* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin ([email protected])
Shalom Sivan, I am the mother of Shauli Greenglick who fell in Gaza 14 days ago. There are a few important things I want to say, especially at this difficult time.
We took a trip with the kids to the Arava in order to catch our breath and have been staying at the Rash Hasita lodge. My husband and two sons are saying Kaddish for Shauli but there is no synagogue here.
My daughter Michal posted our dilemma on an Arava Facebook group and since then people have made sure that we have a minyan three times each day. People from the moshavs of Hazeva and Ein Yahav have been coming. It’s very inspiring. My husband says a little bit about Shauli before each prayer, but people are not only coming to pray with us. They are offering massages, breakfast meals, day trips, organic vegetables, you name it. The nation of Israel inspires us more every day.
Looking back, those at the Shiva who touched our hearts the most were actually people who did not know Shauli. People from Be’er Sheva, from the Golan, from London, and from Herzliya who came just to say thank you. Just to embrace and share in our pain. I do not listen to news or read newspapers in order that this embrace that I felt should not wear off.
I know that this embrace from our nation is strong, and no one can make me think otherwise. So I say thank you to the nation of Israel as I gather strength from all of you, my brothers and sisters.
I posted for our family’s chat group words that you recently wrote about how we can choose to tell our story. In my opinion, this is important for all of us to think about. Despite the fact that his brothers sold him, despite his ending up in an Egyptian prison, Yosef made the choice to reframe the events of his life in a positive way. Not to be a victim but to find a mission, to look at reality in a positive light, and to think about why he got here and how he could contribute. I wrote to my family that we too can choose and dream as Yosef did.
May everyone hear good news,
Ruti, mother of Shauli
(Pictured is a Minyan in memory of Shauli in the Arava)
