Mrs. Ester Katz Silvers; A Train Crash in the ’60s

Your feedback is what keeps us going. Whether it’s positive, constructive, or somewhere in between — we appreciate it all. If you have thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations for our podcast, please share them with us!It was the 1960s, in Wichita, Kansas. Back then, it was a small town with very few Jews, and the Jewish families stuck together as a close-knit community.One morning, Ester walked into the kitchen and saw her parents sitting at the table with an open newspaper between them. They were both looking at her — the kind of look that silently says, you tell her.“What happened?” Ester asked.“There was an accident,” her parents said. “A car–train accident. Four boys were killed.”One of them was a boy who worked in her father’s store — just two years older than Esther.In those days, no one talked about death. You didn’t process it. You didn’t sit with it. You simply went on. And so Esther went on too. Sometimes she thought about the boy, but she told herself to move forward, just like everyone else did.It wasn’t until many years later, when Ester wrote her first book, that she found herself writing about a train accident — slowly, unknowingly processing a loss that had stayed with her for over twenty years.Life later brought Ester to Shilo, in Eretz Yisroel, where she and her family were forced to face death again — this time through terror. Her children lost friends. Madrichim were niftar. Loss was no longer distant or unnamed.And this time, Ester did not turn away.Her parting message is simple: let them talk. Today, we have far more resources and support than in the past — but the most important thing remains the same. Children need space to speak, to ask, to remember, and to be heard.YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsK24OSmIYG_XWzeplhfmb8LJcWKphITh&si=untn3fmHLLaEEFNmApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relief-from-grief-by-mayrim/id1788349916Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3AvWNp0DrHqE5AVYJHooiK?si=ufpIObuGRumS5uFXmvrpgA Questions or feedback? Email me at: [email protected]