Sherri Mandell shares her story at Chabad of Westmount on February 19, 2014 as her husband, Seth looks on.
Ordinary Greatness.
It sounds like an oxymoron. And, in a way, it is. But, then again, it really isn't. Ordinary Greatness is just one of those things that are hard to describe, but when you see it, you know it. Wednesday night at Chabad, we met it, face to face: Sherri and Seth Mandell.
Sherri and Seth live in Tekoa, Israel, but this heroic couple is as American as apple pie: down-to-earth, open, friendly, the family-next-door-type and, ordinary...in a good way.
Yet, they are extraordinary.
In 2001, tragedy struck when their 13 year old son, Kobi, was viciously bludgeoned to death by Arab terrorists near their home in Tekoa, Israel. Consumed by grief and mourning, (chronicled in a series of Sherri's notebook entries which later became her award winning book, the Blessing of A Broken Heart) this ordinary couple did the extraordinary: they resolved to refuse to let this heart-wrenching tragedy definethem, instead, as they shared with us on Wednesday, in face of their overwhelming pain, they chose to define it.
One month after his murder, on what would have been Kobi's 14th birthday, the Mandell's grappled with how they would celebrate the day that was so raw with pain: at the end, they decided to help 14 beggars. Ironically for Jerusalem, beggars were hard to come by on that June night, so they took to chasing them down. At the end, they found 14, and so began a tradition of giving. Soon after that, the Mandells founded Camp Kobi, helping thousands of children deal with the trauma of loss. Today, the name Kobi Mandell is synonymous with joy, healing and laughter.
The nature of the human experience is that we struggle. That's the way our Creator has designed the universe. Whether we struggle with our circumstances, our own natures or predispositions, our history, or just "stuff"'; challenge is part of this dance we call life. On Wednesday night, Sherri and Seth reminded that we can, and must, make every step count.
Ordinary. Greatness.