8 | FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 J
N
PURELY COMMENTARY
essay
Celebrating My Son’s Birthday in Israel
— Just Before the Gaza War Began
M
om, I decided I
want to celebrate
my 40th birthday
in Israel, at the Hatzar,” our
second child, Oren, informed
us.
The Hatzar is
the courtyard
of my husband,
Mickey’s, family
home. It’s been
the Goldenberg
family home
in Ramat Gan,
Israel, since 1934. Mickey’s
family immigrated to
Palestine from Egypt when
Mickey’s father, Shmuel, was
13 years old. Shmuel and his
seven siblings were raised in
that home.
Over the years, many
aunts, uncles and cousins
have lived together in
several small houses erected
around the courtyard.
Today, the fifth generation of
Goldenbergs are the residents
of the family home: our niece
Hadar (Mickey’s sister Haya’s
youngest daughter), her
husband, Nitzan, and their
newborn baby girl Yael.
Everyone in the extended
family has grown up,
visited or lived in this
magical residential
complex of family love.
Delicious meals, holidays,
weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs,
Israel Independence Day
celebrations, as well as just
plain family fun have taken
place in this oasis away from
the hustle and bustle of city
life outside its gate.
Oren was blessed to spend
many summers during his
childhood with his paternal
grandparents, Saba Shmuel
and Savta Ester. He swung
on the glider that Saba had
built, sat on the doorstep of
their house eating popsicles
with his cousins, and gained
independence going alone to
the makolet, a small market
at the end of the street,
a staple of many Israeli
neighborhoods.
Numerous visits to Israel,
as a family or independently,
were sprinkled throughout
Oren’s life — for holidays,
weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs,
Chetz V’Keshet (a summer
program for high-schoolers),
his own bar mitzvah, as well
as living independently in
Tel Aviv, post college, and,
sadly, for his grandparents’
funerals. Although the
Hatzar is thousands of miles
away, in a different country,
far from Oren’s home in
Detroit, his love for it has
extended across the ocean.
So, celebrate Oren’s 40th
birthday in the Hatzar, we
did.
We returned from this
wonderful celebration just
before the horrific attack of
Oct. 7. Joy turned to anguish
and fear. Sirens, running to
safe rooms and army call-
ups took over the lives of
our Israeli family. We were
fortunate that none of our
relatives were at the Nova
Music Festival or living in
southern Israel. Worry and
anxiety took over for all
the families in our Jewish
homeland. We became glued
to the Israeli news, constantly
calling our family, day and
night.
On yet another Shabbat
in October, more anguish
invaded our lives — this
time in Detroit. On Oct.
21, Samantha Woll, Oren’s
childhood classmate,
president and comrade in
running the Isaac Agree
Downtown Synagogue in
Detroit, was stabbed to
death. She was found in a
pool of blood in front of her
Detroit apartment.
We were in shock. I
cannot stop visualizing her
death and wondering why
this happened. Our life of
peace, joy and celebration in
Israel and our native Detroit
has been turned upside
down.
It’s now well over 120 days
since Oct. 7. The remaining
hostages have not been
brought home. Soldiers
are dying daily. Evacuated
families in the north and
south are still not living in
their homes. Sirens, rocket
fire and soldiers dying
continue.
May all of the hostages
be returned home. May the
wounded be healed. May
the carnage cease. May
soldiers return home alive
and uninjured. May Hamas’
rule be destroyed and
overturned. May we find
a solution to war. May we
discover why Samantha was
murdered.
We hope and pray that
the future will bring peace
and security to both of our
homes.
Am Yisroel Chai.
Beverly Kent Goldenberg is a life
member of Hadassah Greater Detroit.
Beverly Kent
Goldenberg
The entrance to the Hatzar, the Goldenberg family home in Ramat
Gan.