Mothering under Fire

Rosie, Mimi, Ruchie, Penina, Nechama, and Leora live in the same cohesive religious Anglo community in Central Israel. Each has at least one son or son-in-law serving in the army; most have more. On a late Wednesday afternoon, they gather at Penina’s home to share their encounter with mothering under fire.

Simchas Torah morning unfolded with uncanny similarity for these women.

“We were walking to shul, and suddenly we hear the booms, and we say, okay, something must be going on. And then the next thing we know, someone’s standing on the street and says, ‘Tomer was called up!’ and it became very clear that something was happening,” begins Nechama.

“We have five boys, bli ayin hara, and four are currently serving as combat soldiers,” Leora shares. “All of them were called up, but at that point on Simchas Torah morning, I didn’t know that. All I knew was that one son was the senior officer in charge of his base in the south, on a kibbutz adjacent to the Gaza strip,” and here she pauses, “together with his wife and child.”