"The antisemitism has served as a call to let Jewish children worldwide know that there is a tiny country where Jews can always stand proudly."
After a year of war, Israel still finds itself fighting on two fronts, disrupting life in the south and north of the country.
Adults have trouble understanding and finding ways to cope. Even more difficult for parents and educators is how to explain cruelty and death to children.
Author Hadassa Ben Ari, the mother of seven children, asked herself: “How could I tell children the real story? How could I introduce them to the incredible heroes of our nation?”
“The horrors of the current war pounced on us as adults, and we are doing everything so that our children are not exposed to it, so they won’t know. But they know. They already know. If not from home, then from friends. If not from a reliable source, then from the internet,” she told JNS recently.
“How do we maintain a balance between the need to protect a child and the important role of mediating reality in a way that suits them?” Ben Ari asked herself.
Image - JNS/Courtesy