Israel at War
The Ones Who Stay Behind
I was sitting at the Yom Hazikaron ceremony in Modiin when my phone buzzed. The names were still flashing across the screen. Sons. Fathers. Brothers.
April 24, 2026
I was sitting at the Yom Hazikaron ceremony in Modiin when my phone buzzed. The names were still flashing across the screen. Sons. Fathers. Brothers.
Israeli society exhales after the Iran ceasefire. The families of the north are still holding their breath. Two days ago, a ceasefire was announced between
A combat soldier in Lebanon got two days off for Pesach. He didn’t want them. We were at a hotel by the Dead Sea for
The soldiers who gave up their seders so the rest of us could have ours. You stand. The kids watch the wine to see if
My Seder was peaceful. Hers was a phone call from the border. Our Seder the other night was beautiful. The table was set. The kids
IDF soldiers in Syria made matzah by hand on base. The same way Jews have done it for 3,000 years. You can move Pesach off
Every Pesach, the youngest child at the Seder table stands up and asks four questions. Ma Nishtana. Why is this night different from all other
This Passover, we sit at the Seder table carrying the weight of the last two and a half years. October 7, 2023 changed everything. 1,200
Two and a half years later, the same knock. The same question. A different child. October 2023. A few weeks after the war started. We
The call-up came for thousands of reservists heading North. I sat in Modiin and felt it pull at me from both directions. I started a
He’s been home since the war started. Present and distant at the same time. Then the call-up was announced, and I watched the distance win.
Living under rocket fire has a rhythm to it. That sentence sounds insane. And it is. But after enough alerts, enough shelter sprints, enough interrupted
11 sirens in 24 hours. Every two hours over Shabbat, including the middle of the night, our phones screamed and the sirens followed. We ran.
Shabbat morning started the way it always does. Coffee at 6:30. Synagogue at 7. Prayers finished at 8:10. Then the siren tore through the air.
This was shared with us by someone we have supported who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. He serves in an elite IDF unit