Instead of calling them soldiers, CAIR refers to them as “those killing civilians in Gaza.”

Grassroots effort brings a slice of home to IDF soldiers – St. Louis Jewish Light

Sometimes it’s the little things that can mean the most. Like a slice of pizza to an Israeli soldier on the front lines in the Israel-Gaza war, who is tired of eating tuna from a can.

“Slices for Soldiers” is an initiative begun by Nusach Hari B’nai Zion in Olivette. Initially, more than $2,200 was raised to send 160 pizzas to Israeli Defense Forces soldiers and families confined to bomb shelters in Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod, three war-torn regions in southern Israel. In the past few days, another $1,000 has been collected, which will go to sending another wave of pizzas; the hope is to keep raising money and sending pizzas for as long as the war continues.

Richard Woolf, chairman of NHBZ’s Israel Committee, explained that the initiative was born after congregants Dr. Ethan Schuman and his wife, Debbie, sent a few pizzas to Israeli troops outside of Gaza. The Schumans let Rabbi Ze’ev Smason and members of the shul’sIsrael Committee know that local Jews could order pizzas in Israel for soldiers and families on the front lines, thinking NHBZ might be interested in organizing a congregational effort.

Around that time, on a Sunday, Woolf and his family were at a barbecue hosted by Emelynn Hasky, a friend in St. Louis, whose brother is in the IDF. Hasky and her brother were texting back and forth when he told her how sick he was of eating tuna out of a can.

“That’s when we decided to run with the pizza idea,” said Woolf, “and create an initiative behind it.”

On Monday, July 14, an email was sent to NHBZ congregants explaining that the shul would be ordering and delivery pizzas to troops in Israel. Some then used social media to advertise the effort.