On the morning of October 7th, Ella and her family woke up to chaos. Her father, temporarily replacing the Yesha community’s security coordinator, left early to respond to the unfolding attacks. For nearly 20 hours, Ella, her mother, and her younger siblings stayed in their mamad (safe room). Next door, 15 relatives crowded into her grandmother’s shelter.
That night, a neighbor—knowing her father wasn’t home—invited them to sleep at her house, which also had a basement. But soon after they arrived, Ella’s mother was called upstairs, as were Ella and her siblings.
“I saw the head of the council, my grandparents, my mom’s sisters—and everyone looked so sad,” remembered Ella. “Every possible scenario ran through my head, but none of them were this: that my dad had been killed in battle.”
Her father had joined five others—three from their moshav, two from nearby Mivtahim—in an attempt to stop a terrorist cell. All six were killed.
“We later learned my dad was the last one to fall. They think he was trying to find a place to fire from when a sniper hit him in the back. He died instantly,” shared Ella. “My dad was so social, always surrounded by good people. He brought warmth wherever he went. At the funeral, we saw just how many people loved him.”
The last two years have been incredibly difficult for Ella. After the funeral, the family relocated to the Arava desert. Ella had to get used to a new routine, a new life, in a strange place without friends, starting over from scratch while grieving her father. Then they moved back to Yesha.
“I didn’t want to go back to the moshav. It didn’t feel like home anymore; just booms from rockets, shaking walls, red alerts. Not all my friends returned. I just wanted everything to go back to how it was before, but it felt like there was no solid ground, like everything kept shifting, Ella reflected. “But eventually, I settled back in, even if everything was different.”
The house they returned to was damaged and crumbling, but a new home—one they had begun building with her father—was nearly ready.
Meanwhile, last year, Ella joined a Bar/Bat Mitzvah trip for IDF orphans. It was there she first learned about The Jewish Agency’s Campers2Gether program. Established in 2024, Campers2Gether supports Israeli teens impacted by October 7 and the war by giving them the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with their peers abroad at Jewish summer camps. The young Israelis get to experience a healing respite like no other as they form powerful connections and boost their resilience.
“At first, I didn’t want to come,” admitted Ella. “But if I hadn’t, I would’ve missed out on so much. The Americans are so friendly and really wanted to connect with us; they made me feel like I belong, like I’m loved. It’s really special to be part of this kind of community—it’s different from back home.”
“I feel really calm here, because it’s like taking a break from Israel. I’m here, fully here; not half there and half in the chaos back home. I feel relaxed and unplugged. I love the people, and I feel like I’m opening up more and have made friends,” Ella added. “I told myself when I arrived to really go for it, because I might not get another chance like this. You only live once. And I can honestly say I’m really glad I came.”
