The Kens survived terror and trauma to build a home of endurance and faith

There are thousands of participants in the annual Jerusalem Marathon, but the Ken family from Kiryat Moshe, or “the Victorious Tortoises” as they’ve dubbed themselves, stick out from the crowd. Flanked by his six children and assisted by his wife, Ariella, Eliezer Ken completes the entire marathon on crutches, grateful for every step.

After a terrible car accident left Eliezer with permanent disabilities, he and Ariella were determined to persevere. Today, 18 years later, the beautiful family they’re raising is living proof of the power of endurance and faith.

Miraculous Move

Ariella’s determination to retain positivity and gratefulness where others would see trauma and horror didn’t start only after her husband’s car accident.

Born in the United States, the youngest of four siblings, Ariella was four years old when her family made aliyah and settled in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Romema.

In 2003, Ariella was 25 years old and working as a speech therapist when she experienced what she calls “my personal miracle of when I was saved.” She’d enrolled in a course to learn sign language, and got on the 14 Alef bus headed toward the central part of the city to get to her class.

“I boarded the bus and sat down just behind the four-seater seats,” Ariella remembers. “It was a typical scene in Israel. The bus driver was playing music. A few women were seated saying Tehillim. Some teenagers were being rowdy.

“The bus wasn’t totally full, but the front seats were all taken. At the next stop, I noticed an elderly woman board the bus. I turned around to see if there was a place for her to sit. While there was, and I could have stayed seated, I was brought up in a home in which you knew that when you see an elderly person, you stand up, so I did. I moved myself to the back of the bus, where there were a few empty seats. We passed one stop and then the next. More people got on and more people got off.

“Then there was a blast. The blast wasn’t the bad part. It was the dead silence, the silence of death that followed.”