Camp Kadimah Kids support Israeli counterpart
Teens at Camp Kadimah in Barss Corner, N.S., raised $5,005 for the Koby Mandell Foundation and Camp Koby on Kibbutz Negba, near Ashkelon, Israel. (more...)

Grieving Mothers Come Together to Beat Back Effects of Violence
Israeli Sherri Mandell and Philadelphian Dorothy Johnson-Speight live light years away from one another.

The color of their skins is different, they follow different religions, they speak different languages.

But on Friday afternoon, as participants in Safe Night Philadelphia, these two women shared a long embrace and a deep understanding: Their sons were both killed in brutal, senseless acts of violence. (more...)

Victims' mothers trying to move on, save others
It's been more than two years since Donna Giddings' 20-year-old son was shot to death, but her nightmares make it seem as though it were yesterday.(more...)

One on One: 'You want to die, but you don't'
Adjusting her hat with one hand, while taking a sip of coffee with the other, Sherri Mandell smiles as she recounts an anecdote from a trip she has just taken. Though Mandell does a lot of traveling inside and out of the country - lecturing, participating in seminars and hosting retreats for bereaved families - this particular excursion was not her usual fare. It was, rather, a two-day nature hike with a group of sixth graders, her 12-year-old son's classmates and teachers. Mandell was there as an accompanying adult. (more...)

The Jeep
I am on a jeep trip with the kids at Camp Koby -- the camp we run in memory of our son Koby who was beaten to death at the age of 13, stoned by terrorists. It's before Passover and it's a reunion for children who have lost mothers or fathers or sisters or brothers to terror. (more...)

Israeli foundation helps victims of terror
Israelis have experienced more than their share of death and destruction at the hands of terrorists, but for years the feelings that go along with such loss have been suppressed. Today, however, “the country is coming out of an emotional freeze,” said Sherri Mandell , herself the victim of terror. “We’re part of it.” (more...)

Israeli Organization Mends Broken Hearrts
On May 8, 2001, 13 year old Koby Mandell and his friend Yosef Ish Ran went on a hike... (more...)

The best summer of my life
Do you see the shape of a heart in the sky with my father’s picture in it?" 10-year-old Rachel asked as we were lying on a hammock, swinging back and forth, talking and taking in the beauty that arrives with dusk. (more...)

The shape of a heart
Do you see the shape of a heart in the sky with my father’s picture in it?" 10-year-old Rachel asked as we were lying on a hammock, swinging back and forth, talking and taking in the beauty that arrives with dusk. (more...)

My Camp Koby Experience
I have always wanted to spend my summer vacation
fruitfully. Rather than simply sitting around, I longed
to participate in something special, something inspiring.
Through Yeshiva of Flatbush High School, I
heard about Camp Koby, a summer-camp dedicated to
helping young Israeli victims of terrorism.(more...)

The Human Spirit: Remembering Angelo Frammartino
In these days of agonizing news, the world often seems upside down. Take, for example, the reappearance of terrorism in Jerusalem in the form of the tragic murder of Angelo Frammartino, an Italian tourist in Jerusalem. (more...)

Camp Koby Menorah Lighting on Masada
A special Chanukah candle lighting ceremony on top of Masada hosted by the mayor of Arad and his municipality was one of the highlights of the The Koby Mandell Foundation’s annual Camp Koby Chanukah Reunion Camp. ”(more...)

Israeli foundation helps victims of terror
Israelis have experienced more than their share of death and destruction at the hands of terrorists, but for years the feelings that go along with such loss have been suppressed. Today, however, “the country is coming out of an emotional freeze,” said Sherri Mandell, herself the victim of terror. “We’re part of it.”(more...)

A life giving force
Sometimes in life, personal crises or tragedies occur to individuals or families that leave them with a stark choice: either rise to the occasion and adopt a more ethical and engaged way of living, or collapse into despondency.(more...)

Senseless fate, meaningful destiny
Recently, the absurdity of fate has made headlines. A gunman bursts into Montreal’s Dawson College and kills an 18-year-old girl. A highway overpass collapses in Laval, killing five people. Beyond the headlines, everyone has been touched by an unexpected tragedy. (more...)

The missing pieces
War is hell, particularly for children. Even now, amid a Mideast ceasefire, parents caught in the crossfire remain on the front lines with their children. What information to share, how to explain the adult world’s chaos, opens educational, psychological and moral dilemmas. (more...)

The ‘mitzvah’ in bat/bar mitzvah
I think the “mitzvah” is really starting to get back into the bat/bar mitzvah. Now, I need no convincing that the bar has been winning. The conspicuous consumption of our bat and bar mitzvah parties is not something to be proud of. (more...)

NY Jews to provide Israelis with $1m. in 'spiritual care'
The UJA-Federation of New York has launched a pioneering project to advance "Jewish spiritual care" of all types for the aged, seriously and terminally ill and victims of terror and other traumatic events in Israel. The chaplaincy initiative will encompass programs by a variety of non-profit organizations here and entail an investment of more than $1 million over three years. (more...)

Art show encourages Jewish artists to find themselves
Young Jewish artists on a journey to learn more about themselves have a supportive environment in which to showcase their art at the annual Jewish students’ art show.(more...)

Sorrow’s common bond
EIN GEDI, Israel — Leona Zeplin has struggled since her son was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, so the upper East Sider, along with other bereaved New Yorkers, traveled to the Dead Sea last week to spend time with Israelis who also have endured senseless personal losses. (more...)

Israel helps to heal broken hearts at the lowest place on earth
The bus rattled down the road out of Jerusalem towards the Dead Sea where for one day, Israelis and Americans would share their losses to terrorism and work towards healing together. (more...)

Cal Ripken’s ‘Koby Moment’
When my son Koby was in grade school in Silver Spring, Md., the Baltimore Orioles were his favorite baseball team and Cal Ripken was his favorite player. When Cal broke Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive games played (2,130), Koby was 8 years old and though it was close to midnight, refused to go to sleep until he had watched the entire 22-minute standing ovation on television (more...)

American and Israeli Terror Victims Console One Another
Americans who lost loved ones in the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center are in Israel to meet with Israeli terror victims as part of a healing retreat organized by the Koby Mandell Foundation. (more...)

Cal Ripken receives first Koby Mandell Humanitarian Award
When Koby Mandell was in grade school in Silver Spring, Md., the Baltimore Orioles were his favorite baseball team and Cal Ripken Jr. was his favourite player. (more...)

Embracing Life Anew
The loss of a child to violence is undearably painful, but sometimes parents use their anguish, and the memories of their children, as an inspiration to help others. (more...)

Returning To The Source
Five years ago, when I moved into my house in Tekoah, there was a hard, green, high-backed chair with spindly legs left in the house by the landlady. It wasn’t very comfortable, so I moved it outside and put it in the garden (more...)

Love trumps revenge at Camp Koby
Is it right to condemn someone’s vengeful feelings about the murder of someone they held dear?After all, a common response to loss or sorrow is anger and hatred.But that can’t be said about the children at Israel’s Camp Koby, who have all lost either a parent or sibling to terror. Despite those losses, however, the camp is filled with unconditional love and kindness, rather than thoughts of hatred and revenge. (more...)

Koby Mandell: What makes a good parent
I am not a perfect mother. No mother is. But since my son's death I have had to forgive myself for the things I could have done better, or differently, with Koby. I wish I had had more patience with his messy room. I wish I had yelled less, expected less from him.
Koby was 13 when he was murdered four years ago, on May 8, by terrorists. I will not be celebrating Mother's Day today but longing for him. (more...)

Heroes: Israelis bravely going about life
"To my people: We have gone through four tough years and overcome. Now is the time to bring about security, peace and quiet. This is the only way to reach a situation where there are two states, living in peace alongside each other." (more...)

A dangerous hope
Condoleezza Rice is here at the start of another round of hopeful peace negotiations. I hope that she has read her Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson knew about hope. "Hope," she wrote, "is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul / And sings the tune without the words / And never stops at all." (more...)

Comfort and consolation
After three and a half years of seminars held all over the country, the Koby Mandell Foundation last week inaugurated their own clubhouse in Talpiot's Ha'uman Street. (more...)

"The best revenge is living well."
Sherri Mandell has mustered the strength to write a book about the pain and the emergence from it, following the horrific death in 2001 of her son at the hands of terrorists (more...)

Rabbi Seth and Sherri Mandell honored at ADL Partners against Hate concert
Rabbi Seth and Sherri Mandell were honored by the Anti-Defamation League at the tenth annual Concert Against Hate Concert. The concert was held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC and featured the National Symphony Orchestra (more...)

After a Child's Death, Discovering Signs and Wonders
Two years and an ocean removed from the brutal murder of her 13-year-old son, Sherri Mandell still has problems confronting the question "How are you doing?" with much more than downcast eyes and a sigh. (more...)

A mother's blessing breaks our hearts
Koby Mandell's murder in a desert cave was one of the most horrific of the Intifada; his mother gives us an uplifting poem of life in his memory. (more...)

Book review
An exuberant, religious Jewish couple, ba'alei teshuva, move from Maryland to Israel to be close to their heritage. Their adventurousfirst-born son and his friend, skipping a day of school to take a hike in the land that they love, are bludgeoned to death by terrorists (more...)