02. Courage & Bravery

Menahem Kalmanson describes how on the morning of October 7th, his older brother said that he must drive down to the area of the attack to try and help. Despite it being a leap into the unknown, Menahem joined his brother Elhanan and they drove down. He describes the disbelief and fear as they rode through what felt like a disaster film. They saw an abandoned armored vehicle and they used it to go through Kibbutz Be’eri, finding people who could be rescued and driving them to a safe place, and then going straight back in to save others. They saved close to one hundred people, and from minute 30 in the video you can witness the beautiful and emotional first reunion he has in the TV studio, meeting some of the people he saved. On that terrible day, after 14 hours of heroic action, Menahem’s brother, Elhanan, was shot and did not recover from his wounds. This improvised but remarkable rescue mission is in his name – Team Elhanan.

This story also creates a direct connection to what must have been happening as the Maccabees were fighting their battles. Such things used to feel far away, even ancient – yet now people of our own generation are experiencing first hand what it means to fight for what we believe in, for our right to exist. The traditional songs we sing, the words we have said so many times, gain new meaning.

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Note: This video includes descriptions of violence, as well as non-explicit video footage from the attack on October 7th.