PURELY COMMENTARY

continued from page 4

1942 - 2023

Covering and Connecting 
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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205,
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thejewishnews.com

 
 
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The Detroit Jewish 
News Foundation

| Board of Directors:
 Chair: Gary Torgow
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 Secretary: Robin Axelrod
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 Board members: Michael J. Eizelman 
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 Marni Raitt 
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 Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair: 
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 Founding Publisher 
 Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory

 

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6 | OCTOBER 19 • 2023 
J
N

Yom Kippur War, 50 years and 
one day later. It’s Israel’s Pearl 
Harbor. Akin to pogroms of 
Jews in Europe — except that 
these pogroms are happening 
in our home. 
A home is a place where you 
can feel safe. Hamas violated 
our safe Jewish home. 

Paramedics, police officers, 
concerned citizens, regular 
people fought valiantly, with 
hundreds dying to save others. 
Parents died protecting their 
babies. Heroism, plain and 
simple. 
People trapped in their 
“secure rooms” whispered to 
newscasters, I hear gunshots 
ringing outside my door. 
Friends from all over the 
world write-text-message me. 
Are you safe? Are you okay?
Well, yes. We’re safe. I live in 
Jerusalem and not many rock-
ets have landed here. We run to 
the stairwell when the rockets 
sound. But we’re not okay. 
Our self-image as a powerful 
nation that can defend itself 
from weaker enemies has been 

shattered. 
The social contract is bro-
ken. It must be rebuilt. 
Israel’s greatest natural 
resource is its people. The 
togetherness and mobilization 
are astounding. It seems every-
one is doing something for the 
war effort. Raising money and 
equipment for Israeli soldiers. 
Collecting food, distributing 
breast milk to motherless 
infants, providing survivors 
of terror with psychological 
support.
Israel’s fanciest restaurants 
are turning their kitchens 
kosher so that they can feed 
soldiers. 
My friend created a make-
shift music therapy room at a 
Dead Sea hotel for evacuees 
from the ravaged Kibbutz 
Be’eri. 
Volunteers dig graves to 
help the Hevre Kadisha burial 
society. 
Yesterday we paid a shivah 

(mourning) visit to honor a 
fallen soldier whom we did 
not know: Nathaniel Avraham 

Shalom Young, a Lone Soldier 
from England. Some 100 peo-
ple gathered to hear about a 
handsome, affable 6-foot-4 guy 
with a twinkle in the eye and 
mischievous sense of humor. 

Solidarity is not limited to 
Israel’s Jewish citizens and res-
idents. Kfar Kassem, an Israeli 
Arab city, opened its doors to 
evacuees from the south. 
Asylum seekers pack boxes 
for hundreds of displaced peo-
ple. One of my close friends, 
Ibtisam Erekat, was the first 
person to reach out when the 
sirens sounded to make sure 
we were okay. 
Even when Israel bleeds with 
national and personal trauma, 
it beats with the will to defend 
itself. 
From the wreckage, we’ll 
construct hope. And from 
there will come the light. 
 

Ruth Ebenstein is an American-Israeli 

journalist, historian, public speaker and 

peace activist. She is writing a memoir 

about an Israeli-Palestinian friendship 

begun in a breast cancer support group. 

She grew up in Southfield.

A shivah notice for a slain Lone 
Soldier from the UK.

