Jerusalem hotel gives evacuees fleeing Hamas, Hezbollah new swimwear

Since the start of the war, an estimated 200,000 Israelis from the border areas near Gaza and Lebanon have been internally displaced. Ordinary citizens have been volunteering their time and donating funds to assist in any way possible, such as helping Israelis who were forced to leave their homes; providing special meals and enhanced equipment for IDF soldiers; assisting businesses that are suffering due to the situation; and harvesting fruits and vegetables for farmers who suddenly have no workers. Volunteers in various communities across the country have been working all day long, six days a week, doing whatever is needed – coordinating, cooking, driving, shopping, etc. – to support the war effort.

Hotels throughout Israel have been a major part of this effort by housing displaced persons from the North and the South since October 7. One of them, the Ramada Jerusalem Hotel, appears to have gone above and beyond, with the help of volunteers and donors. It is currently hosting about 1,200 evacuees and doing whatever it can to make these guests as comfortable as possible.

“Due to the current situation in Israel, the hotel has been transformed into the largest ‘displaced persons camp’ in Israel. Beginning just a few days after the outbreak of the war, we began receiving evacuees from Sderot, Ofakim, and Hof Ashkelon [all in the South]. Eventually, Ofakim and Hof Ashkelon residents were replaced by evacuees from the northern communities of Shlomi and Kiryat Shmona,” Yaakov Kessler, the hotel’s events sales manager, told In Jerusalem. 

“Our banqueting facilities have morphed into kindergartens and daycare programs, medical clinics – for both physical and mental health – chugim (hobbies) headquarters, and even a beit midrash (study hall). Our VIP parking area has been repurposed as a laundromat, thanks to a group of donors who provided 10 sets of washing machines and dryers. The hotel even has a freezer designated for nursing mothers to store their pumped breast milk. 

“The hotel provides three hot, nutritious meals daily, and the breakfast set-up enables parents to pack up morning snacks for their children.

“We have even gone to the extent of winterizing our tennis court and turning it into a youth activity center with a Gymboree, table tennis, billiards, and basketball, as well as a zula area [relaxation corner] for teens,” he said.

“Our newest project, designed to creatively enhance the evacuees’ guest experience, is swimming lessons for children,” Kessler continued. “The hotel has provided new, high-quality, Israeli-made swimsuits for every child who wants to learn how to swim.”

200 evacuees learn how to swim in Jerusalem

LESSONS FOR over 200 children began last Sunday. Among them are some who have already learned to swim but want to improve. The hotel is also providing the instructors at no cost to the families. “Several donors have graciously stepped forward to assist us in this and other endeavors,” Kessler said.

Marci and Harold Rapp are the owners of MarSea Modest Swim & Casualwear. Since the start of the war, the couple has donated close to NIS 10,000 worth of swimsuits to women. The effort began already in the fall when they obtained a list of volunteers at several hotels with outdoor pools and offered to provide swimsuits to women evacuees. “It was still warm [weather],” Marci Rapp told In Jerusalem. “Who knew this would last so long?”

Ramada Jerusalem – through Miri Lavie, its head volunteer – was among the recipients. “As a result of that connection, hotel management, thinking up activities for the children, decided to offer swimming lessons, and they contacted us to purchase swimwear with their logo,” Rapp said, noting that it is one of the few hotels with a heated indoor pool that could be used during the winter.

When Lavie came up with the idea for swimming lessons, she suggested to Kessler that he buy the bathing suits from the Rapps. For this endeavor, MarSea Modest produced swimwear for around 240 children and teens. Although the company’s products are geared toward women and girls, they also included boys’ bathing trunks for the project.

“We were able to do this within three days, once the hotel gave us the number of boys and girls, aged four to 15,” Rapp said. “It was a blessing. We had donated thousands of shekels’ worth of swimwear, and we ended up getting unexpected parnassa [livelihood].”

“Like they say, if you give, you get at the end,” Lavie said.

“The bathing suits were just one of the projects” that Lavie began for the evacuees. “It’s not like I do a specific thing. Whatever they need, if I’m able to help and make a connection between people, that’s what I do.”

In the hotel, most of the evacuees are Torah-observant and would prefer the more modest bathing suits. However, all of them were pleased with the swimwear that they received.

“All week long, there are activities suitable for all ages,” Lavie said. “Most of the evacuees at Ramada came together as one community, so it’s very easy to organize programs. There are also volunteers within the community itself. Already in the third week, we had committees to deal with important issues like education, to get things moving.”

A volunteer from the prestigious Jerusalem-based Bezalel Academy of Art and Design has been teaching the kids how to draw comics, she added.

ONE MIGHT think the kids might not want to go home, considering these wonderful programs, In Jerusalem noted.

Not really, Lavie replied. “It’s hard for families. I also hear it from my sister, who’s an evacuee at the Dead Sea. Imagine that there’s no privacy during meals, let alone privacy for a couple with children in their room. So, no one likes the situation.”

That said, “the hotel is somewhat more convenient than an apartment, with activities that those who went to apartments aren’t getting. The evacuees in Jerusalem are very lucky. I’m sure that’s not the situation in some other places.”

Lavie came to the Ramada through the nonprofit Harivon Harevi’i (The Fourth Quarter), which works to create a dialogue of partnership among Israelis of all backgrounds. The name is taken from the period in which it operates, in the fourth quarter of the existence of the State of Israel, its website says.

“This organization was the first to host evacuees before the government even woke up. We were hosting people for three nights, from October 14 to 17, and we paid for their stay. That’s how the connection continued with Ramada, when we were looking for more places that could take evacuees.”

“Although my real job here in the hotel is that of simcha [celebration] and conference facilitator, I believe that I have been uniquely qualified to assist in making the evacuees’ experience here in the hotel a positive one,” said Kessler, who served as a youth director in the US prior to making aliyah with his wife and daughters in 1995 and was simultaneously in the business world, including dealing with hotels. 

The Rapps made aliyah in 2008; their three sons served in the IDF, and their daughter volunteered in National Service. The family has been involved in several charitable causes, especially since Oct. 7. Harold has also taken it upon himself to say Kaddish for one of the victims, a 40-year-old mother of two who had no one to say it for her. Perhaps most impressive is Marci’s kidney donation in June 2010 through the organization Matnat Chaim (“The Gift of Life”). ■

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