I remember the kidnapping, torture and murder of Nachshon Wachsman hy”d clearly. And I remember his mother, Esther, who used to come over to our house with her special needs son who my mother Debbie Abelow worked with, years before Esther founded Shalva.
I am sad and heartbroken to share that Esther Wachsman, Nachshon’s mother and a national treasure of the Jewish people, passed away yesterday at the age of 76.
Esther was a remarkable woman, a true Jewish mother whose personal tragedy became a unifying moment for the entire Jewish nation. She went from anonymity to global recognition overnight, doing everything in her power to save her beloved son, Nachshon, from the hands of Hamas terrorists in 1994.
She met with U.S. Presidents, Israeli Prime Ministers, top military officials, and global media figures, tirelessly advocating for her son and the people of Israel.
I remember those dark days of Nachshon’s kidnapping in 1994. The entire Jewish world held its breath, praying for his safe return. Israel, at the time, was still a country that understood that we do not negotiate away our future by releasing thousands of terrorists in exchange for our captives.
The IDF launched a daring rescue mission to save Nachshon, but tragically, it ended with his murder. That moment of national grief shook us all, but it also united us. Esther, in her pain, chose to focus on that unity, on the love and strength of Am Yisrael. That was the essence of who she was.
I also can’t help but remember my dear friend Yaron Chen hy”d, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists just months before Nachshon. An IDF soldier also on his way home from base, he fought his captors inside the car, preventing them from taking him into captivity to be used as a pawn. He paid with his life, but in his bravery, he spared the Jewish people from another agonizing hostage crisis.
But Esther was not just a grieving mother, she was a builder. She was one of the pioneers of Shalva, the impressive Jerusalem-based organization that has transformed the lives of thousands of families, providing children with special needs the ability to live with dignity and joy. Even in her deepest sorrow, she dedicated herself to helping others. She epitomized the Jewish spirit—the ability to experience tragedy yet push forward with resilience and an unbreakable commitment to our people, our land, and humanity.
This is the spirit we see in so many Israelis and Jews today, standing strong despite unimaginable loss. It is the spirit that allows the Jewish people to not only survive, but to thrive, the spirit that built this country before, during and after the tragedies of World War I, World War II and the Holocaust, the spirit that ensures our survival and our victory.
We, the Jewish people succeed when we focus on how we are victors. Not on how we are victims!
Stay away from those who focus only on the tragedy of Oct. 7th, and the advocacy for our cause based on our victim status, because that perspective does us no good at all. They just sink people into despair without seeing the bigger picture of life or of Jewish history, and they actively empower the Jew-haters seeing how much they succeed in making us suffer. They do not represent the Jewish people or the Jewish spirit. Esther Wachsman did.
We will never forget Esther. We will never forget Nachshon. I will never forget Yaron.
If they only the Jewish people and our leaders woke up then in 1994 to the evil of our Islaminazi enemies, so many lives could have been saved since 1994.
Today, we are finally on the path to true Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland based on a true Jewish pride and identity in being back as sovereign in our homeland! Stick with the voices that give over those messages.
