There is nothing like a death sentence hanging over one’s head to make havoc of one’s retirement plans. The call from my husband Abe came one autumn afternoon. “I got the results of the needle biopsy. I have cancer.” His words caused me to tremble.. In July of 2018, Abe suffered with a virus that

Fourteen years ago this week, 10,000 Jews were expelled from the twenty one diversified communities of Gush Katif. They lost their homes, their livelihoods, their shuls, their yeshivot, as well as the cemetery where forty-six of their beloved ones were buried. With the black cloud of being expelled from Gush Katif hanging over their heads,

Mevo Modi’in, a moshav of approximately 250 residents, nestled into the Ben Shemen Forest east of Tel Aviv, was one of a number of communities completely evacuated last week on Lag B’Omer, due to approaching fires. More than a thousand firefighters throughout the country battled 1,023 blazes over a period of 41 hours, which translates

Watching footage of the security camera’s video of this week’s terrorist attack at the Ariel junction and seeing the Arab perpetrator walking towards the bus stop where nineteen-year-old soldier Gal Keidan was patrolling, a voice inside me screamed at Gal to do something, to somehow avoid the tragedy about to occur. I learned of the

This past erev Shabbat, our twenty-two-year-old son Eliyahu Yeshaya asked to borrow the car to attend the funeral of a terror victim. This was when I first heard about the terrorist attack that had occurred the previous day. I asked him for more details. He responded, “Are you sure that you want to know?” Since

I was within earshot when some of our sons were carrying on a conversation. Usually the boys talk Torah, family or making shidduchim, but this earnest conversation was not about any of these important topics. They were discussing which pistol is best to purchase. Growing up in small town Pennsylvania did not prepare me for

I felt as if I had entered Gan Eden—rich blue skies; lush vegetation; majestic palm trees and a large, clean pond thrown in for good measure. I had not known that such a place existed in Eretz Yisrael! My first date with Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip was in the fall of 1983 when

Panic-stricken, I search for my child. Someone has taken my precious child. I try to scream, but no sound comes out. My entire world crumbles. With a pounding heart and gasps expressing terror, I awaken in my bed. Boruch HaShem, it was only a dream. But what a nightmare! The families of the three Israeli

Four years have passed since much of the Jewish world held its breath, united in prayer, performed much chesed and hoped that our three boys would be found alive and well. The IDF launched a search mission called Operation Brother’s Keeper. But our hope that Naftali Frankael, Gil Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach would be

I awaken early in the morning and look out through the glass door in our bedroom which leads to our upstairs porch. The coolness of the Gush Etzion spring night still lingers. I view the mountaintops across from me and the first orange-yellow rays of the sun climbing over them. My gaze focuses on a