jews d

in
the

FROM THE SHOPS
AT LINCOLN CENTER

"EWBODF"NFSJDBt#MJOH#MJOH

#PPL#FBUt#SFBE#BTLFU

#SFOEBhT#FBOT(SFFOT

$POTFSWBUJWF$VUT

%PMMBS$BTUMFt%S-B[BS%1.

'PVS4JTUFST'BTIJPO

-FF#FBVUZ4VQQMZ

.FUSPQPMJUBO%SZ$MFBOFST

.FUSP1$4

/:"#SJDLIPVTF#PVUJRVF

1BQFS(PPET8FBSIPVTF

1BZMFTT4IPFt3BJOCPX"QQBSFM

4OFBLFS7JMMBt4UFQJO4UZMF

4USFFU$PSOFS.VTJDt5PQ5IBU

5/BJMTt5IF4VJU%FQPU

$IVSDIhT$IJDLFOt.D%POBMEhT

8IJUF$BTUMF

Lincoln Shopping Center

GREENFIELD and 10½ MILE

14

March 15 • 2018

jn

Author Sherri Mandell

Road To
Resilience

Author Sherri Mandell brings the healing
lessons she’s learned to Detroit.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

R

esilience, says Sherri Mandell, is not about overcom-
ing grief or trauma but becoming a different person.
“We are enlarged, rather than diminished,” she says.
She should know. On May 8, 2001, Mandell’s 13-year-old son,
Koby, and a school friend were murdered near their home in
Tekoa, a West Bank village. Arab terrorists were suspected but
no one was charged with the crime.
The grief was almost overwhelming, “like razor blades cut-
ting my body up,” Mandell said. She didn’t leave the house for
weeks; on her birthday, she felt good that she was closer to
dying herself.
But, in the summer of 2002, Mandell and
her husband, Rabbi Seth Mandell, started the
Koby Mandell Foundation that aims to make
bereaved families stronger as a result of their
loss. Its flagship program, Camp Koby, helps
children who have lost a parent or a sibling
to an act of terror. The foundation also hosts
healing retreats for women who have lost a
spouse or child to terror.
Mandell also became a certified pastoral
counselor. A talented writer, she has written
two books about resilience. The first, The
Blessing of a Broken Heart (Toby Press), won a
National Jewish Book Award in 2004 and was
adapted into a one-woman stage play that ran
in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Her most recent book, The Road to
Resilience: From Chaos to Celebration (Toby
Press) was published in 2016.
Top right: Sherri Mandell will
Zieva Konvisser of Orchard Lake, who
be the keynote speaker for became friends with Mandell while research-
the Jewish Hospice ing her doctoral dissertation about resilience
and Chaplaincy Network among Israeli survivors of terror attacks, said
Caring Conference, The Road to Resilience is a “must read” for peo-
Wednesday, March 21. ple on a journey of healing after a traumatic

continued on page 17