![\"'It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/722007.jpeg\"\/)
‘It is really lonely. And you get angry, and you get frustrated.’ What begins as waiting slowly becomes a way of life. Here, Neora sits as E. stands in uniform just behind her – physically close, but often absent. (credit: Chen G. Schimmel\/The Jerusalem Post)<\/p>\n
\u201cI did everything automatically,\u201d she recalled. \u201cStudying was suddenly very easy, because I didn\u2019t have any anxiety. It disabled a lot of nerves that I had about everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coping with a partner at battle<\/p>\n
A week after she finally returned to Beersheba, E. sent her a text message, and they resumed dating.<\/p>\n
While Neora said she knew she wanted to keep seeing him, she was still in mourning, and \u201ceverything felt very numb.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my spectrum of emotion was very limited. But at the same time, he was so understanding and so patient. I think if he weren\u2019t that patient, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to go through with it. He didn\u2019t push anything. Everything was at my pace. Interaction was very slow. There was no pressure whatsoever.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause both of us was never in a serious relationships before this, the pace just gave us a lot of breathing room. And he was very mature and very understanding about the situation, which was very surprising to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
After she finished university, she remained in Beersheba another year with E., while he completed his studies.<\/p>\n
It was during this period, on October 7, 2023, that the Hamas-led mass terrorist attacks occurred. \u201cWe were at home on Friday, the night before, hosting a Shabbat dinner for friends. I went to sleep, and then, at about 5 or 6 a.m., I kept hearing something that sounded like a whistle from the window.<\/p>\n
“I told E., and he said it was just the wind coming from the window. Then I opened the window and could tell it wasn\u2019t the wind. About 10 minutes later, we went outside to our hallway, and all our neighbors were on the stairway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came the alarms, and the videos of terrorists infiltrating the Gaza<\/a> border communities. Neora especially remembers the recording of Ella Ben-Ami telling TV reporter Danny Kushmaro that her father [Ohad] had been kidnapped to Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cI just remember thinking: \u2018This is not okay.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Just a few hours later, E., a paratrooper, left for reserve duty. The next day, he was in Be\u2019eri, the kibbutz on the Gaza border that, at the time of his arrival, was still swarming with Hamas terrorists.<\/p>\n Since that day, E. has been in and out of reserve duty constantly. He has served on all fronts \u2013 Gaza, Lebanon, \u201ceverywhere there\u2019s a war\u201d \u2013 and just finished his fourth tour of duty a month ago. Neora hasn\u2019t counted, but estimates that he has served 500 days, most likely more.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first two years of the war, it was very intense. It was three months in, and he would come home for maybe 24 hours. I barely received calls from him. This last year, and this round specifically, was the easiest round we had. He left for eight days, then he came back for five days, which was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n How did she cope in the early days, with a partner at battle?<\/p>\n \u201cYou just do. You wake up in the morning. You try to pass the day, and you wake up another day, and you try to make that day finish and last and be a bit better, and you just move on. But the first week, I was very confused. I drove to Afula and back maybe five or six times, because I didn\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Added to the already isolating experience of having a partner in the reserves was that she had already lost her brother in active service.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was 100% re-traumatizing. I kept imagining E.\u2019s death. I kept reliving the military funeral and ceremonies, and everything that has to do with death when it comes to the army. I kept seeing people knock on my door, like they did with my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n If she had to sum up her coping strategy in one word, it would be \u201cfunction,\u201d she said. \u201cWe tend to function really, really well when there are intense situations.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"NEORA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/722008.jpeg\"\/)
NEORA AND E. got engaged in the spring of 2024, and married in the December of the same year. E. was released from active duty just two weeks before the wedding. Here, Neora and her partner stand in the water during a rare break from reserve duty, holding onto a moment that will soon end. (credit: Chen G. Schimmel\/The Jerusalem Post)<\/p>\n