O pinion
Dear American Jewish Moms
BY LISA KOENIG
DEAR AMERICAN Jewish
moms, Do you remember where
you were when you heard
about the deadly attacks on
Jews in Pittsburgh? In Poway?
Remember the emotions
you went through? Did you
feel outrage? Were you sick
watching the news coverage? If
you’re like me, you wanted to
do something to support those
communities. Do you have the Red Alert
app on your phone? If your
response is, “I don’t even know
what that is,” then I implore
you to download it. It’s an
Israeli app that sends notifi-
cations every time a terrorist
rocket, mortar or missile is
launched into Israel.

From May 10-18, more
than 3,440 rockets were fired
toward Israel from Hamas-
controlled Gaza in a blatant
effort to murder Jews. Not all
of them landed in empty fields;
that miraculous Iron Dome
that saves so many lives isn’t
infallible. I’m a Jewish mom
of two teenagers, and I live in
a Philadelphia suburb. I grew
up in a Connecticut town with
very few Jews, and I was raised
in a secular Jewish home with
no connection to Judaism;
however, Israel and Zionism
was an integral part of my
upbringing. L’dor v’dor: I am raising
my children to be unapolo-
getic Zionists and Jews. I’m
proud that my daughter, who
just graduated high school, is
taking a gap year living in Tel
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Aviv and volunteering through
the Maslool program. My son, a
rising high school sophomore,
will attend the Alexander Muss
High School in Israel program
in February 2022.

My best friend’s son, who
used to babysit my children,
is a lone soldier in the Israeli
Defense Forces. At 18, he left
his comfortable, upper-mid-
dle-class home and family and
enlisted in the Israeli army. Last
August, his parents also made
aliyah. Now my best friend
is an official Israeli mom; she
attended the funeral of First
Sergeant Omer Tabib, z”l, not
just because it’s the Israeli thing
to do, but also because First
were intentionally aiming
for the heartland of Israel —
Jerusalem, the metropolitan
city of Tel Aviv and smaller
densely populated cities such as
Ra’anana and Hod HaSharon,
the location of the AMHSI
campus. There were count-
less videos from Israel: Israeli
Arabs rioting and burning
the Israeli flag, burning down
synagogues, burning buses;
Arabs trying to lynch Jews;
fires on top of the Temple
Mount; gaping holes in apart-
ment buildings because the
Iron Dome missed. And you
know what? As the notifica-
tions were constantly dinging,
as I watched these videos
your phone dings. You should
want to help and to unite
with Am Yisrael, because the
terrorists’ motivation is simple:
Jew hatred. These attacks are
not over land disputes, rent
disputes or any other propa-
ganda that they try to use to
manipulate the world for their
corruption and power. It’s pure
Jew hatred, and they want to
divide us to make us weak, to
eliminate us.

Dear American Jewish
moms, it’s your obligation to
learn about, teach and show
your children the truth of our
people. Teach your children
about our history, and I don’t
mean just the Holocaust. I
Dear American Jewish moms, it’s your obligation to learn about, teach
and show your children the truth of our people. Teach your children
about our history, and I don’t mean just the Holocaust. I mean our
ancestral history in the land of Israel.

Sergeant Tabib, z”l, was in her
son’s unit and his friend.

Have you downloaded the
Red Alert app yet?
Each notification of an
incoming rocket translates to
Israelis having mere seconds
to run to take cover in bomb
shelters or stairways. Knowing
this, would you be willing to send
your child(ren) to Israel to study
or to take a gap year? Would
you support your child(ren),
who insists on becoming a lone
soldier, enlisting in the IDF
knowing it’s inevitable that he/
she will be in the direct path
of danger? Does the reality of
imminent attacks on Israel
frighten you so much you would
never visit Israel, never mind
sending your children?
Last month, when the
locations popped up on the Red
Alert app, it was evident that
Hamas was no longer targeting
only the usual populations
adjacent to Gaza. This time
they had the capability and
with tears in my eyes, I wasn’t
scared; I was angry. Anger is
a great motivator. I became
more determined, not only to
go to Israel myself, but to send
both my children as planned.

I don’t fear the enemy. They
want fear. Fear is weakness
allowing for an easier attack.

It’s only with unity, strength
and never backing down that
we will defeat evil.

So, my dear American Jewish
moms, who love your children
more than life itself, pay atten-
tion to what’s happening in
Israel because Israelis are not
just another people living in
the Middle East. They are
Jews; our brothers and sisters,
our sons and daughters. Our
people living in our ancestral
homeland. Any attack on Israel
is no different than an attack
on a Jew in Poway, Pittsburgh,
or anywhere in the world. The
same outrage and deep pain in
your soul that you felt then, you
should feel every single time
JEWISH EXPONENT
mean our ancestral history
in the land of Israel. Start by
teaching them that Israel is our
ancestral home. Don’t blindly
parrot what you read/hear in
the media. It’s propaganda.

When you teach your
children the truth, you give
them an invaluable gift; you
ensure your children are links
in our long chain of rich
history. Don’t be the genera-
tion that breaks our chain. The
way to strengthen our chain is
to actively connect with Israel.

Don’t fear the land; embrace it,
honor it, love it.

Assuming you’ve downloaded
the Red Alert app, your phone
will ding with notifications at
the same time as Jews from all
over the world who have also
downloaded it. You’ve just taken
an important step in connecting
yourself with Am Yisrael.

Now that you’re connected,
we must stand in unity against
evil, so book a flight to Israel
with your children. Who
knows, you may fall in love
with the land and make aliyah.

Or at the very least, you’ll
understand why I am even
more determined than ever to
send both my children to Israel
as planned. l
Lisa Koenig is North East Director of
Herut North America’s U.S. division.

Herut is an international movement
for Zionist pride and education.

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