PHOTO: Eyal Chernichovsky and Elias Stahl light memorial candles for the victims of the Simchat Torah attacks in Israel at Monday's solidarity event at Congregation Neveh Shalom. (Rockne Roll/The Jewish Review) 

By ROCKNE ROLL
The Jewish Review
For Israelis living in Portland, Friday night was supposed to be a joyous occasion. It turned into anything but. 
Gitit Dekel Stein was celebrating with friends that evening , when “We started to get in news from Israel on WhatsApp.” Israel was under attack from Hamas. Rockets and gunman were streaming into the southern part of the country. After a half an hour or so, Stein said, she and her friends turned on the television.
“Then we understood that something big happened but we couldn’t really know,” she recalled.
Stein called her family, who live in a small town 25 miles from the Gaza border. They were huddled in the saferoom in their home. 
Eric Kornblit, an Israel Defense Forces veteran now living in Portland, was the recipient of a phone call Friday night. A friend in Ashkelon, where Kornblit owns an apartment, called to tell him what was going on well before news outlets in the United States were reporting anything.
“I said, ‘What are you talking about?’” Kornblit recalled. “He said, ‘You don’t understand; thousands of them broke through, they’re all over the south.’” They, too, were huddled in the saferoom of their home. 
Shulamit Urenia, owner of Kashrootz Catering, was in Seattle visiting family for Simchat Torah. Her daughter, IDF Sgt. Melina Suarez, was with her, on leave from her unit to visit family for Sukkot. They both had their phones turned off for Shabbat, but because Suarez lives in Israel and didn’t observe a second day of holiday on Sunday, she turned her phone back on Saturday night and discovered the news. 
“I caught a glimpse of all the messages I was getting, and all these notifications from my news app, as well,” Suarez said. “I didn’t even know how to react at first, I just sent messages to all my friends.”
Her unit had been selected to take Shabbat off, but everyone was returning to base due to the emergency. She learned that her assistant company commander was dead and two friends from basic training were wounded. 
“It’s really hard, you know? Because when you’re in the army, you know, that’s always a possibility,” she said.
Kornblit ended up breaking the news to some of those who had assembled for Simchat Torah services at Congregation Kesser Israel on Saturday morning.
“They had no idea,” he said. “I felt it was my duty to let them know.”
Kornblit is a past president of the synagogue and had been looking forward to celebrating and dancing with the Torah. Instead, he was reciting from Tehillim, the Hebrew name for the Book of Psalms.
“I was very positive and praying, I’m davening,” he said, using the Yiddish word for prayer. “But at the same time, there was no joy to the celebrating Simchat Torah under such circumstances.”
Stein received more news from Israel as the weekend wore on – very little of it good. 
“I haven’t slept, I’m so tired,” she said. “I heard that one of the friends of our community here, her eldest brother was killed, and we have another friend from the community, her brother and his son were kidnapped.”
Stein’s husband works at Intel and she works as a community engagement manager for the Israeli American Council, making her closely connected to the area’s tight-knit Israeli community. She doesn’t know when she’ll be able to return to the country.
Suarez can’t get back to Israel fast enough – her combat search and rescue unit needs her, but she is having trouble getting a flight out of the United States. 
“These past couple of days have just been really difficult for me, knowing what my friends are going through and being here, so far away, feeling helpless,” she said.
Urenia knows an IDF soldier who had attended Jewish summer camp here in Oregon who was killed during the initial incursion. Her daughter has been in the army for two-and-a-half years, but when she returns this time, it will be different.
“No mom wants their child to go to war,” she said.
On the other hand, Urenia explains, “I really admire and respect her character and her love for Israel and for the people. She made this commitment to protect Israel.”
Kornblit will not be returning to the front lines. 
“I really want to go,” he said. “My mind is saying, I want to go, I want to fight because I hate to feel helpless.” 
After being caught in terrorist attack while visiting Israel when he was 20 years old, Kornblit was motivated to make aliyah, moving to Israel and joining the IDF. He joined an elite infantry unit and was deployed to the northern border and to the West Bank on numerous occasions. He is looking for opportunities to go and volunteer.
“I do have to make my way to Israel somehow and do something. I don’t know what that is,” he said, “but I feel like I have to go and support.”
While his fighting days are over, he may find himself in Urenia’s shoes before too long.
“I have a 19 year old son, who was born in Israel, and he is really also struggling with this. He says, ‘I want to go over there. I want to go to the army,’” Kornblit said. “There’s a part of me that thinks it might be good for him to go to the army. But there’s a part of me that’s like, I don’t want to put my child in harm’s way.”
As a parting note, Kornblit emphasized the importance of optimism as the situation continues to unfold. 
“Israel has a capable, potent military force, it has the training, it will win,” he said. “But it’s like a football game. If you don’t believe you’re going to win, you may not, so you have to believe and you have to have faith in what you do.”