14 | JUNE 20 • 2024 
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THIS PAGE: Mission participants visit with soldiers at an Israeli 
army base.

OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER

back to the hotel and curl up in the 
fetal position on my bed. But we had 
one final stop to make — a barbecue 
dinner that our mission sponsored 
on an all-female IDF base.
I joined a group of young 
women at their dinner table, and 
it took a few minutes to figure 
out how to communicate. Once 
we got past the initial shyness, 
smiles spread across their faces, 
and a few started talking to us 
in English. They came from all 
corners of Israel, plus several 
were Lone Soldiers from Russia, 
Ukraine and Peru. They shared 
their personal stories with us, and 
we explained our solidarity mis-
sion.
Toward the end of the meal, the 
“mission moms” went to the front 
of the group to sing the song we had 
been singing all week, “United We 
Stand” by Yaakov Shwekey. Soon the 
soldiers joined us, and the impromp-
tu moment was so inspiring. 
Yes, Israel is in the middle of a war 
it never wanted. Indeed, the tragic 
loss of innocent lives in both Israel 
and in Gaza is horrific. But in the 
midst of such sorrow, the soldiers 
for just a moment acted like any 
other young women might. The dif-
ference was these women had their 
assault rifles strapped to their backs, 
were dressed in combat boots and 
fatigues, and were ready to give up 
their lives for Israel. 
Even though we were there to give 
them support and to be their surro-
gate moms for the night, they gave 
us something in return, too. They 
showed us that it is OK to experience 
contradicting emotions. You can be 
in pain over the plight of the hostag-
es and the despair of Oct. 7 yet can 
still feel joy. Their ruach provided 
an uplifting ending to what was an 
extremely emotional day.
The deeper meaning of “faith over 
fear” became abundantly clear in 
the many powerful and personal 

stories we heard from Israelis 
throughout our mission. A 
mother whose son fell in Gaza 
shared tales about her son 
and how they are honoring 
his memory; a man who lives 
near the Nova Music Festival 
site told us how he rescued 
hundreds of people from the 
terrorists; an aunt of a hostage 
talked about her nephew’s love 
for music and talent on the 
piano; injured soldiers who we 
visited at a hospital spoke of 
wanting to go back to the front 
lines; a nurse who was volun-
teering with her family on an 
Army base in southern Israel 
on Oct. 7 explained how she 
saved lives, even as she suffered 
three bullet wounds herself. 
Time and again, their stories 
spoke of hope, resilience and 
faith over fear.
Our visit to the IDF Shura 
Base was especially poignant. 
On one side of the base, hun-
dreds of those massacred on 
Oct. 7 were brought for iden-
tification and prepared for 
burial, and that work continues 
today for fallen soldiers. On the 
other side of the base, the IDF 

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