Maayan Mosbacher and Bezalel hy”d

In the narrow window between Purim and Pesach, a specific hum usually fills the streets of Israel. The sound of heavy boxes dragged across tile, the scent of fresh paint – the frantic, hopeful energy of making things new. We call it spring cleaning, but it is actually an act of reclamation: the yearly ritual of turning a house back into a sanctuary.

This year, the hum is interrupted by a sharper sound.

The piercing ring of a phone that makes your stomach drop before your mind confirms it’s a warning app and not the siren – not yet. The boom of an interception overhead, followed by the silent prayer: Please, let it be intercepted. Please, let everyone stay safe. Since October 7th, the Israeli home has been challenged in ways we never imagined. It is no longer just a place of rest. It is a fortress, a shelter, and for some, a place of echoing silence.

I see this every day through the lens of Kuma. When the war broke out, readers of HaMizrachi turned to us at Sulamot with one question: “How can we be there for these women?”

As you prepare your own Pesach homes, I invite you to meet the women behind the widows. Their stories are about the holy, heavy work of rebuilding a sanctuary in the middle of a fire.

For Hadas, widow of Yossi Hershkowitz hy”d, “home as sanctuary” was a literal challenge. Whenever sirens wailed at night, she had to bundle her children into the car and drive three minutes to a public shelter. Picture that drive – the darkness, the adrenaline, the vulnerability of being outside while the sky burns overhead.

Because you chose to act, Kuma was able to provide partial funding for a mamad – a home bomb shelter – for Hadas. Now, as threats from Iran persist, she doesn’t have to run. She can pull her children close within the safety of her own walls. You didn’t just fund a renovation. You gave a mother the ability to breathe through the siren.

Then there is Maayan Mosbacher, whose strength defines the word Kuma – rising. Maayan is building in every sense: waiting to bring a new life into the world, the final, precious gift from her husband Bezalel hy”d, who fell this past July.

Maayan moved closer to family for support, but the only space within her means had a dilapidated kitchenette. For Maayan, a kitchen is the heart of the home. A renovation, she said, was the only way she could imagine this space ever feeling like one. “I love to cook,” she shared. “Bezalel was the one who loved to eat my food most. Now, I don’t always have someone to cook for, but I still try.”

Through your generosity, Kuma funded that renovation – the gift of warmth, so that she and her children could actually feel at home. “I don’t want to be a ‘survivalist mother,’” Maayan says. “Kuma means I don’t have to fight every day for financial survival. I can focus entirely on my family. Knowing I’m not alone gives me the strength to truly be there for my children.”

For Avital Mash, moving meant doing alone what she had always imagined doing together. Before her husband Uriah hy”d fell in Gaza, they had planned to renovate to accommodate the needs of their six children.

Avital Mash with her family.

“Moving makes the loneliness so present,” Avital shares. “It is a project that requires a partner – deciding to sell the house where we raised our children, negotiating, organizing. Kuma filled that void, guiding me through the terrifying process of selling and buying.”

Kuma also provided the hands she no longer had: professional packing and unpacking services, so she wasn’t greeted by chaos on the other end. Most importantly, our team member Lirit stayed by her side for two days, helping her pack their most personal belongings – including Uriah’s – a task too sacred for strangers.

“People ask me how I’m dealing with the boxes,” Avital says. “I tell them: ‘I don’t have any. Kuma took care of everything.’ It wasn’t just logistical help. It was having someone there to hold this together with me.” She adds: “Knowing people want to make this journey easier gives me the strength to move into a home Uriah and I never got to live in together.”

Avital’s words are echoed by hundreds of IDF widows across the country. As families grow, many are finding the courage to plant new roots – because they know they are not doing it alone.

When you look at your own family this Pesach, know that Hadas, Maayan, and Avital – alongside 350 additional widows – are sitting at their tables because you refused to let them sit alone. You stood guard over the Jewish home. On behalf of the Kuma widows – thank you.

Inbar Gabay Zada is Director of Development at Sulamot. 

Kuma is a Sulamot initiative founded by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon in partnership with the World Mizrachi Movement, Mizrachi Canada, and international partners. To join our mission, visit https://bit.ly/47eCU10 or email inbar@sulamot.org.