South Florida families reunite with loved ones from Israel, thoughts with those left behind
MIAMI - As CBS News Miami's Ted Scouten was speaking to Chumie Jacobson at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, she spotted her 15-year-old daughter Esther home safe and sound from Israel. They raced to each other for a warm, long embrace.
It's the long embrace both of them have been waiting for since Saturday.
"What was it like seeing your mom just now?" Scouten asked. "It was the best thing in the world," Esther said while hugging her mom again.
Esther said there were frightening moments since Saturday. "It was pretty scary, but we're okay," she said, hugging her mom again.
She was relieved to be on a flight home to South Florida. Her mom is grateful too but thinks of family still in Israel.
"I just need to have my children with me and I just keep thinking about my cousins, my sisters. Their kids serve, they can't grab their kids and hold them. But we're very proud of them and very grateful. My cousins were protecting the highways so that she was able to get to the airport safely and come home to me," Chumie said.
Esther has a special message for those who kept her safe. "Thank you every single soldier who's putting their life on the line to protect me and get me home," she said with tears streaming down her face.
We also spoke to Moshe and Miri Feuer. They are grateful they and their 5-month-old daughter are back home from Israel. Just before heading to the airport, they saw rockets overhead.
"We all went into the shelter about a minute and a half two minutes were were able to hear 3 explosions right over us. One was a direct hit to a neighborhood right next to us, like a 3-4 minute drive," Moshe said.
They tell us one of the more frightening moments was driving to the airport to get home to South Florida.
"I was panicking," said Miri. Moshe added, "She was thinking any second it could go off. What do you do, do you stop the car, pull over, lay on the ground? You're on the highway, where do you go?" He said.
We also spoke to the Berkowitz family from Surfside. They arrived this morning but the whole family did not come home.
"My daughter stayed behind," said Mario Berkowitz. "She's studying in a bible institute and she's going to be serving community hours to help the soldiers and the Israeli citizens," he said.
While her family is worried about her they're proud of what she's doing. "She went there to study and she is not only going to study but participate in winning this war," he said.
And there are others who are getting on a flight tonight back to Israel.
"We're heading back to Israel where I'm going to be joining the IDF as a reserve officer. I'm a doctor," said Ben Greenberg. He is a psychiatrist and Adi Gidali is a physical therapist. They are anxious about returning but say they are doing their part.
"I think I'm just very proud of him. I'm very proud of everyone who's going to serve," said Gidali.