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Shiva in the Pessach home is unique. Visitors stream in and out, and a special warmth exudes throughout the house. Behind me, an enlarged happy family photo takes up a large section of a wall. Along the same wall stands a small table displaying the photo of Netanel
(After five weeks in Gaza, on the way home for a short break) Tzahal is doing a fantastic job in the war so far. Many terrorist facilities have been neutralised, and we are edging ever closer,
November 18th, 2024
Am I my brother’s keeper
It must be so
For he is not mine
My dust stained boots
My broken spirit
My blood shed so easily
With his peace of mind
I am my brother’s keeper
For this day at least
But who will keep him
When I am gone
November 27th, 2024
We should be worthy
They all say
Of your bravery
Of your sacrifice
Of the legacy you left behind
But really, we all know
We’d rather be worthy
Of your smile
March 27th, 2024
My son’s not a hero was her first thought
He’s just a kid
His smelly shoes
His messy room
And a constant smirk on his face
I rise above you higher than any of you would yearn to reach
Above the throngs of congregating people
Crying, grieving, trying to make sense
From your view on the ground.
But my view is vast
And open.
417 days I lay hovering in the shadow of God
But now I see rays of light above the clouds
No shadow
Just God.
Sadness overwhelms
A new day, the tale replayed
Once too many times
Laid to rest in peace
As hearts weep across bruised land
Pain spreads far and wide
Letters. Black on white. They usually adhere to their two-dimensional habitat. Sedate, well-behaved. But what happens when they leap off the surface and issue blood-curdling screams?
That is the case this grey morning. My head reflexively snaps to the side upon seeing the words on my phone, my gaze turning away, scanning the room desperate to latch on to anything but them. It’s 7am and the notification that’s just appeared at the top of the screen confirms the death of eight soldiers.
I live in Canada, many miles away from Israel and Gaza. I am a committed Jew however, ensconced in thought everyday about my fellow Jews fighting a war for our people.
I’m very much aware, and repeat this regularly, that our Israeli brothers and sisters are on the frontline for all Jewish people, everywhere. On Yom HaZikaron, we are extraordinarily thankful for that reality. My boy is going off to university at 18. Yours is going into the laneway and hollowed out buildings of Gaza.
We’re fairly new here, so we don’t really know that many people. And we don’t know this family. But it’s as if we do. We caught our breath at the time when we heard that the soldier whose name was cleared for publication was one of our own, a local boy, 21-year-old Staff Sgt. David Sasson. David, who was a fighter in the Israel Defense Forces’s Oketz Special Force Counter Terror K9 Unit, was reportedly killed while on his way to search a building in Southern Gaza where his unit had identified terrorists.