Please pass this invitation on to your family and friends in the Toronto area.
Cheryl will be speaking about her son Daniel who fell in the line of duty in the IDF. I heard her speak 3 years ago:
Daniel "a.k.a. Mendel the Platoon Commander” was killed in battle in Shechem (Nablus) on “Yod Gimel Nissan” at 5am as he led his elite IDF unit in an operation to capture three wanted Palestinian terrorists responsible for the deaths of at least thirty and the injury of over one hundred and forty Israelis.
Despite Mrs. Mandel's calm and quiet demeanor, her determination radiates to all.
"The terrorists won when they killed Daniel, but I won't give them the benefit of another "win" by getting to me as well", she said.
It saddened me to hear her say that, "When Daniel was killed in the line of duty as an IDF solider defending Israel, we were no longer olim chadashim...'new immigrants'...as we joined the ranks of Israelis as families of fallen soldiers."
I hope that everyone loses their oleh chadash status, without having to undergo such personal tragedy.
She summarized by saying that part of the training her son Daniel underwent, was the 110 kilometer "trek" that IDF soldiers in the Nachal Palsar unit have to run. While her son was not the strongest, he was given the task of carrying the "mag"...the machine gun, which weighs around 25 pounds. Daniel's commander told him, "Mandel, carry it," and he did. It was a very difficult task to run with a "mag"for 110 kilometers, yet he successfully finished the trek carrying it.
Cheryl Mandel likens that trek to her own; G-d, our commanding officer gave her the task of carrying the burden of her son's sacrifice on her trek through life.
Just as her son successfully completed his trek, she hopes to continue living her life (despite the unexpected task thrown her way) and moving forward optimistically, building the Land of Israel.
As this important day starts, please take a few minutes to view the following video (with English subtitles) about this one solider. While there are 22,500 other families and each one has their own story to tell, I would like to present this one tonight about Daniel Mandel.
More information about Daniel can be found at this website, daniel-mandel.co.il including his family's contact information.
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5 comments:
That's my shul!
I'll try to make it, but I'm in exams :(
I was there tonight; she was excellent, as was the video of Daniel.
This is so moving. I'm glad I saw it.
TRH: Did you say hi to Cheryl afterwards? I'm glad I could post this...
Jameel: I did not; I only saw your post after the event. She may have noticed me, though; I was the one in the front row, directly in front of the podium, and I think my black hat kind of stood out. (I didn't wear it as a davkanik; we davened minchah and maariv at the program.)
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