Blood Stained Feathers

Mordechai cannot fall asleep although his younger brother is fast asleep. He hears shouting and shots in the street, then his parents whispering in the next room. Suddenly there are heavy footsteps along the stairway. Screams, pleas, and pistol shots. The killer squad goes from flat to flat, then bursts into his family's flat. They kill Mordechai's father, mother and sister. They then enter Mordechai's room and kill his brother. Under the blanket, Mordechai is frozen with fear. Slowly, silence returns. He crawls from under the blanket to see his brother's head smashed by a bullet. There is blood all over the bed, and blood stained feathers all over. One of the few concentration camp survivors, Mordechai does not know how he survived while others about him were murdered. He joined the military Palestinian Jewish underground in Europe to fight for a Jewish homeland, then the army in Israel. He helped to build the country and, in the process, built his own Israeli family. His story is a triumph of hope and optimism again overwhelming odds.