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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

Writing from home

War Diaries: Days 28 and 30

10 November, 2023

Day 28 – Yellow Ribbons

Friday morning we woke up to join a scheduled run for three of the hostages, who have family in Raanana.

We ran for Naama Levy, 19 years old, who was captured and taken hostage to Gaza. There’s video footage of her being bundled into a jeep, with scared eyes, clothes bloodstained.

From the website set up by her parents to bring her home, here’s Naama’s story:

Daphna Horowitz February 12, 2024

Writing from home

Diary Entry: Days 28 and 29 – Heart Stickers

There is no shelter here, reads the sign blowing in the wind taped to the glass door. I have walked from one end of the namal (port) to the other looking for a cafe, not a restaurant that serves fish or chicken. I want a salad and a hot coffee with oat milk. I have found one at the northern area of the port of Tel Aviv. Not fancy but with a table near an outlet and they serve coffee.

Mallory Serebrin February 12, 2024

Tag: hostages