“See? 12 hours … if we can stay still here for 12 hours, then we can make it on a flight to the US… one day” – Yarden repeated to her children on October 7th, after 12 hours of hiding in their safe room.

Time. A marker. A distraction. For Dylan (11), for Rani (9), for Aiby (7), for Jewel (5). A promise of hope from their parents.

David (44), Yarden (44) & their family were one of the many families that hid in their safe room or “mamad” on October 7th for more than twenty hours as Hamas ravaged and destroyed their village of KFar Aza. Ultimately, 62 friends, family, and community members were killed and 19 taken hostage; 5 remain in captivity today.

They made a promise to themselves & their family, if they survived they would look to the future and bring their family on a trip to the US.

And they survived.

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In the days, weeks and months following October 7th their lives forever changed. They left the home they knew, where David has spent the past 11 years and Yarden herself grew up and spent 44 years of her life.

And they focus on rebuilding, restoring.

For Dylan (11), life was full in K'Far Aza where he was a leader among his friends, adored by his community, a brother and a source of strength to his best friend, Gal. Dylan's life turned upside down after October 7th. Dylan, never out of contact with Gal, could not understand why he had not returned his phone calls for 72 hours. Days later, Dylan was told his best friend had been murdered. He mustered up the strength to share with his other friends the tragic news to learn only two weeks later that Gal had in fact been kidnapped by Hamas.

Dylan went to work. An avid soccer player, he started reaching out to the professional soccer teams in Israel (Hapoel Tel Aviv,Maccbi Tel Aviv,Maccbi Netanya and more). He made shirts, created and shared videos featuring and showcasing Gal with the urgent plea to “bring him home”. He activated professional soccer players and built a following sharing Gal’s story.

After 43 days in captivity, Gal returned home as part of a negotiated hostage release. And at 11:00pm on 26th of November, Dylan received the call he had been waiting for, it was from Gal. Hours later, the boys reunited at the hospital and since then Dylan has been a continued source of strength for his friend, who lost his father and older sister in the days following October 7th.

As Dylan says to Gal over and over again – “don’t worry, I’m here.”

For Rani (9), she works every day to muster the strength to not be a “burden on her family.” The loss and grief hits hard with friends and parents of friends who were murdered. Her nights can be filled with night terrors, where she wakes up and tells herself “pretend you’re ok and like everyone else.”

But like her older brother, she works hard every day, to show incredible independence and strength. It’s the little victories, fixing her own bicycle chain when it breaks or crafting her own Purim costume.

“Most people don’t understand how much power you need to cope” for Rani perseverance is her daily mantra.

For Aiby (7), life was (and still is) full of potential. She wants to “conquer the world”. She lived confidently in KFar Aza with a close group of 20 peers all whose parents ALSO grew up on the Kibbutz. It was “full of happiness, activities, and understanding..I was forced to take her away from this…” her mom tells us.

Aiby is a first grader who loves science and taught herself to read at 5 years old. Her Mom, jokingly tells her “she can be a doctor, and then become head of the department, and then head of the hospital!”

Like her siblings, she is in therapy working through her new daily life.

Aiby is strong and optimistic, while deeply missing her friends and community.

For Jewel (5), her favorite person in her life, outside of her family, was Rotem Kutz. Her babysitter that-felt-like-family in KFar Aza. Rotem shared a photo days before October 7th with Jewel and Rani and stated jokingly, “now, they are all mine”.

Rotem was killed on October 7th, alongside her two brothers, mother and father. Jewel's best friend, Agam (Gal's sister) was kidnapped by Hamas.

At the age of 5, Jewel has learned how to grieve through uncertainty and loss.

She is now in a new school now, a new kindergarten, and has shared Rotem’s story with her fellow Kindergarteners. She loves gymnastics and is described by her Mom as “the cutest hip hop dancer.”

She is a happy, loveable kid, who is learning how to move forward.

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David & Yarden are the backbones and bearers-of-strength for their family of 4 (plus their dog, Nino!) And as they carry forward for their kids, they grieve the lives they had and the people they loved.

David (44), has spent his life in education, most recently as the headmaster for Nofey Habsor, a high school in Ashkol with 1200 students and 141 teachers.

As his home community was turned upside down on October 7th, so was his school. 9 students were murdered. 3 staff members were murdered. 10 students were kidnapped and later on freed. 2 teachers were kidnapped, 1 was killed, and 1 has been released.

He spent the weeks following October 7th in a dizzying blur, attending two, three, four funerals every single day. Trying to determine who was killed, kidnapped, missing.

And after only 3 weeks …. he turned his 1 school (prior to October 7th) into 5 different schools in 4 parts of Israel (and one virtual) based on where people had been evacuated.

He spent 3 ½ months helping his school community stabilize, with 3 guiding principles to heal:

(1) Kids must get back together in-person

(2) The staff who knew them before October 7th, should be the staff that continues to teach them after October 7th

(3) Kids have to learn, school needs to become a place for normalcy and structure during a tumultuous time.

After months of rebuilding his school community, David made the decision last month to step away from school to focus on his family.

Yarden (44) was a lifer on KFar Aza, having spent her entire childhood and adult life there. The community was home to her family, her sisters’ families, her father, along with the friends she loves most dearly.

Prior to October 7th, she was a human rights lawyer, who has spent her career working with those most in need. Most recently, she dedicated her time working with young adults suffering from sexual abuse.

She made the difficult decision to step away from her work over the months following October 7th, “I couldn’t think about anymore sorrow, all the rape, all the horror.”

Yarden is a force of nature for four children under 11 years old, finding them a new place to live, to breathe, and focusing on helping them immerse into a new community and way of life. She supports them and lifts them up through every single moment.

Yarden makes you feel close and loved instantly, something we’ve been so fortunate to see.

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Even through all of this, Yarden & David are the first to tell you how incredibly “lucky” they are. Yarden has assured us in more conversations that we can count that, “we are OK. we will be OK.”

They are not ones to ask, to request.

And yet as this family looks to move forward and rebuild, they are looking for a summer escape, one promised to their children on the worst day of their lives. The promise of making it through October 7th, 8th, & 9th, looking beyond and finding joy in a summer trip to the United States.

As many of us start thinking about OUR summer plans, we ask that you think about David, Yarden, & their family – and where you can give a bit, to make this trip a reality, we would so appreciate it.

With gratitude,

Rachel Schindler & David Malton