Faces of Iron: Mira

Stand for Israel | June 4, 2024

(Photo: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv)

“At times like this, I appreciate even more the assistance of The Fellowship.”

Mira has certainly experienced “times like this.” This sweet 85-year-old Jewish woman first survived the Holocaust—one of the many horrific massacres of Jews that were carried out in the early days of WWII. Still a small child, she fled Kyiv with her mother as the Nazis invaded.

“All the Jews were marched in a procession to Babi Yar in the suburbs of Kyiv and murdered,” she remembers. Tens of thousands of them were massacred by the Nazis. But not Mira and her mother.

“My mother walked on a railroad track and managed to board one of the freight trains and escape.” Mira and her mother survived, although “we suffered from terrible hunger. I only remember the constant feeling of hunger and cold from those years.”

Yes, this precious elderly Jewish woman survived, but not without those memories. And yes, this sweet widow, who long ago made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) with her beloved husband still survives, in part staying strong because of regular visits and aid from The Fellowship.

But when terrorists began their attacks this past October, Mira once again faced an existential threat. When a rocket siren sounded, she tried to get to her bathroom for safety, as her modest home near Gaza doesn’t even have a saferoom.

“Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the house,” Mira tells us. “The ceramic in the bathroom and the mirror shattered into pieces and flew at me. I felt tremendous heat on my face from the explosion. I must have passed out for a few minutes. When I regained consciousness, I started screaming so that they would know I was among the ruins.”

One of Mira’s neighbors heard her desperate cries and pulled her from the rubble of her home. Since then, she has had numerous medical procedures to treat the wounds she received. And there is nothing left of the home in the Holy Land she had made over the years. This woman, who once was left with nothing because of hatred and violence, is once again alone, “with nothing. I have to start over.”

But Mira does not have nothing. She is not without help. Because The Fellowship, who has long provided companionship and aid to her, has stepped in to not only give Mira food to eat and a place to stay, but your love and support have given her the strength to keep going, even as she and others like her can often feel alone and forgotten. “As a woman of faith, I am moved to hear that there are many Christians in the United States who care for me,” she says of The Fellowship’s faithful friends. “Thank you for remembering me.”