Chabad-Lubavitch families living in the central Israeli village of Kfar Chabad have prepared guest rooms and opened their homes to postpartum women from the country’s embattled south and their newborn babies.

After Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon – a coastal city now bearing the brunt of Palestinian rocket strikes – agreed to transfer its maternity patients to the Assaf Harofe Medical Center near Kfar Chabad, the hospital decided to allow the women to extend their standard 48-hour stay by 24 hours.

The Kfar Chabad offer, meanwhile, will further extend the time available for the new mothers to bond with their babies free of the threat of rocket attack. …