Rachel Frenkel, the mother of murdered Israeli teenager Naftali Frenkel, delivered a special message of resilience Wednesday, in a video address to Jewish content website Aish.com.
Frenkel, who heroically addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) earlier this year before her son's body was found, urged viewers to turn the national pain Israel has faced over the past several months into a source of inspiration and unity.
During the search for the boys, she said, "we saw that we are part of something huge."
"We are part of a people, of a true family," she said. "That's for real."
Thousands of peoplerallied across Israel and around the globe to pray for, raise awareness, and - later - mourn about the abduction and murder of Naftali and two friends, Eyal Yifrah and Gilad Sha'ar, hy"d. In many cases, the initiative to do something for the teens also saw the bridging of cultural, religious, and sectarian gaps - a stark contrast to the often-deep divisions in Israeli society.
On Wednesday, Frankel encouraged her audience to strive again for that unity.
"Even if day-to-day life doesn't feel like this, what we saw was real," she continued. "Rosh Hashanah [the Jewish New Year - ed.] is coming up. Let's all choose an act, large or small, to keep the spirit of those days alive."