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Deborah Fineblum

Deborah Fineblum

Deborah Fineblum is a freelance writer and book author who made aliyah on July 4, 2013.

Since the war on multiple fronts began in October, American volunteers of all ages have traveled to Israel to offer a little elbow grease while soldiers and reservists are at the front.
It is a balancing act, to be sure. It’s the military front versus the home front. Monitoring terror tunnels and the kids’ doctor appointments.
“I’d have to call no-marriage the silent killer,” says media matchmaker Aleeza Ben Shalom. “No marriage, no kids—it’s tough on the Jewish future.”
The fight for survival brings out the best in our people, who step up to the plate time and again to help their fellow citizens, their fellow Jews, yearn to make this nation thrive.
Jeff Seidel has worked for more than 40 years in Jerusalem, helping link young Jews to their heritage and identity, and now, answering crucial questions amid a surge of antisemitism.
“It’s been very meaningful that we are about the same age and in the same situation, all working together to get back from this hard time,” says a 29-year-old recovering Israeli soldier and yeshivah student.
As International Holocaust Remembrance Day draws near, they remember yesterday and reflect on tomorrow.
Within its first month, 85 households have kept Shabbat for the first time as part of the initiative, and more Shabbat first-timers are being matched with more soldiers each week.
When Nogah Safer started writing his first Torah scroll six years ago, he never imagined it would be completed by Israeli soldiers on the Gaza border and survivors of the Oct. 7 massacre.
“Maybe my work shows the war in a more personal way and it will bring all of us some healing.”
A New York psychologist who works with young people told JNS she is hearing of students going to Hillel and Chabad for the first time, to study there instead of at the library.
It’s been a year of polarization, even here in idyllic Pardes Hanna.