יום ראשון, ו׳ תמוז תשפ״וSunday, June 21, 2026
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Paula R. Stern is the co-founder of Retraining4Israel (www.retraining4israel.com), a new organization working to help olim make aliyah successful. Paula made aliyah over 30 years ago with her husband and their three children. She lives in Maale Adumim and is often referred to as “A Soldier’s Mother”. She is now a happy wife, mother of five (including two sabras), and grandmother, happily sharing her voice and opinions with others. She is also a senior tech writer and lead training instructor at WritePoint Ltd. (www.writepoint.com). Please visit her new website: www.israelheartbeat.com
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What do you do when you find yourself in a no-win position?
Scrambled air force jets shooting down a drone, an Arab attacking them with rocks are not the usual concerns with sending your children on a school trip.
'No one ever told me 'Kol HaKavod' for not killing anyone,' my daughter once told me.
I find it fitting and just that Tsarnaev will live his life, knowing that it was Jews that saved his life.
John Kerry, you owe the nation of Israel and the army of Israel an apology.
People go to Eilat to get away from it all, but today the trouble came to them.
Memorial Day in Israel is not a day of picnics and sales or barbecues and fun. It is agony. It is pain.
Irena Sendler smuggled 2,500 children out of the ghetto.
The IDF recently distributed ear plugs to artillery officers to protect their ears from being damaged by the roar of their weapons.
No country in the world would put up with rockets being fired regularly across its border.
Obama's visit remains a symbol that among us are those who still carry the ghetto mentality.
Mariam wanted her sons to die a glorious Jihad death, taking as many innocent lives as possible with him. If there was one thing Mariam was not, it was a mother.
If you respect American law, than you must accept that Jonathan Pollard was sentenced for committing a crime that, on average, results in a sentence of 3-5 years.
It was a smart move on the part of the accused, Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, in hiring a Jewish lawyer as only a Jew would have the nerve to make such an outrageous request.
We'll be here, Mr. President, long after you have turned to dust, your memory not even a breeze in the wind.
No, I'm not laughing...but come on, locusts? Egypt? Just before Passover?
On Friday, people were running in Jerusalem again, but this time for a marathon.
Obama, don't come...or at least have the decency to bring Jonathan Pollard home.
I believe it is because of Obama's upcoming visit. The Palestinians have been cooking up this idea of when and how to put on the pressure.
I have seen thousands of Palestinians - in our stores, on our trains, in our cities. I have never seen any being harassed.
Living in Israel is often a study on kindness between people.
All together, there were four different organizations of first-responders represented in some way at our conference.
The songs I like are those that speak to me, tell me a story.
In what country do people act this way? Stop to deliver soup to a stranger; give a blessing; ask someone to fix your bracelet...or fix someone's bracelet. In Israel.
The Indian army prepared to move in and rescue the hostages, but before they did, the Israeli hostages had already overpowered their kidnappers, tied them up and handed them over to the army.
What does it say about us that we create programs to measure how fast we can run and where we can seek shelter?
A general showed up to the checkpoint in full uniform driving a brand new, sparkling clean Mercedes.
When it comes to the army, there are some thing you just don't post online.
Someone asked me if Israelis were forced to vote or they had a choice...we so have a choice and we choose to vote.
If you are thinking of voting for Kadima and Shaul Mofaz, if you are thinking of voting for Likud and Bibi Netanyahu - take a look at this news report.
President Obama, one could easily accuse the US of not knowing what is in their best interests. After all, they re-elected you, didn't they?
Peace will hold so long as the Egyptians believe that we are strong enough and well trained enough to defeat them again.
The IDF conducts physical profiling of Israeli children to determine placement in the army.
If this is how the poor Palestinians are living, I can only wish some day God grants me such poverty.
There are things we do not understand - so many things, but I believe God answers every prayer that is sent to Him.
People are complaining about floods and traffic and the cold and through it all, there is this amazing joy.
We live in a world that runs by the sun, and yet it is the moon the reminds my people of who we are and where we are going.
Boring is one of God's greatest gifts, especially for a soldier's mother.
May God forever bless us with these messy floors and children who never listen for the siren, never look where to hide.
My son-in-law needs to believe that there will be no need for soldiers in another 18 or so years. Deep down, I want to believe that too.
In the diary of terror victim Tal Kehrmann, Tal's parents found a picture of a camel, but it had not been colored in...
My children go to school behind fences, with an armed guard at the gates.
What would I say to this news agency? This is my home - we have made the desert bloom, as we were promised.
What we understood in Ma'alot, we cannot comprehend in this tragedy. In Newton, we are lost.
Why is the world obsessed with what isn't there and, even if it were, would do no harm.
The Arabs aren't accepting the pre-1967 borders, they are simply rejecting the post-1967 borders.
Today's news indicates that Japan is pulling its troops out of the UN Observer force in the Golan Heights.
There are so many things that aren't normal about life here. Having a pile of gas masks in a corner of the room, for example, isn't normal.
It's all about a mountain that sits between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem.
The picture isn't from Gaza. The blood wasn't from his brother. The Israelis weren't involved.
My greatest wish is that he soon runs out of base material from which to create his amazing art.
Few believe we won't be going back in to Gaza in the future to stop the missiles at our cities, the Fajir 5 and its next generations.
So, each year, most years, we made a Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family. When we moved to Israel, we made a few dinners with American friends, but for the most part, the tradition fell away.
What world do we live in that a 12-year old has to consider going into a bomb shelter alone?
The Palestinians actually stole a street pole (charity boxes included) to fire at Israel.
The latest lie-line of the Gaza propaganda machine is that Gaza has no army, no forces.
Over time, the incredible connection that began when they were within you stretches.
This is a video, taken yesterday by someone who was not very smart.
I quickly lost count of how many rockets were fired at my country. At one point, the reporter was counting - "one, two, three, four, five, no six, seven, eight.
I'm not a fan of Shimon Peres - I have to be honest. If I look back over his career as a politician...well, I'd rather not. But Peres has his moments. He is very supportive of women. I heard him speak a few months ago. He spoke of men as babies and says women run the world, ground it, nurture it.
I have to much I want to write about...but my mind is filled with two numbers - 30, and 9. Thirty is the number of rockets fired at Israel last night, hours after an Israel armored jeep was hit with an anti-tank missile, critically injuring two, lightly injuring two other soldiers. Nine is the number of rockets that had been fired at Israel by 9:00 this morning...schools in some areas are closed; people again ordered to stay near shelters.
America has spoken. Obama has been given and has claimed his victory. America will get the government and the leaders it elected and cannot now cry over the results that will come in the next four years. Some of us can and do regret the results, but we will live with them, no weaker than we were yesterday, no less aware of what this so-called victory will mean for Israel and for the US.
Israel is a land that was, according to the Bible and logic, very fertile. I believe I read somewhere that when the Romans conquered Judea and sent the Jews into exile, they salted the earth to prevent our return. I googled it...yeah, google is now a verb... and there are more than 50,000,000 references to it. I didn't click on them to see if it was true or not. The bottom line is still the same.
Haveil Havalim is a great idea (I'm not going to post the normal shpiel here - just let me say it's our way of sharing a whole bunch of interesting blogs and blog posts that were posted this last week in the Jewish-Israel blogsphere.
I keep hearing the words of Charles Woods as he speaks of his son Tyrone. Tyrone was a Navy SEAL - who did what Navy SEALS have been doing for as long as they have existed - he went to the aid of his fellow Americans. For 7 hours, he fought terrorists. He and Glen Doherty managed to hold them off, managed to kill 60 of them, according to some reports. And in all that time, no Americans arrived to help them, to save them. No one came to their aid despite repeated requests, despite available assets.
Ever have a day going along just fine until something comes and floors you? I wasn't feeling well last night and thought of skipping work...but I had to do this, I had to do that...so I came in saying that maybe I'll crash tomorrow. Yesterday morning started sluggish, but I hit my stride and I chugged along happily cleaning things off my desk. I'm tried to watch what is happening with the massive hurricane hitting the U.S.; trying to switch windows, worrying about whether Gaza has decided to fire another rocket at Israel. And then, I saw this message on Twitter and I just stopped and took a deep breath.
Both men are, above all else, pragmatic. They will defy logic and critics to shake up the political spectrum. Bibi has done it several times. A few months ago, polls guaranteed him a sure win if he called early elections. The announcements were made; dates were discussed and then, in the dead of night, he made a deal to unite with Kadima. No surprise to anyone, that deal fell apart rather quickly and Israel is once again on the path to elections.
I've been reading about the airstrikes in Sudan. I first read about it as part of a threat from Khartoum, that they reserve the right to strike Israel back. It was, according to the Sudanese, a foregone conclusion that Israel was responsible. My first reaction was a snicker that combined two thoughts simultaneously, "yeah, like they can reach us" and "sheesh, something explodes and they blame us." I stand by the first response, but retract the second one.
There's a superstitious thought that when you invite tragedy, it happily walks through the door. A second, more pragmatic view, is that when you prepare for it, you are better able to cope. Israel takes the second view as today we once again take part in the Turning Point 6 nation-wide exercise preparing us not only for earthquakes, but several other disasters.
The entire walk through the canyon lasts about an hour - you walk through it, sliding down in some locations, squeezing between rocks in others. Then, you have a choice - this way back to the parking lot; that way to go deeper into the canyon. The sun was setting and the colors were amazing; as the sun touched the mountains, the red stone deepened and the golden sons glistened. We turned back to the parking lot because I didn't want to be out there in the dark.
Here on vacation I woke up in the middle of the night to watch the second debate. I had not seen either the first one or the VP debate, though I saw and read clips. I thought I would be bored; I wasn't. I hoped I would be impressed - I was...by Mitt Romney.
Eilat is a different world from most of Israel - they like it that way; they want it that way. But more and more, security is coming down here. My overwhelming memory of Eilat remains that one visit, four years ago, on our 25th wedding anniversary, when Elie's unit came under terror attack in Jerusalem as they were walking to the Western Wall days before Rosh Hashana.
What sets us apart from most people can be summed up so easily. Did you know that Sunday was the anniversary of the death of Shimon HaTzadik? He died about 2,300 years ago, give or take, and we know who he was, who his father was, what he did in his life, and where he is buried. And yesterday hundreds of Israelis likely visited his grave.
On Simchat Torah we celebrate having successfully read the entire Torah over the space of a year.
Once again, the nonsense that a child is wiping up blood in Gaza as a picture is used again. This time, it is claimed by Syrian rebels to be a child there. In defending the Syrian rebels, Linda Juniper attempts to set the story straight...and misses completely.
Whatever is meant to happen, will happen. The best thing we can do is simply have faith.
One inevitable fact I have learned after almost 20 years here is that tomorrow will come, as planned, as designed, no matter what I do.
I clicked on the link and came to a YouTube video called "Dignified Transfer." I watched every second of it. Tears began to fall just as the plane came into view the first time.
Honestly, that message could have been delivered from New York.
If you buy into the concept that news is not news unless it is covered by the major media players, than I guess the fact that the Lebanese judo team refused to practice next to the Israeli team until the Olympic organizers erected barriers to divide the room and place the Israelis out of sight...wasn't news.
It happened at the Olympics on London, despite all claims that it would not. Oh wait, it wasn't for the Munich 11. It was for the British victims of 7/7 and a tribute to British soldiers. Nothing for the Munich 11 - nothing.
On July 11, 1947, the SS Exodus began its journey, but never reached its intended destination. Yesterday, another Exodus story occurred: 229 Jews left the U.S. on a special flight organized by Nefesh b'Nefesh and the State of Israel. Of those on board, 99 were children. There were 38 families - and 59 singles. The oldest person on the flight is 86 years old, the youngest, only 6 months old. But this time, no one stopped them before they could touch down on Israeli soil.
The honor and dignity, if there can be any, goes to the Israeli athletes and to Israel itself; the shame and disgust goes to the Olympic committee. For 60 seconds, the athletes and audience and around the world, 60 seconds of silence could have been a show of triumph over terror, of honor in brotherhood and peace - instead, they will remain, 40 years late and beyond, an endless mark of shame.
At the recent President's Conference in Jerusalem - though Shimon Peres and others spoke about the dearth of women in professional life in Israel, few spoke about the amazing lack of women presenters at the conference. I counted only about a hand-full. One was Ayaan Hirsi-Ali.
Moments after hearing Ashkenazi and an impressive panel of individuals speak, hundreds of people began moving to a hallway and the next session. I walked in one direction, greeted two friends, and then suddenly found myself a few feet away from Gabi Ashkenazi. You have a split second to decide – talk to him or don’t. Say something, or not. In a session where everyone else spoke English, he understood all the discussions, but chose to speak in Hebrew. I did the same.
The most realistic and helpful comments on Iran came today from Gabi Ashkenazi. He says that the military option is and should be the last option and yet it must remain on the table because if other options are to succeed, the only way it can succeed is if the threat of military action remains.
Keren Leibovitch is an inspiration because, as she said, she has learned that failure is only a step towards success. She asked everyone, "please do not be afraid of failing. it is the step you take to success. I am the best in the world for what I do." And for who she is - a true inspiration.
On Wednesday, Shimon Peres will receive the Medal of Freedom. I urge him to thank President Obama and the United States and then, on Thursday, to go visit Jonathan Pollard and give the Medal of Freedom to him. Freedom is nothing if it is at the expense of others; justice for some is not enough. Israel cannot accept such an honor from the United States so long as the US continues to hold Jonathan Pollard in captivity.
I voted for Ariel Sharon, to my eternal shame, because I believed his promises, his calls for security and negotiating from a position of strength. I believed and I voted for him, as the leader of Menachem Begin’s party. And so, Gush Katif was evacuated with my vote. I protested. It was the Likud/Kadima hammer that rammed through those settlements - and it was my vote that helped give them that hammer. I will live with that...always.
It’s been more than five years since I began writing about my oldest son’s journey into the army. At first, I wrote to calm myself and keep from sharing my greatest fears with him. I called the blog A Soldier’s Mother and watched him enter the army.
