“I turned 14 in Auschwitz.” - Halina Birenbaum

“Today, I shine from within.” - Lior Shirin 

“I continued to defy expectations of a Bedouin woman.” - Sabrin Hojerat

“I’m not great with structure; freedom is my compass.” - Daniel Urosa 

“There was no conflict, and there were not even fences or walls.” - Eliaz Cohen

“If you’re looking for the Druze, you can find us in the mountains.” - Imad Bader 

“Our obligation is to our shared future, and we will never give up.” - Eliaz Cohen

“Suddenly, I found myself sharing stages with people I’d idolized as a kid.” - Hani Ovadia

“They come to me in my dreams. They don’t just disappear from the world.” - Romy Zarankin 

“When someone fully recovered and left the hospital, we all celebrated with genuine joy for them.” - Gaya Tzuber

“I hope my daughters will be proud of me, seeing a mother who tried, and who succeeded.” - Livnat Ben Hamou

“Whether due to fear, distrust, or simple indifference, there was little curiosity about my lived experiences.” - Elias Zaccak

“At the end of the day, I intuited what I needed for myself, even at such a young age. I chose my own mother.” - Lenny Weitzman

“I continued on my systematic path of erasure. Every step was part of the goals: to be successful, to belong, to be Israeli.” - Alex Rif 

“We came to Netanya in 1991. There was money for ballet classes, organ lessons, and summer camps, but not for air conditioning.” - Alex Rif 

“I still had lots of issues at school and I began to run away and skip classes. But I had one rabbi who I knew I could trust.” - Yonatan Baba 

“Despite the hunger and danger, it was the happiest time of my childhood. I was free. No master, no rules, no forced prayers.” - Omad Abdel Shakur

“It would be easy to dwell on what I have lost. But I find myself incredibly grateful for what I have gained through this experience.” - Chaim Hod 

“For us to realize the full potential of our vitality, we must connect or reconnect with the vitality of this land in a spiritual way.” - Hadassah Froman 

“Sri Lanka, however, never left my mind. I returned to Weligama during the winter off-season, and that is where my chakras fully opened!” - Lior Shirin 

“The pressure was insane. I barely slept, missed time with my family, and once even dozed off at the wheel. But the stakes were too high to give up.” - Yoni Sapir 

“From there, I was sent to prison for three days, given a bus ticket to Tel Aviv, and set loose into a city of towering buildings and unfamiliar faces.” - Omad Abdel Shakur 

“Though my symptoms will likely never improve, I’ve fully accepted the cards that I’ve been dealt, and I just focus on optimizing life within that constraint.” - Daniel Moers

“Today I just think to myself how lucky I am that I didn't study at the academy, that I didn't do things like everyone else. Because this is how I found my voice.” - Avraham Kan

“By five, I was steering the boat myself, navigating not just the waters but also the lessons my father passed down to me: independence, responsibility, and respect for the sea.” - Daniel Urosa 

“We proceeded in groups of five to the large empty space in front of the bath-house. Stripped naked, we all stood in a single file line, hundreds of women from all over Europe.” - Halina Birenbaym

“As a child of the ‘90s, I always dreamed that Jerusalem could become a city of peace. I come from an Orthodox, Zionist family that was always deeply committed to peace as a Jewish value.” - Mishael Zion 

“I watch rescue teams in admiration as they work tirelessly to save lives. My walkie-talkie never leaves my side—not during Shabbat meals, family celebrations, or even in the shower.” - Yanki Weinberg 

“But out of view, we would cut holes in the fences so we could keep playing together, with Jewish and Palestinian kids even organizing secret summer camps out in the surrounding nature.” - Eliaz Cohen

“Though I have not forgiven my father, who died in prison several years go,I have learned to have compassion for him through understanding that there is no such thing as a bad soul.” - Aviad Bartov Ambash

“Over a decade ago, I lost my partner, best friend, teacher, and love of my life with whom I built so much. But our work is far from completed, and to this day I feel like I am still working with him.” - Hadassah Froman

“The instructors kept saying, "This is your home.” I’d come for sessions, but I didn’t have an emotional attachment. That changed over time. I started to see that it was a place where people actually cared.” - Rivel Allaluf

“In our neighborhood, there's a clear difference between those who study—there are doctors and lawyers—and those who don't, often taking problematic shortcuts. I don't want to disappoint my parents.” - Mahdi Baiume

“While he was airborne, David Ben Gurion issued the Declaration of Independence. Shortly after, Smoky landed back at the same airfield — the first plane to touch down in the newly established State of Israel.” - Roy Peleg

“But it didn’t matter; it was one of those stories I had heard so many times that it coursed through my veins, becoming part of me, as if I too had been there. It’s a story my four daughters know by heart.” - Mishael Zion

“Then there was the day that the Germans arrived. They told us that they were artisans and craftsmen, many of them children and grandchildren of Nazis. They had come, in their own words, to do teshuvah.” - Ari Abramowitz 

“After two years apart from Gaby with almost no communication, I received a random call from her: “Shalom, I’m in Israel. Let’s meet in Jerusalem!” Now, 40 years later, she is the mother of our four children.” - Yosef Rachamim “Rami” Danieli

“Caring for her reshaped my understanding of freedom. My once-unbound life of travel and spontaneity shifted into a deeply rooted existence. I learned to find liberation within constraints, to embrace the beauty of small, precious moments.” - Ortal Peleg

“Neither family supported their relationship. My father’s parents even tried to bribe him with a scooter to break up with her! But against all the odds they married, and in 1962 they came with my older sister to Haifa where I was born.” - Keren Yehezkel

“My father died when I was 9, leaving a gaping hole in our patriarchally-oriented Sephardic family. My mother passed away a few months before I joined the IDF, and I went off to boot camp alone and bereaved.” - Yosef Rachamim “Rami” Danieli

“I have lived and worked in the State of Israel all my life. I am Arab, Bedouin and Muslim. I am also Israeli, I speak Hebrew and I am part of Israeli society. I used to work building the fence between Israel and Gaza, back when everything was different.“ - Mohammed Hassouna 

“Years of wandering followed. I lived in ashrams, squats, and on the streets, always searching for meaning. Along the way, I met a woman who brought me to a Chabad Purim event in Berkeley. I won first prize for best costume, though I wasn’t dressed up.” - Zev Padway 

“The tank took on more RPGs, shredding part of Neriya’s arm with shrapnel. Sure that we would soon perish, we started leading the group in Sh’ma Yisrael; everybody started praying in their own way, including the two Muslims under our care and protection.” - Daniel Sharabi

“I had a weekly recurring nightmare as a child: I would be driving in a car as a passenger, bombs would be raining down from the sky, and terrorists were running around shooting at our car. Twenty years later, that nightmare turned out to be a prophecy.” - Yael Simon

“Around seven years ago, I was invited to perform in Poland for a Yemenite cultural evening. It was Passover eve, and my wife, seven children and I brought the spirit of Yemen to the community for the first time. The connection we formed was so deep and so pure that they invited me to be their Rabbi.” - Boaz Gadka 

“They had also seen many cycles of war and violence – history tends to repeat itself. At one point, the Ottomans conscripted my grandfather to their war effort. Later, after World War I, riots on both sides of the new border broke out against British and French rule, bringing all of the locals together in a fight against European imperialism.” - Chaim Hod 

“I moved to Be’er Sheva to be with my boyfriend, but the constant missile alarms made life unbearable. One day, I was stuck in a Veterinary shelter with my cat, the vet, and the rest of the clinic, during an alarm. I came home and told him, ‘I need to leave. If I stay, I’ll resent you. I love you, but I’m moving to Tel Aviv. With or without you.’” - Morgane Koresh