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. Eighteen-year-olds who will never turn nineteen. Reservists who kissed their kids goodbye on a Tuesday morning and never came home for Shabbat. I was watching the faces of men who […]
Two Weeks Before Passover, the Phone Rang
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 new job last week. Monday morning. New desk, new team, new ID badge that still smells like plastic. The kind of fresh start you plan for and look forward to […]
Abba, Is That You?
When a father goes to war, his whole family goes with him. They just don’t get the uniform. We knocked on the door of a random apartment in Modiin. My son Elliot was with me. He was ten. We were holding a candy platter with a note from people in Boca Raton who wanted to […]
Waiting for the Next War
The life of an IDF reservist is lived between two screens: the one your kids are watching and the one in your pocket that could change everything. The news broke. US and Iran were escalating. Satellites picked up movement. Analysts were talking. Twitter was on fire. And I was sitting on my couch in Modiin, […]