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of harm's way, but that doesn't stop his
anxiety about the situation in Israel.
"I love my daughter more than life,
but I worry almost more for the safety
of the state than about her personal
safety:' he said. "If everyone worried
about their own safety, there'd be no
one to protect the state."
Nacha Leaf of Oak Park feels the
same way. Her son, Aaron, finished
his IDF service in 2010, and is in the
reserves. He left for Paris on July 8 to
attend his wife's sister's wedding, the
same day his reserve unit was called
up. He wasn't able to get an immedi-
ate flight back to Israel, and his com-
mander told him to stay in France as
he'd planned.
Leaf said her son has mixed feel-
ings, and so does she. "No one wants
to go to war, but he feels an enor-
mous sense of frustration," she said.
"The 20 soldiers in his unit are like
brothers, and he wants to be there for
them. I feel his frustration. But I'm
relieved."
She said Aaron, who works as the
Chabad Lubavitch shaliach (emis-
sary) to the students at the Technion
in Haifa, wrote a letter to the late
Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem
Schneerson, asking for protection
for all the soldiers in his unit. Even
though the Rebbe died in 1994, his
followers feel his soul is eternal and
continues to have power. The letters
are taken to his grave, where they are
torn up and scattered.
Leaf said she wasn't afraid during
Aaron's three years of IDF service,
where he was in the Golani brigade
special forces. "The Rebbe always
said the eyes of HaShem are on Israel,
even in times of war:' she said.
Stephanie Horwitz, formerly of
West Bloomfield, is a tank trainer for
the IDF on a base north of Eilat and
will probably not be sent into com-
bat. "As parents, we certainly hope
our children aren't in the direct line
of fire. But those who are in the IDF
recognize that what they're doing is
for the defense of the country:' said
1 -
UULAN'
her father, Arthur, publisher and
executive editor of the JN.
Korman's friend, Michelle Sider of
Huntington Woods, is relieved that her
own son, Josh, won't be fighting any
time soon because he's only a quarter
of the way through a two-year IDF
training program. Other than that, she
can't say where he is or what he's doing
for security reasons.
If Josh were to go into battle, she
said, "I think it would just paralyze
me:'
"We're in a very different position
from [the Kormans]," she said, but she
admits her anxiety level is higher than
it was a few weeks ago. Like Korman,
she tries to stay busy to keep from wor-
rying.
Another Sider son, Eli, 16, just
left for Israel with a group from the
National Conference of Synagogue
Youth. "They know what they're
doing:' she said of the trip organizers.
"They won't put anyone in danger:'
Sider is impressed with the will-
ingness of civilians in Israel to help
in times of crisis. "We have a friend
whose son is volunteering for Magen
David Adorn:' she said. "They told the
volunteers they could go home, but
he chose to stay and work as a first
responder. The altruism, the willing-
ness to put themselves in danger ... I
just felt that was really beautiful."
Sider said she ran into Rabbi
Yochanan Schrader from Young Israel
of Southfield recently while grocery
shopping. "He told me his mother in
Israel had started a collection to make
packages for soldiers serving in the
IDF, and I just started crying, right in
the middle of Trader Joe's," she said.
Overall, the parents are trying to
emulate the advice on the famous
British World War II poster: Keep calm
and carry on.
"We have many friends in Israel,"
Sider said. "They just cope. When
the sirens go off, they go into bomb
shelters, and then they just go on with
their lives:' She and her family are try-
ing to do the same.
a
aft
61 507 78
More than 1,200 rockets have been fired at Israel
since the start of Operation Protective Edge, from
Sderot and Be'er Sheva, to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,
and as far north as Haifa. As rocket attacks in
Israel escalate, the paramedics of Magen David
Adom are ready to drive armored ambulances into
dangerous "hot zones" to save injured Israelis.
You can stand with them by helping ensure they
have the equipment and protection they need to
save lives now. Please make a gift today.
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF
MAGEN DAVID ADOM
SAVING LIVES IN ISRAEL
Dr. John J. Mames Chapter — Michigan Region
23215 Commerce Park Road, Suite 306
Beachwood, OH 44122
Toll-Free 877.405.3913 • central@afmda.org
www.afmda.org
❑
July 17 • 2014
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