American born and raised, Sherri Mandell moved to Israel in 1996. Five years later she took the worst that life can possibly mete out and turned it into a blessing.
On May 8, 2001, her 13-year-old son Koby and his friend Yosef Ish-Ran skipped school. They indulged in a popular pastime, walking the hills near their family homes in Tekoa, which is 12 miles from Jerusalem and visible from Bethlehem. Mandell believes their intent may have been to gather wood for an upcoming holiday, when the kids stay up all night and build bonfires.
Koby and Josef went into an ancient cave and never emerged. They were found the following morning, brutally bludgeoned to death. The perpetrators were never caught.
“You do come back. You think you never will,” said Mandell in December. A friend came every day, a friend who knew what to say and when to be silent and just be there.
“You tend to become alienated and isolated from people, because usually they don’t know what to say to you or how to treat you,” she said. The friend provided a safe place to talk about Koby. That was part of the blessing.
Even during the Shiva (the traditional weeklong period of mourning when friends and family visit the bereaved) Mandell found herself telling Koby stories “” events that surrounded his birth and his bris “” the funny, kind and profound things Koby did and said as he grew toward manhood. Koby’s friends added to the lore, and because she is a writer, Mandell put the stories together in an award-winning book, “The Blessing of a Broken Heart.”

Adapted for the stage and directed by San Diego Repertory Theatre associate artistic director Todd Salovey and running through Jan. 20, the book becomes a play starring Lisa Robins as Sherri and others, and Daniel Myers as Koby. Recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, “The Blessing of a Broken Heart” was given a staged reading at last season’s Lipinsky Family Jewish Arts Festival.
Salovey had been aware of Mandell and her book, but that was the extent of it. He sat in a friend’s home several years ago and glanced at the bookshelf, which held Mandell’s book.
“I opened it up and just began to read “” I’m sure I started in the middle. Her language and her imagery were like a bolt of lightning; just two paragraphs riveted me,” he said.
Salovey realized there was a theatrical voice at work and set about adapting the book for the stage.
“If I could write a book about Jewish spirituality, this is how I would write it. Her message is that despite loss you can still be whole and you can still be happy. Her relationship with Koby didn’t end. She takes her son and makes him part of her, and she is living his joy, she is living his spirit, and they’ve become partners in the life she’s living since then.”
Mandell and her husband established the Koby Mandell Foundation (www.kobymandell.org), which offers camps for 600 bereaved children whose parents or siblings have been killed by terrorists.
Additionally there are retreats for families and siblings”among them Sherri and Seth’s three other children, now ages 12, 17 and 18.
Following the performance on Jan. 19, Mandell will address resilience and the following night will share stories of the families who have attended Camp Koby.
Check the Rep’s Web site for other post-performance speakers. Curtain is at 7 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; and 2 and 7 p.m. on Sundays. For more information visit www.sandiegorep. com or call (619) 544-1000.