{"id":1692,"date":"2025-04-27T20:53:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T20:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/motj-dev.moonsite.co.il\/?post_type=event&#038;p=1692"},"modified":"2025-09-17T13:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T13:00:15","slug":"courage-conference","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/motj-dev.moonsite.co.il\/en\/event\/courage-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Brink of Death, A Smile of Hope: Courage Honored at MOTJ"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":1707,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"class_list":["post-1692","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"type":"full","external_link":null,"headers_main_image":"","date":"20250427","time":"","booking_link":"","carousel":[1709,1707,1705,1703,1701,1699,1697,1695,1693],"headline":"From the Brink of Death, A Smile of Hope: Courage Honored at MOTJ","subtitle":"On April 27, 2025, the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem and Ein Prat: The Academy for Leadership hosted the Courage Conference (\u05db\u05e0\u05e1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b9\u05d6), honoring the spirit of bravery, resilience, and leadership in Israel. The event brought together soldiers, educators, bereaved families, and terror survivors for panels, ceremonies, and musical performances.","meta":null,"description":"Or Ben Yehuda, commander of the IDF\u2019s Caracal Battalion, did not expect to survive that morning in Sufa, a kibbutz in southern Israel bordering Egypt, on October 7.\r\n\r\nThe 35-year-old commander, a mother of three, found herself and twelve young soldiers facing an overwhelming force: Hamas terrorists from their elite Nukbah unit, approaching on motorcycles and on foot. She quickly understood the reality \u2014 they were outnumbered, outgunned, and alone.\r\n\r\n\"I knew I was going to die,\" Ben Yehuda recalled quietly. \"I came to terms with it. I even raised my face to G-d and asked my children for forgiveness.\"\r\n\r\nBut her soldiers had not yet grasped the full danger. They were waiting for her, watching her face for direction. \"I realized,\" she said, \"if they saw death in my face, they would run. I had to give them hope.\"\r\n\r\nSummoning everything within her, Ben Yehuda forced herself to smile \u2014 a smile that had no reason to exist. She turned to her soldiers and said with calm, almost cheerful certainty, \"Terrorists are waiting for us \u2014 and we will kill them.\"\r\n\r\nThat smile \u2014 a choice of hope in the face of death \u2014 has since carried her through countless other moments of fear and loss.\r\n\r\n\"Tikva,\" she said, \"hope \u2014 it\u2019s not just strength. It\u2019s life-saving.\"\r\n\r\nBen Yehuda\u2019s story set the emotional tone for the Courage Conference, which unfolded Sunday, April 27, at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem (MOTJ). Organized by the Museum and Ein Prat: The Academy for Leadership \u2014 a pre-military preparatory program for Israeli high school graduates \u2014 the conference brought together educators, public leaders, bereaved families, soldiers, and terror survivors to honor the spirit of bravery, resilience, and leadership in modern Israel.\r\n\r\nThe conference, scheduled just days before Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut, featured a discussion panel featuring strong mothers who endured unspeakable grief, a moving ceremony awarding certificates of courage to 77 valiant figures who led with strength during the Swords of Iron War, musical performances, and searing discussions about mutual responsibility, personal and collective resilience, and the future of Israeli society.\r\n\r\n\"This event of hope and courage is only possible because of you,\" said Erez Eshel, founder of the Academy, addressing the young soldiers and students gathered in the Museum\u2019s Gordon and Leslie Diamond Family Amphitheater. \"Every unit, every individual here \u2014 you are our inspiration. In a thousand years, they will write about every single one of you when they tell the story of Israel.\"\r\n\r\nEshel emphasized that their mission was not only to defend Israel but to establish it anew \u2014 to fulfill the ancient dream of a Jerusalem of unity and healing. \"After 2,000 years, we are home. And it is in our hands,\" he said.\r\n\r\nLarry A. Mizel, Chairman of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, added, \"We are here together, united. The Courage Conference embodies Israel's strength, unity, and hope.\"\r\n\r\nSpeaking directly to the bereaved families and survivors, he said, \"Your presence today is not only an act of memory; it is an act of national strength. You are the soul of this gathering. We stand with you.\"\r\n\r\nMizel urged the next generation \u2014 the students, educators, soldiers, and leaders of tomorrow \u2014 to think not just about the present but about building for centuries to come.\r\n\r\n\"As we complete Israel\u2019s 77th year, let us think not in decades, but in centuries,\" he said. \"Our responsibility is to ensure the State of Israel\u2019s existence for the next 177 years and beyond.\"\r\n\r\nThe emotional heart of the conference was the Women of Courage panel, moderated by Ofra Lacks, mother of Naveh Lacks, an Ein Prat alum who fell while defending Kibbutz Be\u2019eri on October 7.\r\n\r\n\"The State of Israel is the most optimistic country in the world,\" Lacks declared as she introduced the panelists, which included Ben Yehuda and Iris Chaim, another mother who had lost her son, Yotam, who was taken hostage and later accidentally killed by IDF soldiers.\r\n\r\nThe evening concluded with human rights icon and former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky, who awarded Certificates of Recognition to 77 individuals and families whose lives reflected the highest values of courage and resilience.\r\n\r\n\"Every one of you must feel as though you have come out of Egypt,\" Sharansky told them, referencing the Passover story of liberation. \"When your goal is to free your soul, and you know that the State of Israel supports you, every day becomes a victory.\"\r\n\r\nAmong those recognized were Chana Sharabi, mother of fallen soldiers Eli and Yossi Sharabi; Rachel Edri of Ofakim, who famously charmed and distracted Hamas terrorists who had invaded her home during the October 7 attacks \u2014 saving her own life and her husband\u2019s; Shelly Shem Tov, mother of released hostage Omer Shem Tov and a close collaborator of the Museum; as well as soldiers, bereaved parents, and survivors whose strength had become the backbone of a nation under siege.\r\n\r\nAs the sun set over Jerusalem, a sea of young adults, all wearing blue and white T-shirts, arms around each other, slowly swayed together as they sang Israel\u2019s national anthem, Hatikva. There was no mistaking the spirit that had filled MOTJ that day.\r\n\r\nMore than a remembrance of loss, it had been a living, breathing celebration of hope \u2014 of people who had looked into the abyss and chosen, again and again, to smile, to fight, to live.","short_description":"The Academy for Leadership hosted the Courage Conference, honoring the spirit of bravery, resilience, and leadership in Israel.","good_to_know":"","additional_content_icon":"file","additional_content":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From the Brink of Death, A Smile of Hope: Courage Honored at MOTJ - MOTJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the Brink of Death, A Smile of Hope: Courage Honored at MOTJ - 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