Yiddishe Momme’s Recipe for Courage

A strengthening story is out about a display of extraordinary courage from an older woman named Rachel Edri of Ofakim, who met Hamas terrorists face to face when they took her hostage in her own home. For fifteen hours, a gang of 5 militants trapped Rachel and her husband in their kitchen. Throughout her captivity she offered them cookies and coffee. “Sweetie, you look pale, you need some food,” she recalls telling the head terrorist, as she offered them a hearty meal. This act of kindness and quick thinking ultimately bought enough time for police officers to launch a successful rescue operation. When Israeli commandos stormed the house, they found the 5 militants chomping down on Rachel’s cookies, and they were swiftly taken out. “It wasn’t a strategy. I just figured hungry men are scarier, so I wanted to fill ’em up,” she chuckles.