The Hostages You Might Not Have Heard About

 Every morning when I daven the blessing "matir assurim" (You free the captives", which, goodness knows, never felt so relevant in my life as it has the past 6.5 months....), I stop for a few minutes and say the names of each of the hostages (as far as we know. See chabad.org/hostages). 

There are the "special ones", like the Bibas children, adorable Kfir ben Shiri, who, if still alive, turned one in captivity and has spent the bulk of his short life as a hostage, and his four year-old brother Ariel ben Shiri 

And the hostages I have some tenuous connection to: NationOnPause.org sent me a new name to daven for after Elad Katzir was confirmed murdered (felt like a kick in the gut when I opened my email and saw this, even though I had already heard the confirmation of his death)

Now I am "dedicating my Shabbat" to 83 year-old retired journalist Oded ben Bilha Lifshitz (doesn't he look like everyone's favorite grandpa??)

But then there are other names on my list....Last month, at a talk outside the United Nations, Rachel Goldberg-Polin said that hostages include 8 Muslim Arabs, a Catholic and a Hindu, 8 Thai Buddhists and at least 2 black African Christians. Here are some of their stories:

Bipin Joshi, from Nepal who, only three weeks before October 7, arrived in Israel on an academic program about farming

Mohammed El Alatrash, a Bedouin father of 13

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a Muslim Bedouin

Hamza Alziadna, a Muslim Bedouin. An uncle murdered on October 7, another uncle hailed as a hero for stuffing more than 30 people into his 14-seat minivan and speeding through Hamas shooters to save people from the Nova music festival, and Hamza taken hostage along with a brother, sister and their father, Yusuf Alziadna.... 

Orion Hernandez Radoux from Mexico. He is German-Israeli Shani Louk's boyfriend.  A photo of Shani, half dressed and lying face down in the back of pickup truck while surrounded by jubilant Hamas terrorists, won the AP "Team Photo of the Year" Award. I choose NOT to post that photo, but one showing her glowing with life:

Please Gd, as we end Passover, the Holiday of Freedom, may all of these people and every one of the 133 people still being held hostage, be home soon, and may our beautiful county only know permanent peace and security. Chag Sameach.

Guest Post by Kara

 From my friend and neighbor, Kara, who sums up the current situation better than my Pesach-cleaning brain can:

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Clean out the cabinets for Pesach, but make sure you’re stocked with food for 3 days.

Don’t watch the news, but keep an eye on Iran.

Keep your kids safe, but draft your son tomorrow.

Make your summer tickets, but don’t plan too far ahead.

Send your kids to Jerusalem on the bus every day, but watch out for Ramadan terror attacks.

Bring the hostages home at any and all cost, but absolutely no ceasefire with Hamas.

Attacks are imminent, so store your passports and stock your safe rooms, but don’t panic.

Talk to your kids about what’s happening, but not too much.

Finish Hamas, but also pull the army out of Gaza almost completely.

Strike Lebanon on the daily, but don’t go to war.

Take care of your mental health, and don’t stay stuck inside, but don’t go too far from home.

Celebrate our Exodus from Egypt, but also your GPS says you’re in Cairo.

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My son went into the Army last Wednesday.

Too many emotions to describe.

Love.

Pride.

Fear.

Duty.

Pride.

Separation.

Honor.

Pride.

Love.

Hashem should bless and keep all of our soldiers safe. Physically, emotionally, healthy in body and spirit.

Sruli, Yisrael, named for the land that has always had my heart, we love you and are so incredibly proud of you, and are with you every step of the way.

Blessing him before he leaves

Shabbat Shalom

Iranian Missile/Drone Strike, aka: What.....A.....Night.....

 Iran has increased its rumbling (for lack of a better word) for the past few days, leading many schools that started Pesach break on Friday to send kids home with extra work for *after* Passover has finished in case school can't resume. Friday, Iran sent warnings that an attack would happen in the next 24-48 hours. Okaaaaay......Penina and Menashe spent Shabbat with us, not so much because any of us were so stressed, more because we were having a mellow Shabbos and they had had a busy week. Shabbos, thankfully, was beautifully quiet. Maybe Iran was having second thoughts? Went to the tehillim group on my street and said some extra.....

Menashe, Penina, Ilana and I went to the biggest grocery store in the area Saturday night to do our Passover shopping. I felt like, "at least if something happens, we'll have our matzah and jam". Didn't buy the dairy products, so no cream cheese and jam :)

And then.....

Around 10:30, just as we were finishing the shopping, Iran announced that they had started sending missiles that wouldn't arrive for a few hours

and the Israeli government announced that everyone should stay near a bomb shelter

and that all schools and pre-Pesach camps/programs would be closed today and tomorrow (Sunday and Monday)

WHAT A NIGHT. The first missiles arrived around 1:30 in the morning. The noise was unbelievable.....a LOT of missile interceptions seen/heard from our city (b''H although many areas close to us got azakot/sirens and had to enter their bomb shelters, our city did not) and fighter jets going all through the night. (I heard that something like 99% of the Israeli air force was in the air last night)

(A friend's photo and caption)

We were up most of the night (I have NEVER texted with so many people at 3 in the morning before) and have also never before said so much tehilim in the middle of the night (Shalom Shachne found an article [it's in Hebrew, lmk if you want the link] that says that the most popular Google search from Israel last night was for people looking to say tehillim). 

Best memes of the night (just a little Pesach humor)

All in all, an extremely miraculous night. Thank you, Hashem. According to the Wall Street Journal, over 350 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles were launched at Israel and zero people died and only one person (a Bedouin girl) was seriously injured. In the meantime, economists are estimating that the cost of thwarting that attack (also known as "the first direct flights from Iran to Israel since 1979"), cost over $550 million (maybe you want to invest in an Israel Bond?!)

And sorry I am too darn tired to write a more coherent blog post. This will have to do!!

I Didn't Know Him.....And Yet I Feel Sad.....

When the war started, spreadsheets went around asking people to sign up to do mitzvot or learn religious texts/say tehillim for a particular hostage. All of the children who were being held hostage instantly had a long list of people praying for them. I found two people who, in those early days, didn't have anyone signed up for them and began to do my bit to help Elad ben Chana (single, age 47) and his mother, Chana bat Sarah. Their father/husband Rami, hy''d, was murdered on October 7 at their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Elad was his parents' main caretaker. Chana was released November 24 and is in poor health due to lack of receiving her medications and inadequate food while being held hostage (looking at you, Red Cross: you're doing a LOUSY job here. In the early days, I tried to believe your "we can't say what we're doing but we're really doing a lot behind the scenes". But now it just seems like Roosevelt playing with Stephen Wise  all over again). 

Every Friday, I've been signing up with Nation On Pause for Elad ben Chana. I've found out a little about him. He was a farmer....He loved soccer, especially the Maccabi Haifa team, traveling hours to get to their stadium....He volunteered for the Hadar Goldin Foundation (horrifically ironic, since Hadar Goldin, too, was kidnapped into a terror tunnel and killed by Hamas)....He loved his niece and nephew,,,,,,

And now he has been added to the list of those murdered.....Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ, Hamas' totally evil first cousin) killed him in January, and an Israeli commando brigade operation brought his body back to Israel where it was buried on his beloved kibbutz. This was the news that greeted us when we turned our phones on after Shabbat. I didn't know him, and yet I feel sad.....

Elad ben Avraham, hy''d, may your memory be for a blessing

HTTP://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-795684

Koach = strength

 When the war started, my sister (genius that she is) asked me to post on my Whatsapp status every day so she'd know we were okay. In the beginning (mostly bc were were in the bomb shelter fairly frequently), it was easy to post. Now I'm often scrambling (photo of Percy, anyone?!).

I think a lot of us in Israel are feeling tired and beaten down. We've been at war half a year, Iran's breathing down our necks, antisemitism is going crazy all around the world and it just doesn't seem to end....(Fun fact: Israel is scrambling GPS signals , making everyone very confused [the joke on other people's Whatsapp status is that GPS is showing them to be in Lebanon. Although it might not be a joke])

So when Tuesday rolled around and that's when I usually make dinner for two families of soldiers and I was feeling blah, I posted this to my Whatsapp status as a reminder both to myself and others:

And I'm glad I posted it as my status because a) someone I barely know sponsored pizza for a family! and b) a good friend was asked to host a 13th soldier at her Shabbos table when her table really only holds 12 and now her family will add a folding table and c) both recipient families sent messages that they loved their dinners (which I don't take as a given)

Shabbat Shalom. b''eH a quiet and peaceful Shabbat is on its way.

Purim Gifts in a Time of War

 Still gotta give mishloach manot so here we goooo

Everyone gets a donation card from an organization that gives gift cards at local restaurants to army spouses and families

And two food gifts with the names of hostages to daven for (big thanks to Morah Sheila for finding that file. PM me if you'd like it)

chabad.org/hostages has an up-to-date (heartbreaking) list of names to pray for

---------------Shortest blog post ever now done ;). Shabbat Shalom and Purim Sameach.

You Say 'Potato', I Say, "Whaaat?!"

 Just a few funny linguistic moments to share:

In ulpan this week, we had to share a recipe. I chose to talk about chocolate chip cookies (specifically this fabulous no-bowl recipe that has literally changed my chesed abilities as I never was a big baker). To recap, I'm the only American in the class. The teacher (formerly from Moscow) asked if I thought it was true that Americans only like sweet food (which struck me as a gross generalization, yet also likely true). Another former Russian in the class was stymied about the concept of chocolate chips. This puzzled me because they are sold in every grocery store and the Hebrew is literally "chocolate chips" transliterated. 

So I showed a photo on my phone and we had a chuckle because she was thinking of *these* kind of chips (which is kind of amusing to think of them made out of chocolate and served with ketchup):

We then spoke about the chivito sandwich of Uruguay (oh eek--not to my taste.....a variety of meats [including some biggie non-kosher ones, like both bacon AND ham], cheese and egg. Should be served with a side of Lipitor, in my opinion) and Russian salad (cubed potatoes and carrots slathered in mayo). Let's just say I wasn't rushing out to prepare anything we spoke about in class that night :).

But the episode reminded me of something funny that happened during the race. At around 18 km in, after running on that really soft salty sand (sandy salt?!) I had rocks in my shoe. Hmm....What to do? I was pretty tired by that point and no way could I stand on one foot to take my shoe off. If I sat on the ground, I wasn't totally sure I would be able to get back up.....There were only three more km to go until the end of the race and I wasn't sure there would even be another first aid/refreshment station when: hooray! There wasn't an official station, but standing along the side up ahead was a guy with a Hatzala vest on. He was standing talking to two other men and next to his first aid bag was.....a chair! A super low plastic lounge chair, but better than nothing. He saw me eyeing the situation as I trotted up (speedy running having been left behind a few kilometers back):

"At b'seder? (Are you okay)?"

"Ken. Ani b'seder. Yesh li.....(Yes, I'm fine. I have...."

Hmmm. My brain wasn't working so well in Hebrew at that moment (all energies, as you may well imagine, being concentrated in the lower self). How to say "rocks" in Hebrew???

I thought the word was "avanim" but couldn't quite remember. Especially because that word always seems messed up to me, and I think it should be "anavim". 

Oh shoot--"anavim" are grapes. A picture popped into my head of "anavim" being in my shoe.

Hmmmm.....Maybe I had the word ending wrong and it ends in "ot" not "im"....Yeah, that might be it! Maybe I should tell him I have "arnavot" in my shoe. ARGH. No, that's not right. Arnavot are bunnies. A picture popped into my head of pulling my shoe off and THESE falling out:

By that time, I really needed to finish my sentence, I gave up and said in English, "I have rocks in my shoe". He clearly did not speak English but got the idea when I emptied my shoe, got up and left.

Welcome to the inner workings of my brain in Hebrew. As I said to one of my ulpan teachers a few years back after a similar episode, "I'm almost always in the right neighborhood but rarely at the right house" (at least I said THAT correctly in Hebrew).