74-year-old woman worries for her family in Israel

A 74-year-old woman from Cape Coral just wants her family to come home from Israel.

Estelle Oren tries to turn her eyes away from the news but keeps finding herself glued to it.

For over half of her life, she lived in Israel.

And while living there, she was across the street from a bombing that left her hearing permanently damaged.

At least a dozen of her family members, including children and grandchildren, are still living there, and she said she worries about them every day. She said her daughter has post-traumatic stress from the constant bombings.

Also, her grandson has been called up to serve in the armed forces.

“He’s gone. I mean, he’s gone into the armed forces, and that’s it. I mean, we don’t know where he is. We didn’t know what he’s doing,” Oren said.

Oren worries about what she’ll see on the news coming out of Israel, considering her family is spread throughout the country.

She’s constantly worried. She said she can’t eat, sleep, smile.

When she’s able to speak with her family, she tries convincing them to come to her, but she said, her family doesn’t want to leave, saying they feel like they would be abandoning their country. It leaves her feeling guilty.

“What kind of person am I that I’m not there, and I’m not helping them?” Oren said.

Oren leans heavily on her Torah and psalms but still can’t understand the violence.

“How do you allow yourself as a human being to do that? How? How do you allow yourself as a human being to touch a little baby that’s got nothing to do with your war?” Oren said.

Oren said she’s been thinking about ways of trying to help the people of Israel, so she’s reaching out to the Israeli consulate to offer space in her home for people fleeing the country.