Say Their Names
Agam
Daniella
Karina
Liri
Naama
five vibrant
vital flowers
beginning bloom
surveilling their field
Jessica Ursell
August 22, 2024
Tag: hostages
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Writing from home
Bridge of Tears
Last night, I went to the kotel and prayed. I didn’t pray like I normally pray. I imagined I was Shiri Bibas praying for herself and her husband and her children in Hamas captivity. I do not know if she’s allowed to pray out loud where she is. I am sure most of her thoughts are prayers.
Elisheva Elbaz
August 18, 2024
Writing from home
A Chanukah Story
I haven’t told anyone this because, well, first because I know I’ll sound crazy. But second, because I don’t want anyone to spoil it for me.
I went to visit my sister and her family in Israel a couple of months after the Hamas massacre. I wanted to spend time with them, support them, make sure they were okay, and admittedly, ease my guilt about being so far away. It was the first night of Chanukah when I landed – the Festival of Lights—but there was very little light in the country.
Tamar Gribetz
August 7, 2024
Writing from home
War Diaries Day 220 – From Mourning to Morning: A Path of Resilience, Strength and Unity
One minute’s silence.
The whole country stops what they’re doing.
Wherever we are – at home, on the highway, walking in the street, sitting in a meeting – we all stop, stand up and become silent for a minute.
Yesterday was Memorial Day in Israel. A day to remember all lives lost. Our soldiers who fought in the wars to secure our Jewish State and civilians who lost their lives in acts of terror – more than 30,000 in total.
This year, the day was particularly heavy because we’re in the midst of war with many soldiers’ and civilians’ lives lost and 132 hostages still held in Gaza.
It’s been more than seven months since the 7th October. With every 7th of the month that passes, we struggle to believe the reality we’re living in, that another month has been added to the count, and the hostages are still there.
Daphna Horowitz
May 14, 2024
Writing from home
Broken Hearts
Some people wear their heart on their sleeves
To show it off to all around
Mine lays heavy, tied round my neck
It’s weight, it’s worth I’ve avowed
Miriam Roskind
March 12, 2024
Writing from abroad
Wearing My Heart on My Wrist and Around My Neck
Some of my earliest childhood memories were going through both my grandmother’s and mother’s jewelry boxes. I loved trying on the shiny and sparkly pins, rings, bracelets and necklaces, imagining being old enough to wear “real” jewelry.
My first piece of jewelry that represented something more than a birthday or a bat mitzvah gift was the MIA bracelet I wore for over a decade engraved with the name of a Vietnam soldier missing in action.
Lori B. Sagarin
February 28, 2024
Writing from home
100 Days
We pray harder and longer,
We feel sadder and more anxious.
We also love more fiercely
And our unity tightens
Ash Glenville
February 23, 2024
Writing from home
Day 85
It could be me
Now
Next week
Next month
Many years from now
It could be my children
Now
Next week
Next month
Many years from now
Ash Glenville
February 23, 2024
Writing on volunteering
Seeing Green in Southern Israel
On the drive down to Kibbutz Sa’ad, I alternate between gazing out the window and trying to get the Homefront Command app to work on my phone. It’s November 5, the first time in a month I’ve left the environs of my city in central Israel, save the five-minute visit to my son on an army base near Jerusalem.
Julie Zuckerman
February 19, 2024
Writing from home
War Diaries: Day 45
Two hundred and thirty eight hostages – and the number has been reduced by three over the last few weeks, just because their bodies have now been found in Gaza, murdered after they were taken. Their families are crying out to be heard, to bring their loved ones home, even as they continue to bury their dead.
This picture says it all. How can I miss 249 people I’ve never even met? But it’s true!
Daphna Horowitz
February 12, 2024