JERUSALEM — Sixteen-year-old Smadar Golan thanked the Jewish community of Middlesex County at a ceremony Oct. 2 for donating a new youth center in Nitzan, a town established to house some 3,000 evacuees from former Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County contributed $90,000 to build the 238-square-meter — approximately 2,500-square-foot — youth center, which is now the largest structure in Nitzan.

The hastily built town is the temporary home of families with more than 1,200 children and 230 teenagers.

"Before this youth center, we didn't have anywhere to go," Smadar told representatives from the Middlesex federation who attended the event. "We needed a place for our meetings and now we have one. Thanks for thinking of us when we are going through such tough times."

Permanent homes for the residents are being built in the vicinity, in a process that could take as long as four years. An Oct. 23 lottery will determine which families in Nitzan will receive the first 200 homes built.

The youth center was purposely built to be portable, so that it could eventually be moved to a new site.

"The Middlesex federation helped meet the most urgent needs of the community," Dror Vanunu, a spokesman for the evacuees, said at the ceremony. "This building will be used nonstop to help children of all ages. This is a blessing, and we want to thank you for what you have done for our people."

Betty and Irwin Keller of East Brunswick, who spearheaded the youth center campaign, said in a message that they were "overwhelmed" by what the federation was able to accomplish for the Gush Katif evacuees. "These families were really suffering, and their humanitarian needs were getting lost in the shuffle. We were able to cut through the bureaucracy and provide the residents of the Nitzan community with a desperately needed youth center in less than six months."

The federation, they continued, "couldn't have been more helpful in getting the campaign off the ground and in generously matching all funds contributed. We feel empowered through this whole process. We were able to bring some resolution to a cause dear to our hearts through the help, support, infrastructure, and contacts provided by the federation."

Attending the ceremony were Abby Hochhauser of Edison; her husband, Albie; her mother, Barbara Ritter; and her 26-year-old son David.

Steve and Toby Mayer of East Brunswick were accompanied by their children, 17-year-old Alexis, 14-year-old Carly, and 12-year-old Jared, and Toby Mayer's father, Joseph Farkas. The families toured the site where the new homes will be built.

At the ceremony, the youngest and oldest representatives from New Jersey played central roles: Farkas affixed the mezuza to the center doorpost and recited the blessing; his grandson Jared unveiled a sign that reads "Yisrael Lutati Nitzan Youth Center — generously donated by the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex through the Jewish Agency for Israel."

The center is named for Yisrael Lutati, a 19-year-old soldier from Neve Dekalim who was killed on Yom Kippur eve three years ago when terrorists infiltrated his army base near the Gaza community of Morag. Lutati was known for his acts of charity, among them donating his time to volunteer at the local Magen David Adom medical clinics.

His father, Eli, spoke at the ceremony and thanked the people of Middlesex for helping memorialize his son. He presented the families from New Jersey with a book about Sukkot that was dedicated to Yisrael and told them that hundreds of Yisrael's family members and friends had attended the annual memorial program held at the new center a week before.

Abby Hochhauser told Eli Lutati in her speech at the dedication ceremony that she hoped the center would provide comfort and consolation to his family, while helping the children evacuated from Gush Katif.

"Thank you for making us feel so welcome and for helping us better understand the obstacles that you face," Hochhauser told the Nitzan residents in her speech. "On behalf of the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, we're glad that we were able to help, and we hope that the children will benefit from the center. We hope you get your new homes and normal lives as soon as possible. We're all thinking of you and wishing you well."

"We are very pleased to be here and be part of this special occasion to make the lives of the children formerly of Gush Katif a little more pleasant," Steve Mayer said.

"It is so meaningful to see a more permanent structure and to see growth after so much devastation," Alexis added.

The ceremony was also attended by Rabbi Yigal Kaminetzky, the regional rabbi of what was known as the Gush Katif Settlements in Gaza, and former Gush Katif residents committee chair Lior Kalfa.
The rabbi said it was symbolic that the dedication took place on Sukkot, which is a holiday that brings people together in temporary dwellings. He also referred to the settlers' resistance to Israel's decision, in 2005, to abandon all its settlements in Gaza.

"The building of this center is not charity," Kaminetzky said. "It's a partnership between Jews. We fought against the disengagement not just for us but for all of Israel, because we knew there would be a domino effect that would create problems for everyone."

He ended his speech with the traditional declaration: "Next year in a newly rebuilt Jerusalem," adding, "and in a newly rebuilt Gush Katif."