A Survivor’s Strength
“October 7th was such a wake-up call for us.”
These are the worlds of Adele Raemer—an Israeli, a mother, a grandmother, a kibbutz resident near Israel’s border with Gaza, and a survivor of the Hamas attacks of that day.
Adele spoke with Fellowship President and CEO Yael Eckstein—from the war-torn Holy Land—in the weeks after the attacks. And she recently traveled from her temporary home in Israel to join The Fellowship at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention in Nashville, TN, to tell Americans of faith her story.
After hosting a special media event that featured a conversation with Governor Mike Huckabee, she sat down to share with us her experiences—before, during, and since the terrorist infiltration into southern Israel, including her longtime home in Nirim.
Episode Notes:
When Hamas overran southern Israel on October 7, 2023, terrorists murdered more than 1,200 people and injured many more. Countless other Israelis were uprooted from their homes, with many of them still unable to return.
This week’s podcast guest is one such Israeli. Born and raised in the U.S., Adele Raemer made aliyah (immigrated) to her Jewish homeland in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In the decades since, Adele has raised a family, taught, written, blogged, volunteered as a hospital clown, and watched her grandchildren grow in Nirim, a kibbutz in southern Israel near the Gaza border.
And then October 7th came.
Adele walks The Fellowship and our listeners through that horrific day—one on which she lost friends and neighbors, and a day which she and those closest to her thought would be their last. From the first red alert sirens to the terrorist invasion. From hiding in a safe room with her visiting son to the ordeal faced nearby by her son-in-law as he bravely tried to protect her three beloved grandchildren.
This conversation is one of horror, but also one of hope. For those who stand with Israel, it also shows the strength of the people of the Holy Land, as well as their determination to become even stronger in the days and weeks and months after October 7th.
Listen to our conversation with this survivor and follow her on her thriving Facebook group, Life on the Border with Gaza.