Don’t Hang Up

After their parents lay dead before their eyes and their little sister kidnapped, nine-year-old Michael and six-year-old Amelia spent the next twelve hours huddled on a closet shelf. But they weren’t alone — the soothing voice of a trauma therapist from the other end of the country didn’t leave them for a minute

This is a story that straddled two homes on opposite ends of the country on Israel’s most gruesome day. One of the houses is situated in the new part of Kfar Azah, right along the kibbutz’s fence about three miles east of the Gaza Strip.

The Idan family lived in that house: Roi Idan was a well-known photographer for Ynet, and Smadar, whose life was much more private, was an employee of the Shin Bet. This is the home they lived in with their three children — Michael, nine; Amelia, six; and Avigayil, then three — until the parents were gunned down in front of their children on October 7.

The other house is located in Rosh Pinah all the way up north. This is the home of a social worker named Dr. Tamar Schlezinger. In the agonizing hours of Simchas Torah, their lives would soon converge.

IT was Michael Idan, all of nine years old, who was suddenly and unwittingly thrust into a position of leadership. Terrorists had infiltrated their home and murdered Smadar, who was lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Roi had left the house a few minutes before the invasion, and Michael called him to come home immediately. He quickly returned home, having managed to film the start of the Hamas invasion and sent the first pictures of terrorists paragliding across the border to the news site before grabbing the children and leaving the house to try and make a run for safety.