It will be no picnic.
Barry Axler and his wife, Morene Dunn, are two unlikely candidates to be heading toward the front lines of the Israel-Hamas War.
He is a rabbi, while she is a retired public relations maven. He is 77, she is 80. They live in River North.
The two are leaving for Israel this weekend, where they have three children and 11 grandchildren. They will attend their granddaughter’s bat mitzvah Monday in a village near Tel Aviv.
But after that, they will become “front-line soldiers in the war of Jewish survival,” Axler tells Sneed.
In fact, they are meeting up with a volunteer group called “Grilling for IDF” — or Israeli Defense Forces. The group, which according to its website is a registered 501(c)(3) charity with a New York mailing address, has a mission to feed Israeli soldiers. It does so by setting up grills near combat zones and serving meals to Israelis on active duty.
“We motivate them with love and affection, showing them just how much we truly care and stand with them,” the group’s website says. “We raise their morale by showing them how much we care about them.”
“Grilling is the easiest way to feed a large number of people if you are fighting on the front lines,” Axler said.
Axler says he is donating $2,000 worth of meat to the effort, and he and his wife will spend five hours helping prepare food for 700 soldiers. The couple doesn’t know the exact location of where they are headed but know they will travel in an armored vehicle.
“Gaza is not some place you can just drive yourself,” he said. “We’ve been told someone will take us in a protective van.”
The effort is personal: Two of Axler’s grandchildren — ages 18 and 21 — are members of the IDF.
“Our grandson is a gunner in a large armored vehicle in a base near Gaza, and he wants to know if we are going to wind up near him,” Axler said.
“Our granddaughter chose to do a service to the nation on a farm because farmers are now serving on the front lines,” he added.
Axler — who does not lead his own congregation in Chicago but whose rabbinical duties involve weddings and visiting retirement homes and long-term health care facilities — has been to the Middle East on missions before, including with the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, a Chicago-area group. But he knows the backdrop of this trip is different from those visits, and he believes the very existence of Israel is at stake.
Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages in its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 17,400 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
“The loss of life is always a tragedy,” he said.
Royal mewling ...
Crikey! The continuing saga of Prince Harry’s pitch to England’s High Court challenging the removal of his taxpayer-funded armed royal protection when back home is becoming almost too, too … as the Brit chattering class would say. Harry claims he and his American wife, Meghan, were forced to leave and step back from royal duties because it wasn’t possible to keep his family safe.
Of course … there is this: Harry recently told the Home Court … given his experiences in life, he is now “reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way, too.”
Oh, bother.
Sneedlings …
Condolences to Chicago auction maven Leslie Hindman on the death of her beloved mother, Patricia DeForest Hindman, 92, who died at her home in Florida recently. … Saturday birthdays: actress Judi Dench, 89; actor Beau Bridges, 82; actor John Malkovich, 70; and singer Donny Osmond, 66. … Sunday birthdays: actor Kenneth Branagh, 63; chef Bobby Flay, 59; actress Raven-Symoné, 38. … And a belated Dec. 1 birthday to a dear friend, Leslie Hindman, 69 and truly divine.
