Dear Friend,
As a mother of three children, including a son who now lives in Israel and is in the reserves, my thoughts this Mother’s Day are with all the mothers and families mourning those lost on October 7 and to this war, and those awaiting the release of hostages held by Hamas.
This Mother’s Day, I’m thinking about Yom Hazikaron, which begins this evening in Israel with a siren heard across the country to mark a minute of silence, followed tomorrow morning by two more minutes of siren and silence. Yom Hazikaron began as an Israeli Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and has since been expanded to include victims of terror. This Yom Hazikaron, across the diaspora, we mourn with Israel.
We mourn the 1,160 murdered by Hamas on October 7, the worst loss of life in a single day since Israel's founding, including 38 children. We mourn the civilians and the Israeli soldiers, the Americans serving in the IDF and those who came from around the world to dance together at the Nova Music Festival. And we will mourn all those killed — a diversity in death: peaceniks and hawks, Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze.
And we mourn those lost since, including Captain Nir Binyamin, a Hadassah Neurim alum. Just 29, he was killed in a January 22 explosion in the central Gaza Strip. His parents used to manage the village’s nursery, and his father is part of the youth village’s educational team. Capt. Binyamin was one of 21 IDF soldiers killed in that explosion.
In the United States, we’ll remember and we’ll persevere, asking our friends to join us in our ongoing calls to action — to free the hostages, to End The Silence on sexual violence, to fight antisemitism everywhere, including on college campuses, and to give generously.
I’m so grateful for all that everyone has done for Israel with Hadassah. Let us make a promise to stay strong and active, for our own families and for the Hadassah generations to come. With this promise, we honor the mothers who have lost their children — and our own mothers, including those who are no longer with us. What drives us? Love, just as love for children and for the land of Israel compelled Henrietta Szold to action, earning her the nickname “the mother of all children.”
On Monday, when the sun sets and Yom Hazikaron ends, marking the beginning of Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, I’ll be thinking not just about resilience and bravery, but this hope and love, so necessary for our future — and Israel’s.
With gratitude,
Carol Ann Schwartz
Hadassah National President