A Terrible Rumor

A Day in the Life of an Israeli MOM: Daphna Kaminetsky
2/11/2023

My name is Daphna Kaminetsky.

I am the proud mother of 3 children.

My two boys are in the army right now. Shoham the oldest, is enlisted in the reserves as a paratrooper. He is up north these days (on the 7th of October, he was called and went with his battalion straight to Kfar Aza). My second one, Gilad, is training to become a combat soldier in Sayeret Givati.

I woke up in the morning thinking this would be another « regular » day in this very nonregular period. Turned my radio on and started working; my friend S came by, she just landed from NY for a few days to see her siblings and mum who live here and brought me a parcel I ordered from Amazon with a few items I needed for my boys. We had coffee together and had a good talk after a long time I haven’t seen her. While on the news, the radio broadcaster speaks about hard fighting in Gaza. I don’t like it; it usually means something went wrong on our side.

Went back to work, meanwhile i got a few phone calls from one of the senior paratroopers, tomorrow, they managed to organize the battalion for a few hours of fun time in a quiet village, and asked if I can help recruit a few vendors that can upgrade this short experience. Why me? Cause I am the parent’s representative. It happens to be that I have a friend (momentum sister) living in that same village! The mission was easy to accomplish this time.

I could get back to work.

At 5:30, my husband came home, and got ready, today has been 3 years since my sister passed away, and we need to leave to her kids for the annual ceremony .

A good friend texts me: “I got this terrible rumor.”

“Saying what?”

“It’s about one of your best friends.”

I didn’t understand and asked what about; she answered shortly, their son.

My brain started spinning wheels. Who???

All our friends have sons, husbands, son in laws that are involved.

I urged her to give me the name, it was a struggle for her, she kept hoping it was just a rumor and didn’t want to be the one telling me such terrible news. Finally, she wrote it: Lavi Lifshitz.

My husband came out of the bathroom and found me crying, I couldn’t speak, just showed him the text. We got into the car and drove 2 minutes to their house. From the entrance, I recognized the military sitting with them in the garden. There is no rumor any longer. My late sister will forgive me for not being at her commemoration ceremony this year.