A new school year just brings us more pain - The Jewish Chronicle

Do you remember the excitement you felt taking your children to nursery school for the first time? Do you recall your own sense of anticipation at the beginning of a new school year, the butterflies in your belly, your nervous optimism?

Last Sunday was the beginning of the new school year in Israel but my brother Yarden and my sister-in-law Shiri didn’t take their first-born Ariel to his first day of kindergarden, as we call it here in Israel, they didn’t carry baby Kfir into his new daycare centre.

Ofri with baby Kfir[Missing Credit]

No bags were packed with things with their children might need during the course of the day – a water bottle for Ariel, nappies for little Kfir, a change of clothes. And we, their family, didn’t receive photos of our beloved Ariel at the kindergarden entrance, a shy smile on his little face. There was no picture of Kfir with his new carers.

Think of this as your own children, your grandchildren, start school this week. Think of this milestone we could not mark, in a year in which our hearts have bled and bled and bled.

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