26 | OCTOBER 19 • 2023 J
N

COMMUNITY SUPPORT 
Rabbi Michele Faudem, a West 
Bloomfield rabbi and educator, is 
another local mom who has had a child 
serve in the IDF. Her Lone Soldier son 
finished his service in April 2023. He’s 
been living in Jerusalem ever since and 
is poised to start studying business at 
Machon Lev next week. 
Like Margery, Michele did not know 
that war had broken out until her aunt 
and uncle knocked on her back patio 
door Shabbat morning to tell her. 
“I was in utter shock,” Michele said, “I 
don’t usually use the phone on Shabbat, 
but this was a life-or-death situation, so 
I immediately called my son. Shabbat 
was not even over yet in Israel, so he 
didn’t answer, but he called back 45 min-
utes later. He was fine; he didn’t sound 
scared.”
Though 300,000 reserves have been 
called up, Michele’s son is not one of 
them — yet. 
“Chances are that I’m assuming he 
will be called eventually,” Michele said. 
“I don’t know how it works or why he 
hasn’t been called yet, but he was in 
combat, so it’s a reasonable assumption. 
And God, yes, he is waiting for that call. 
He desperately wants to help.”
Michele is in constant contact with her 
son through WhatsApp. “My job is to 
worry about him, but I don’t want him to 
worry about us,” Michele said. She takes 
her cues from her son about what they 
talk about and the tone of their conver-
sations. 
Also, like Margery, Michele has been 
swamped with heartwarming messages 
of support from the community, people 
checking in and reaching out. 
“Through Facebook Messenger, email, 
text, people asking after my son, after 
my mother, it’s been really heartwarming 
to see how many students of mine have 
reached out, how many people are think-
ing of us, are sending prayers, how many 
people care,” said Michele. 
She also applauded the efforts of 
Federation. “On short notice they’d 
already planned a rally in support of 
Israel for Monday night at Shaarey 
Zedek; it’s always remarkable how they 
bring everyone together.”

To the Detroit Jewish community and 
beyond, Michele declared, “We will get 
through this. Am Yisrael Chai! Keep the 
prayers, the financial and emotional sup-
port coming, and please, let’s make sure 
we are focusing on building community 
rather than destroying it.”
Yet another local mom of a Lone 
Soldier is Sara Magier of Southfield; 
Sara’s daughter and youngest child had 
officially made aliyah and was drafted in 
the IDF as a Lone Soldier in May 2023. 
Sara was alerted about the situation on 
early Shabbat morning by a non-Jewish 
neighbor. 
“There was nothing I could do about 
it when I heard,” said Sara, who is also 
Shomer Shabbat. Once the holiday was 

over for her daughter in Israel, that 
same neighbor passed messages between 
Detroit and Israel for Sara’s family until 
Simchat Torah was over in Detroit, and 
Sara was able to speak on the phone to 
her daughter directly. 
Her daughter had been in Jerusalem 
for the holidays but had been called back 
to base; an armored truck had been sent 
to pick them up. Her unit was almost 
done with basic training, which was 
instantly accelerated. 
“These soldiers were brought up to 
speed on how to take over guard duty in 
order to relieve the guard staff who will 
be deployed to wherever they’re needed,” 
explained Sara. 
Sara’s daughter is doing fine, but her 
mom, thousands of miles away, is not. 
“My anxiety level is through the roof,” 
Sara shared. “It’s not just my daughter; 
My sister lives there, my nephews are 
being called up … My daughter’s friend 
is on the front lines, and he’s been tell-
ing us nightmare stories of the graphic, 
torturous things he’s seen as a result of 
Hamas activities. It’s right out of a horror 
story. It’s inhumane what’s been done. 
To call Hamas animals is an insult to the 
animal kingdom; they are worse than 
animals.”
Along with many shaken Jews who are 
following the horror unfold, Sara wishes 
she could do more, but knows that the 
only things she can practically do to help 
are pray, give tzedakah and other mitz-
vot. 
“I keep reminding myself ‘hakol bidei 
shamayim’ — everything’s in God’s 
hands,” Sara said. “We can’t see the end 
game, but we have to believe He knows 
what he is doing. I heard that every 
interrogation with every captured terror-
ist had the same message: They’d been 
planning this for years. 
“Look, if we are divided, we will fall. 
We have to be united … It’s just terrify-
ing. On Monday night, I went to Magen 
Avraham and the building was packed … 
even the hallways, door to door. There 
were hundreds of people, all of us saying 
Tehillim with one voice. That’s achdut, 
unity. That’s what we need.” 

Margery 
Klausner

Rabbi Michele 
Faudem

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 24