva home that they could. They got to know the people and hear their stories. And they asked if there was something—even if it was something small, is there anything they can do to help? And, you know, she bought a stroller for a young mother whose stroller was soaked with blood.
Right? Isn't that horrific? The baby was okay, but the stroller was soaked with the mother's blood, and it just turned her stomach. And she was in the hospital, and she knew she was going to live, but she didn't want to look at that stroller.
She said, please buy me a pink stroller. You know, it's just something little, but it meant a lot to her. There were two girls who lost their parents and older siblings. They were essentially orphaned that day, but not terribly wounded, very mild wounds. And Michal bought them golden heart-shaped lockets to remind them that they're not alone and that they are loved and they're going to be taken care of. And, you know, developers would take care of them and do whatever they need to get them set up with their new family. And they're still with them today, you know?
So actually, you know, that's the amazing thing about this organization is you don't let go. Like, those orphans still have one family, right? Yes. Yeah, we have an orphans division full of young adults, right, because they were orphans back when we met them.
And 10, 15, 20 years later, they become young adults, and they get married, and they have children, and they still feel like an orphan because they don't have a parent as a role model. It's so amazing. Yeah, I do.
I do. And so, again, the name of the organization is One Family, and we're going to talk a lot about their website and that kind of stuff throughout the show. But I want you to think about how, you know, here is Tara, and this is a 12-year-old girl.
You know, she's sitting there, and all of a sudden, God lays it on her heart to go do this, you know? And one time, I interviewed this Japanese—excuse me—Vietnamese, North Vietnamese pastor that the Billy Graham Association had sent my way. And I'll never, ever forget this interview because this man had been in a prison in North Vietnam for, like, eight years, as I recall. And when I asked him what the prison was like, what he described, essentially, was he was in a swamp, like you might have seen in Rocky—no, in First Blood or whatever that was that Sylvester Stallone did. He was in a swamp. Well, that's exactly where the man was, with over a thousand prisoners in one big sort of lake, swamp, all those years, right?
Wow. And so as I was interviewing him, and I was just astounded that anybody could live for eight years because I asked him what he ate in the swamp. He said, what was in the swamp?
What did you drink? What was in the swamp? You got a thousand people in the swamp. I said, man, how did people not—he said, oh, people were dying by the hundreds every night.
They would bring in another bunch, and they would die. Wow. And so I was sitting there astounded. I said, well, you know, God usually sends something—when somebody's going through something amazing, God will send someone or something. What did he send you? And he said, Robbie, he sent me the 91st Psalm. He said, I didn't have the 91st Psalm memorized when I came into the swamp, but I have it now.
Wow. And as I was sitting there thinking, like, oh, my word, I guess I'm not terribly surprised that God could sustain a pastor in this swamp for all these years. I said, but all of a sudden I realized that there were a lot of people in that swamp that may have belonged there or whatever, but God sent them a pastor, right? And it actually went to tears right then to realize all these other people in the swamp that might have died those nights or whatever, they had a pastor with them to help them through that struggle. And so the question today on Truth Talk Live is, when has God sent that for you?
I can tell you where he sent it for me, but where has he sent it for you? 866, you're listening, 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. Again, we're talking with Naomi Nussbaum with One Family, and it's OneFamilyFundUS, right? Yes.
Dot org here. And if you want to get connected to that and find out more, because I got to tell you, if you stay tuned, the things that God has put on these people's hearts, to do for those people in Israel and other situations that you'll be aware of, it's just amazing. But it'll also be amazing if you call us, 866-348-7884.
You don't know who you might encourage with what you have. And so, Naomi, we just have a few seconds here, but, well, I guess we'll have to get to it in a minute. I was going to say, how did you get connected with One Family? But we'll just give out that number one more time, because I want to hear your story.
I really, really do. 866-348-7884, right? When has God sent something special for you, a verse or someone?
Call us. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Today, the question is, in light of the war and fragile ceasefire in Israel, you know, when the unthinkable happens, you know, on the ground, it's one family at a time. It's one situation at a time, and God often sends someone, an encourager, a helper, a comforter, you know, has your family, right, in the midst of huge trauma ever experienced that?
Because, you know, when the terror ends and the trauma is only beginning, right, the headlines fade, but the pain, it lingers quietly, relentlessly, right? You're left to rebuild your life. And maybe it was the loss of a spouse, or I don't know what your story may be, but we would love to hear what I encourage you.
Maybe there was a verse that you cling on to. 866-348-7884 is the number to call in and share. 866-348-7884. So we have Naomi Nussbaum with us, and she is with one family, right, which is literally a lifeline for Israel's victims of terror and war, but in other things as well that they're lifelines for, because you can see their ministry, it just keeps coming and coming. That's one of the more amazing things about it, is you've got these volunteers that somehow or another hear of things that happened, and when the people go to the hospital, they're already there, right, Naomi? Yeah, as soon as we hear that something happens on the news, we go, we spring into action, we find the family, we find the hospital, we find the town they live in, we find the cemetery, and we go, we show up. That's what we do.
We're known for it. Yeah, and that's a fascinating part of it, is you come to the funeral. Yeah, you know, the funeral, it can be overwhelming. It's certainly emotionally, sometimes there's a lot of people, sometimes there's a very small amount of people.
Either way, it's going to be overwhelming on many different emotional levels, right? But if you go to the funeral and you show up, and you go to the Shiva house, which is, you know, the week after the funeral, you show up. The Shiva house, for those who've not been to Israel, you're not familiar with the Hebrew term, it's morning, right? Yes, it's the seven-day period of morning following a funeral, right? So we show up at the house, the door's always unlocked, we go in, we sit down, and we listen to stories about the person who we just lost, right?
We honor his memory and his life, or her life. But we tell the family, we're going to come back when the Shiva house clears out, right? When all these friends and relatives go home, and next week is really quiet, we're going to come back again.
We're going to keep calling you every day. And when they see that we reliably follow through, they begin to trust us, and they begin to open up. And we give them the intense grief counseling that they need to get through that first period. We invite them to support groups, to be with other people in similar situations, to help each other get through the grief. And we give them tools for rebuilding their life, for resilience, for hope.
And I think that's something that's really unique, right, is the community that we create. Every time we have a support group or a therapeutic retreat, let's say it's for new victims, right? For example, after October 7th, we had cohorts of bereaved parents from October 7th of 50.
Fifty in a cohort, going every week for a four-day therapeutic retreat. We always had somebody who had a child murdered 10, 15, 20 years ago, go on the retreat with the newly bereaved parents. Because if you have one or two couples who are in the same spot, but they managed to live through it, and they're dressed, they're showered, they might have a smile on their face, they probably have employment, right? That means that there's light at the end of the tunnel, like there is some path. And I might not know what the path forward is yet, but those people found it. And those are the people who give more hope than anybody else possibly could, because they literally walked in that person's shoes.
Right. We have a verse in the New Testament that says, the God of all comfort comforts us that we might comfort others with the comfort we are comforted with. It seems like a tongue twister, but it speaks to that very idea in so many different ways, and it's so amazing how you guys are so considerate. The thought and the wisdom that goes into how you help these victims is really, really helpful.
Again, I stand amazed at how God has called you all to do that, but the question I was asking right before the break is, how did you get involved, Naomi? Oh, we have really wonderful friends with a family who knew that I wanted to switch careers, and he said, you know, while you're looking for your dream job, could you come and help me out in my office for a little bit? And I said yes, without having any idea what he did. Do you know, do you have like a wonderful family friend that you've known for years?
Right. Did you just say yes because they asked? So I came to his office, and of course that was the one family office and I had no idea that he did this and I had never heard of one family before, and I loved it. I just fell in love, and of course it was heartbreaking, right, for the first while, you know, like you could cry every day. Then you get used to it and then you cry with new stories and with new headlines, and that's kind of what it's like. You know, your life has been kind of recalibrated, like, you know, people always say, you should find gratitude, you should wake up and be happy that you have a healthy body and a roof over your head and there's no missiles falling on your house and you have a refrigerator full of food and you have heat and air conditioning, right? But I never really connected with that until I started working for one family, and then I really truly would open my eyes in the morning and say, oh, thank God, my three children are okay, like, we have a safe house, and I really stopped taking any sort of luxury for granted.
Yeah, it's absolutely beautiful. And so, you know, as you're listening, you can't help but say, okay, God, you know, you've been praying for Israel. I know many, many, many of our listeners, probably all of them, or I sure hope all of them have been praying for Israel, especially recently.
But what a cool thing to pray for this organization or see if God puts it on your heart to help them financially, because obviously, they've been overwhelmed through what's going on right now, but your prayers, oh, my goodness, that these volunteers would have the stamina, that these volunteers would find the people that really need the help and that God would gift them with the wisdom in order to really, really engage these really, really hurting people. Because as I understand, four people last night alone lost their lives. And what, 80 some odd injured or something like that? And those numbers are overwhelming in such a tiny country that, you know, maybe it doesn't sound like much of a headline in the US, but like October 7th would be the equivalent of 9-11 if 9-11 had lost 30 or 40,000 people. That would be the equivalent of the population that was lost in Israel on October 7th. Can you imagine those numbers? Yeah, that's the percentages, right.
Exactly, exactly. But yet, God sends somebody, and he cares deeply, and I would love to hear stories, I really, really would, 866-348-7884 is the number to call in. I'm kind of shocked nobody's jumped in here, because I know you've got a story. He came to the rescue, he gave you verse 866-348-7884, but again, it's OneFamilyFund, F-U-N-D-U-S dot com, because it's an Israeli company, but this is the US connection, so it's OneFamilyFundUS dot com. Dot org, I'm sorry, why did I say com?
I knew that, but I did it to emphasize the fact that it's org. Thank you. I'll tell you a lovely story. I have a lovely story of a woman named Yael, whose husband was murdered 7 or 8 years ago now. Oh, they're going to have to hear on the other side of the break about this story, and we would love to hear it. And when we come back, you're going to hear this story, and we need to hear your story. Don't hesitate.
Call with one, you know, God sent somebody, OneFamily, that just, unbelievably, they came to the funeral, they hung out as you mourned, 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live! Today, in light of the ceasefire, all that's going on in Israel, the recent, oh, horrific numbers coming in of people murdered and, oh my goodness, just wounded and all sorts of, you know, losing your house and fires, and, oh my goodness, you can't imagine, but God is always sending somebody in there to help them, and we're so blessed to have with us OneFamily, but we know that OneFamily came one time to you, or maybe it was a Bible verse or something that got you. I would love to hear your testimony. I really would.
866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. Again, Naomi is with OneFamily. We've been talking to them all hour, but if you're just tuning in, right, they respond to families that have been the victims of terror and the war in amazing ways. That they go to the hospitals, they go to the funerals, they go to the mourning houses, and they listen to the stories, and they get them grief counseling, and they help the orphans for forever. I mean, like this one that happened in 2001, they're still helping them, and so here we are, you know, 24 years later. So when we went to break, Naomi, you were sharing about this poor family of the murder victim.
Yes. I wanted to tell you about Yael. Her husband was murdered six years prior to October 7, 2023, and she had six little kids that she had to raise on her own, and everybody was devastated. She was part of our programming. Her children were part of our programming.
They loved it. They looked forward to it all year, and she received so much emotional support, love, care, community that on October 7, she immediately came to OneFamily to volunteer to help talk to the new widows. And she felt like she was called. That was her calling. She needed to jump into action, and that's what she needed to do.
And she did it for two months, and then we saw she was amazing at it, and we hired her and gave her a full-time job. And now she's leading part of the widow's division. So we have divisions for every demographic and then even subdivisions, and what I mean by that is we have widows over 50, and most of their children have moved out, and after they lose their husbands, they're literally alone in a house for the first time in many decades. We have widows with young kids who are just totally stressed out with all the financial responsibility and parenting responsibility by themselves. We have widows who are very young who just got married, and maybe their husband was murdered before they got to have children, and they feel like not only was their husband murdered, their unborn children were also murdered.
They didn't get the opportunity or the blessing to have children with the person they meant to be with. We even have support groups for people who were engaged and didn't make it to the wedding because somebody was killed during this war. So that's just one small thing. Yeah, but also you have special needs folks, right, that you have some amazing ministry for them, right?
Yes. So the rockets and the missiles that are falling do not discriminate. They fall on people with autistic children, with mental illness, who are struggling getting divorced. You know, with every problem that you would find in a regular family, you have there also, and the missiles fall on their house, right?
So it's just a compounded problem. We have a 24-hour emergency hotline. After October 7th, a woman called. She had six children, and everybody else was evacuated up to her street. But after her street, nobody was going to be evacuated, and she only had 15 seconds of warning before rockets fell on her house. Three of her six children have autism, and that was not enough time for her to gather all of her children into the bomb shelter. So she called us and said, I need to be moved.
I need a new place to live, right? But the government wasn't going to do it. So that's an example of an emergency.
We have people calling us. Somebody's wife was murdered four years ago in a terrorist attack, and then his house took a direct hit from a missile last week, right? So now he has no place to live. He's injured, and his wife was murdered four weeks ago. So I'm telling you, it's like hit after hit, they just keep on coming. We had a soldier murdered, but he had a brother who has bipolar disorder, right?
It happens. People have depression, any wide range of issues that occurs in society, you know, we have in Israel. So the boy with bipolar, he refused to take medication. It got so, so, so much worse. He wants to die, and the parents are barely able to take care of him. They really relied a lot on the son who was lost, unfortunately. And, of course, our victims, because they suffer so much, have a much higher rate of cancer and other diseases after grief, right?
When people are struggling with PTSD and depression, they're much more likely to have physical symptoms and get sick. Sure. I mean, who wouldn't like it? Oh, my word. Yeah. Yeah.
So that happens. We have to help with a lot of things that aren't directly related to terror, but we know that PTSD is insidious, and it can decrease the quality of your life and your relationships, you know, throughout your life. It can just permeate your whole entire world.
So that's why it's so important to create community and catch them and love them and give them all the tools and support and really try to uplift them as much as we can. Yeah, it really is. And so I'm sure you're listening and you're thinking, man, man, you know, it's really hard to fathom what this is like. You know, Tammy and I were in Israel about three weeks ago, and, you know, we had a chance to visit a bomb shelter, too, while we were there. And, you know, it's a really different feeling.
Or you're going down the road in a bus and all of a sudden the sirens go off and everybody's out on the street, you know, putting their heads between their knees and, you know, because they're just preparing for whatever in the world. But, boy, it has gotten that it's just day after day after day. And always it seemed like while we were there, almost every day they shot missiles. But usually they weren't getting through the Iron Dome or isn't that what it's called, the Iron Dome? Yeah. But now these new ones coming in from Iran or it's a different ballgame, isn't it? Yes. Right. We're used to getting attacked with rockets from Gaza, sometimes from the north, but ballistic missiles are completely different.
And I didn't know anything about this stuff two weeks ago. I really had to learn the difference. A ballistic missile is just so much larger and more powerful.
It's, you know, not the same ballgame at all. Right. And I have family in Israel and my cousin described how the entire building would shake. And then I had to learn that not all bomb shelters are created equal and she should really be in a bomb shelter across the street, which is not the same as having, you know, a metal box in your apartment, which is also a bomb shelter. Right.
Like the newer, fancier places have one bedroom that's a bomb shelter and apparently it just doesn't cut it when it comes to these ballistic missiles. Yeah. It's obvious that it's a completely different situation. But, you know, again, God is providing in so many different ways. Again, it's one family, onefamilyfundus.org, onefamilyfundus.org, as far as if you want to find out more information. Of course, we could be praying for one family as they go on as we're praying for Israel, a little bit better understanding of what, you know, the families are really facing.
Because, again, you know all the prayer needs of, right, I hope the people in your church and the communities you're walking with, you can imagine what it's like when you add this kind of trauma and this kind of thing. And then, right, they even hit a hospital. Yeah. Right. That was terrible.
Really terrible. And so off they go. And so, yes, there may be a ceasefire, right, this very minute. And we're praying that there's peace in Israel, whatever that may look like, and God knows, and hopefully the leaders will all show great wisdom to make sure that we get a lasting peace. But right now, obviously, the trauma is so far from over, it's unbelievable, right? So it's just beginning, right?
You can't operate on a wound that is still being ripped open wider. The country of Israel, the people of Israel, have not healed from October 7th. It's been war ever since. This is a, you know, there's been war in Gaza, there's been war in the north, like war on so many different fronts. And now with Iran, it's just like another wave of war, but we haven't had calm yet where we stopped getting hurt enough to start healing.
This is just trauma on top of trauma for the Israelis. So we have ongoing support groups, ongoing therapeutic retreats. We have a therapeutic camp for kids three times a year. And I really hope that the missiles stop, that the cease fire lasts so that we can have our camp program to, you know, change the trajectory of these children. We have a beautiful adopt a family program. And I'll tell you about the family that I adopted.
The father was walking to synagogue on a Saturday morning. Well, on the Saturday morning of October 7th. Right. It was also a holiday. And he was murdered. He was the first person murdered in that village.
Nobody knew anything was wrong yet. And he left behind a wife and nine children, the oldest of whom is severely disabled. So I adopted them, which means I give them financial assistance every month. And I actually went there to visit them and their faith was so strong that I left with renewed faith in God. You know, I expected to see them crying and miserable and depressed. I guess I expected that. But they said, you know, they had they just had complete faith and they were so powerful in their faith that I left feeling better and stronger than I had before.
I met them, which is just a wild thing to think about. You know, it's amazing that, you know, God, you know, he he can change that, you know, morning to oil of gladness and all like it says in Isaiah. Right.
That that those verses are true. But you get to see that, you know, just constantly, I would imagine. You know, I get to see it both ways. There are people like you, Ellen, people like the the one that I just told you about that family.
And the other side where families are falling apart, like the son, the son who is living has bipolar disorder and he's falling apart and he's taking his parents down with him. Right. And we've got to go another break. I'm sorry, Naomi. Again, it's one family fund.
U.S. dot org. And again, you've got a story. Come on, God to the rescue. I want to hear it.
Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. Think of the people you could encourage with your Bible verse or your story. You call it. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Welcome back to Truth Talk live today. In light of this very fragile cease fire in Israel and all that's gone on over the year since October 7th, a famous date in Israel, you know, it's amazing how God keeps sending his messengers to people that are in the midst of unbelievable tragedies. And we're seeing that in Israel through one family that we've been talking with, Naomi Nussbaum today.
But how about you? You know, I can tell you that this was my own story, so I'll share it, that I had a lymphoma at one point. And then shortly thereafter, within a year or two, they saw some more inflammation in my brain. And it turned out that they needed to do what they call a brain biopsy, which, believe me, you don't ever want one of those. If you can not have it, but anyway, that led to them putting a metal plate in my head, which created a brain abscess. In other words, it had a staph infection in it. And then the next thing I knew, I was in more pain.
If you know what it's like to have an abscess in your tooth, you can imagine if you have one in your brain due to a staph infection in your brain. And I was in unbelievable pain. I will never forget it as long as I ever live. If I ever experienced pain, that was when I experienced it. And they were rushing me in for emergency surgery, and something happened in the operating room where they couldn't do it. And they were feeding me every kind of pain medication you might could imagine. I was hoping I would just pass out or die or something because it hurt so bad, but nothing was doing anything.
Nothing they hit me with. And I was just in sort of a dark room waiting to put me out for the surgery. And a woman who walks in, and I hear her say, Robby, it's Ramona. And as soon as she said that, I knew who she was.
She was a girl in my Sunday school class. And she didn't say anything else because she knew how bad my head hurt, but she just grabbed my hand. And that was more. That was—it was God reaching down and saying, Robby, I got you.
I got you. It was just, you know, somebody who cared when you really need it. And so I know. That's how I knew for the pastor in Vietnam that God had sent him something. And I always watch for it whenever I'm going through anything. I know God's going to send something or send someone or send a Bible verse or he's going to send something. And so that's why I think it's so important that you, you know, share your story, because it encourages everybody that may be going through something or going to go through something that God will send somebody.
But also, just like Naomi has been sharing, as he has sent people to you, then you can be sent. Right? You know what it's like to go through a brain absence. You know, you know what it's like to go through cancer. Or you know what it's like to lose a spouse or a child. You know, one of my best friends, Bob Young, lost his son. Oh my, what a horrific thing he went through.
But I cannot tell you the countless people that he has lived out second Corinthians after one. He's been the comfort after he was comforted. So your stories mean the world to those people who hear them.
866-348-7884. Getting back to Naomi. Yeah, that was such a beautiful story that you just told. And I can completely relate. Right? Someone just holding your hand in that moment, like the lowest possible moment, can absolutely change the situation. Right, and that's what I'm sure. There's no doubt in my mind, these hundreds of volunteers in Israel, just the fact that somebody is there. These are people of faith.
They've realized that God sent them. Right? Yeah, absolutely. And I think I sent you a video of our people going into the hospitals and meeting the people who were wounded this week, bringing them relief checks so that they could get through a couple of weeks, you know, while the dust is settling, figure out what's going to be, you know, just bring them some food, an open ear, listen to their story, give them hugs, hold their hand, and a little bit of financial relief.
And that gets the ball rolling. It can really change the situation. They don't feel alone anymore. They feel supported. Right, and you know, it's interesting, I love that, that you listen for their story.
And by the way, there's some amazing advice right there. You know, I've interviewed hundreds of missionaries who share something similar when they go into a situation where you would think, the people are starving to death, but before they eat, they want to tell you what happened. And you got to take the time to listen because sharing their misery is apparently, from what I hear, a greater need, greater, you know, human necessity than actually the food or the water or something that you're giving and they care for. Is that what you guys have experienced as well? Yeah, humans are designed for connection.
That's just the way we're wired, right? And sometimes the emotional connection and the physical connection hurts worse than whatever physical injury they might have. Right. So all of our support groups and retreats have sharing circles. Every event that we run is an opportunity for people to tell their stories and connect. Right, right, right. And, you know, that is part of being, you know, of one nation, of being one spirit, right?
That that connection that you naturally, you desperately need to know that you're not alone in this. And so you got a question, you got a story, you got, maybe you got a question for Naomi. You got to be great. 866-348-7884, 86634-TRUTH. And so, you know, in the short minutes we got left, you guys have an event coming up in California.
You got a bunch of stuff going on. Oh, that event is so sweet. We designed something called the Hugmobile two weeks ago when the ballistic missiles started falling from Iran. And the country was almost on lockdown, right? Only essential people are allowed to go to work to the hospitals. Everybody else was in the bomb shelters. So you have kids that can't go to school, parents that can't go to work.
Everybody's cooped up. We, our mission last week was to have all the counselors from the youth division go and visit 1000 bereaved children and teens. And they filled up shopping carts and filled up cars and they would just arrive at everybody's home and sit in the bomb shelter with the rest of the family. But they brought toys, games, art supplies, you know, figurines, anything to make the kids happy for a few minutes. They would sit down and play board games with them or draw pictures or bring ice cream. And warm hugs, right?
Holding the hand, giving that warm in-person hug changes everything. So somebody is throwing an event in California to sponsor the Hugmobile for a day. We hope that somebody will sponsor the Hugmobile for the entire month so that we can keep visiting kids and bringing them gifts and sharing them up for a little bit. That is so cool.
It really, really is. Again, it's OneFamilyFundUS.com, excuse me,.org,.org. OneFamilyFundUS.org that you can find out about the Hugmobile and all that, you know. We were talking in an interview I had done with Naomi earlier in the week about, you know, when my married Tammy, my mother told Tammy, look, you never want to hug, Robbie, it's like hugging a tree. So I didn't exactly have the warm hug, but I taught special needs all those years and they taught me how to hug. But I love what you were telling me that the people in Israel taught you how to hug.
Oh, yeah. You know, when they know you and trust you and love you, there is no warmer greeting than you'll get from an Israeli who loves you. They absolutely had to greet someone properly. You know, I have some friends that are from Lebanon that similarly I would say that their hugs are some of the warmest. We have this, it's the Friendly Arabic Christian Festival, I think it's what it's called every year here in this area. And when you go there, it's a really beautiful thing because there are people there from Lebanon, there's people from Syria, Egypt, there's people from Israel. In other words, the whole Middle East is together but in peace. You can go from tent to tent, so to speak, as you go through that. They dance, you know, the Middle Eastern dancing, the Middle Eastern food, it's a spectacular thing.
I understand we're going to have it in September this year. But those hugs, and really that's what God's doing through one family, right? For people that that's exactly what they need is to know that God's there for them. And so we talked a lot about things, but is there something that people could be praying for right now that you really have on your heart, Naomi? Oh gosh, I so badly want peace for the Middle East. I hope that Israel was successful in getting rid of that nuclear program and that the Iranian people stand up for themselves and have a better life. I hope that there's a new way of living in Iran and that peace really settles into the Middle East. I truly pray for that. And of course, you know, I'm praying for the, you know, I think there's almost 30 families that are newly briefed in the last two weeks. I am praying that they have personal peace, right?
I'm praying for the people to heal who are in the hospitals and I have to pray for new homes for the people whose homes were destroyed. Karen, wow. Yeah, it's unthinkable thing after thing. And so that word in Hebrew is shalom, right? Yes. And it means so much more because it's a completeness kind of thing, right?
It does. And so whether they're homeless or bereaved or whatever, shalom, oh shalom, wouldn't it be wonderful? Yeah, I want peace on many levels, right? I want peace for the world. I want peace for the state of Israel and for the state of Iran. I want no more terrorism. I don't want any Jews or infidels killed, right?
The terrorists are calling death to infidels, death to America, death to Jews, right? Enough of that. We can all get along now. Yeah, wouldn't that be great? Oh, it will be. It's going to happen. I'd rather it be sooner than later.
But we do know who wins in the end. Yes, right? I hope so. Again, Naomi Nussbaum with OneFamilyFundUS.org. OneFamilyFundUS.org. What a joy it has been to hear what God is doing through such tragedy. Thank you so much for what you guys do and for being with us today. Thank you so much for having me.
