The part in Yehoram Gaon’s song “You Won’t Defeat Me,” when the adorable first graders dance, made me cry.
I was in an old-fashioned gym in the young city of Modi’in. The population is estimated to be 112,692 – which is 410 more than the previous count of 108,682 as of Independence Day 2025. The municipal website posts regular updates on new schools opening to accommodate the blessed birth rate.
Many Jerusalemites, like our son and daughter-in-law, were drawn to this city 30 kilometers west of Jerusalem where they grew up. They didn’t go there – as suggested in the increasingly problematic Wikipedia – because of “the growing haredi [ultra-Orthodox] population.” They went there because of the youthful vibe and the more reasonably priced family homes.
The city – officially called Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut – is marking its 30th anniversary during these days, and there’s cause to celebrate with its constant expansion and success. Thus, the municipality is holding a giant Adloyada parade a few days ahead of this Purim, on Friday, February 27. Floats, dancers, and puppets will travel along Hula Valley Street to Jezreel Valley Street and on to the Fish Park! (I love the street names; there is a whole neighborhood – Moriah – with streets named for women, from the biblical matriarchs through to Queen Shlomzion.)
I know about the celebration not from the family but because Deputy Mayor Eliad Shimonovich mentioned it when he was speaking before a recent dance performance that I attended in the Modi’in Cultural Hall. The teen division of Zooz n’ Dance, the city’s well-known dance studio, was having its midyear performance.
The shows are so popular that tickets are notoriously hard to obtain. Hundreds of teenage girls, our granddaughter Eliana and cousin Amalya among them, perform jazz, hip hop, and modern dance at an astoundingly high level – reflecting the city’s love of the arts.
The performances are contemporary not only in their style and execution, but the repertoire also included a memorial dance for the Supernova festival massacre, and another for Israeli musician Matti Caspi, who died several weeks before the performance. These young dancers from Modi’in have performed in multiple national Independence Day celebrations at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl and have become a beloved trademark of the city.
Our son and daughter-in-law are both Sabras (native Israelis), but cousin Amalya moved to Modi’in from Denver, Colorado, four and a half years ago. Her family left Rocky Mountain skiing behind and made aliyah out of their strong Zionist feelings. They chose Modi’in over other places because of its central location, the abundance of English speakers, resources for new immigrants, and its range of school options for their triplets.
We need your pure prayers
Two days after the spectacular dance performance, I was back in Modi’in to attend the Siddur (“prayer book”) Party of Eliana’s little sister, first grader Ye’ela. She attends a strongly Religious Zionist public school aptly called Shivtei Israel (“tribes of Israel”). Indeed, in this 2026 first grade class, there are dedicated Hebrew language lessons for French- and English-speaking newcomers. The Hebrew speakers have last names that draw from many of the world’s Jewish communities.
The theme of the Siddur Party was “The Gift of Prayer.” Just as the deputy mayor brought greetings to the dance performance, the Chief Rabbi of Modi’in, Yaakov Chikotay, attended the event to bless his six-year-old parishioners.
He urged the children to use their new siddurim. “Yours are prayers of purity, and we need them,” he said. Everyone stood up as the rabbi entered, an old-fashioned and honorable gesture of respect that has fallen away in some other places.
The school principal told the children a story about a little boy who, unlike them, hasn’t yet learned to read. Nonetheless, he stands and moves his lips in synagogue. The little boy explains that he only knows the aleph-bet and repeats the letters over and over, certain that God will put them into the right order for the words of his prayer.
We adults talk a lot about Jewish values, and this simple Siddur Party was replete with treasured values that reinforce those inculcated at home: respect, faith, gratefulness, Zionism. In a pre-recorded video, all the children answer the question of naming what they are most thankful for. Along with answers related to family and friends, several children say “peace” and “the return of the hostages.” To further illustrate the gifts these youngsters have gratefully received, there were stacks of “thanking” cardboard boxes labeled “food,” “water,” “plenty,” “Grandma and Grandpa,” “home,” and “education.”
Watch over our children
I think back to Ye’ela’s babyhood during the corona pandemic when we grandparents were cautioned not to hug our grandchildren lest we become infected. Then came the war. These first graders have been hustled into safe rooms and shelters throughout nursery school and in kindergarten.
Their city has been suffused with fear and grief as their parents and older siblings have put on uniforms. Modi’in ranks among Israel’s leading cities for enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces. In 2024, the city recorded a 91.8% enlistment rate. Every fallen soldier – and there have been at least 35 – is commemorated with a park, a garden, or a pathway named in his or her honor.
So, when these darling first grade boys and girls donned small military berets and sang the prayer for the soldiers in their high-pitched, breathy voices, my heart melted and my throat clogged. I looked at our beautiful, petite granddaughter, her blue eyes so serious beneath the black beret with its gold star, and issued the prayer that every Israeli parent has whispered at the birth of a child or grandchild: “May he/she know war no more.”
When the first graders stood up again, Ye’ela reached for her classmate’s hand to organize their next circle dance.
They bopped to the 2023 Eyal Golan version of “Am Yisrael Chai” (“the nation of Israel lives”): “God, the blessed One, watches over us so/who can triumph over us because we have no other state?/ Please make peace among us/ watch over our children because faith isn’t lost.”
Watch over our children. And then, these tots who now know how to read the ancient siddur prayers, twirled on the gym floor in a city that bears the name of the Maccabees. The song was Naomi Shemer’s, written in 1984 but remastered for the Swords of Iron War that they have already lived through: “Lo Tinatzhu Oti” – “You won’t defeat me.” Wouldn’t you have cried, too?
The writer is the Israel director of public relations at Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Her latest book is A Daughter of Many Mothers, with Holocaust survivor and premier English-language witness Rena Quint.