Mum of IDF soldier sells off belongings to move from America to Israel
An Israeli woman is selling off all her assets to move to her home country despite the war raging.
Elana Kirschbaum, a 53-year-old former special education teacher and single mother from Forest Hills, Queens, is selling off her possessions to finance a move to Israel. She aims to be closer to her son, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, and to stand in solidarity with the people of Israel amid the deadly war between Israel and Gaza.
Driven by the belief that "Israel needs all of us right now," Kirschbaum is making the bold move despite the ongoing conflict in the region.
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She told the New York Post: "I want to be closer to my son and I want to be with the Jewish people in Israel. In the midst of war-torn hell, I am still getting on a plane. But I need to raise money to live there – nobody’s working right now, and they’re especially not hiring teachers now since all the schools are closed.
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Her son, David, has been called into the IDF (Elana Kirschbaum/Facebook)She added that she is willing to sell "literally almost everything that I own in this world, to move there," and added that, "I need this money to be able to survive."
Despite friends urging her to postpone her plans, Kirschbaum remains resolute. She said: "It's very comfortable here in New York. But life isn't meant to be comfortable – life is meant to be challenging, good and bad. I've learned to fight. I can't sit here and just wait."
Her 23-year-old son, David, is among the many called up to defend Israel. Kirschbaum shared a picture of him in uniform on her Facebook profile and captioned it with the message: "May Hashem watch over David and the rest of the IDF and the Jewish People of Israel. He is in uniform again and heading to DEFEND himself and the Jewish People of Israel Please Pray."
David's mum, Elana Kirschbaum said she wants to be close to him (Elana Kirschbaum/Facebook)Kirschbaum, while acknowledging the comforts she will miss from her home country, remains undeterred. She said she will miss pizza, Chinese food, and pumpkin spice creamer, but it's a small price to pay for a heart at peace.
Meanwhile, both Jewish and Muslim groups have reported an increase in hateful rhetoric in the wake of the war, with several cities having stepped up police patrols.
A former Hamas leader’s call for a “day of rage” last Friday put American Jewish communities on edge and sparked heightened security around houses of worship, schools and cultural institutions. The jitters were a sign of just how much the war between Israel and Hamas is reverberating around the world, striking fear in communities even in the absence of a credible threat.
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