This Father’s Day, millions of dads will receive a phone call.

Some will be handed a homemade card over breakfast. Some will get a text message from a grown child they wish they saw more often. Some will spend the day surrounded by family. Others will insist they do not need any fuss, while quietly enjoying every minute of it.

Most will not think very much about these moments. That is what makes them so valuable. For most families, these moments arrive so regularly that they become almost invisible.

On days like these, I find myself thinking about the children and families I work with through Israel’s IDF Widows and Orphans Organization. Many of them would give anything for one more moment with their father. Not one more heroic moment. Just one more ordinary one.

After years of working with widows and orphans of Israel’s fallen, I have come to believe that we often misunderstand what bereaved children need from remembrance.

When we remember fallen soldiers and others we have lost, we tend to remember them through a single moment: how they died. We remember the battle, the sacrifice, the courage........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)