26 | OCTOBER 26 • 2023 J
N
A
nna Rubin Mizrachi
has an American
passport, but has
decided to stay in Israel, even
with emergency evacuations
underway to bring U.S.
citizens back.
The Farmington Hills
native made aliyah in
December 2018, inspired
by her education at Frankel
Jewish Academy, Jewish
student involvement at
Michigan State University,
work at Israel’s Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and her
family’s affinity for Israel.
“My mom is very
connected to the Jewish
community and to Israel.
She had been here; she had
lived in Israel a year after the
1973 Yom Kippur War, so my
whole life she talked about
Israel being our home,” she
says.
Since moving to Israel,
Rubin Mizrachi’s been busy
building a life and career
there, immersing herself in
Israeli culture and expanding
on the Hebrew she learned
at school. Last month, she
married her now-husband,
Kobe Mizrachi, an Israeli
from Rehovot who she met
during her time working for
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in Los Angeles.
The world is so different
now, she says, than just last
month, when 50 guests flew
in from the United States and
Japan to join their wedding
celebration. Their family
and friends, many first-time
visitors to Israel, toured the
north, south and Jerusalem.
“They really got to experience
the Israel that I know and I
love, that we all know and
love,” she says.
Her aunt, uncle and mother
were the last family members
to leave. They left a week
later on Friday. “And then
Saturday morning, our world
changed,” she says.
Rubin Mizrachi was at
home in bed Oct. 7 when she
heard the booming of rockets
over Tel Aviv. It was early, she
recalls. She got a text from
her husband’s family group
chat asking if they were OK,
and woke her husband. They
got dressed and went into
the stairwell, which serves as
their bomb shelter, then went
back to bed when the sirens
stopped.
“We were on our phones,
and we just started seeing
videos of Hamas terrorists in
Israeli communities,” she says.
They didn’t believe it at
first; they stayed glued to
the news over the weekend
in shock and horror, amid
flurries of texts, WhatsApp
messages and Facebook group
messages.
By Monday, the posts had
shifted to collecting food and
donations for soldiers. “I saw
a post of someone I know —
his friends had opened a food
truck and there were soldiers
coming through, so a bunch
OUR COMMUNITY
Farmington Hills native chooses to stay in Israel
and volunteer.
‘Everyone Has
Come Together’
KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
LEFT: Anna Rubin Mizrachi
volunteers at a food truck
near an army base.