October 7: One Year

It is truly hard to believe that it has been a year since the beginning of all of this....I went back and read my first blog post about the war. In the beginning, I numbered them: War--Day 5. I can't imagine I was alone in thinking that, like the Six Day War, this might be bad but at least it would be short. 

And crazy that today, we had a siren ("anniversary siren"? GRR). This was an "easy" one: no booms, the house didn't shake, and the sirens stopped after one time. Evidently it was the Houthis in Yemen sending a ballistic missile (which, thank Gd, got intercepted by David's Sling, which is the Iron Dome for ballistic missiles).

I want to share something that I recently heard in a Torah class. I believe it was from Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz. 

If you're the same person now that you were last October 7, you're doing something very wrong.

I've been thinking about this since I heard it, probably a month ago. Feel free to send me a message with your thoughts.

Praying for a world at peace.

Rosh Hashanah 2024/5785

There was trepidation going into "Three Day Yontif", but it turned out to be absolutely wonderful (at least here. The North of the country had a very rough few days with tons of missiles sent from Lebanon). We had three quiet and peaceful days and it now feels to me like Tuesday night's crazy missile attack from Iran was a million years ago. I think it also really helps that pretty much everyone in the country went through that together so there's an instant support group with, well, anyone you talk with.

We had a full house for the holiday: Penina and Menashe, Menashe's mother, stepfather and 10 year-old brother, and Ilana and a friend of hers from camp who is from Gibraltar so spoke both English and Spanish.

First night of Rosh Hashanah, we ate with two other families who we are really close with. As we were setting up, there was some talk about where everyone had been Tuesday night but it was already feeling much farther away than only 24 hours. (Menashe's family had been coming back on the bus from doing a big grocery shopping trip [they are still getting their new apartment set up]. Thankfully, another person on the bus showed them a store they could all run into. They were already in their neighborhood, and between sirens they tried to run back to their apartment, but with all those groceries, it was impossible. Thankfully they were able to flag down a driver who drove them right home. 

Another "fun" story we heard later in the holiday when Ilana's former Boston classmate Naomi C. came for a meal. She said she had been shopping in Meah Shearim and trying to get back to her seminary in Geulah when the sirens started, so she had to lie down on the sidewalk with a bunch of Israeli-bubbe types because all the nearby buildings were locked. 

"And then I ran back".

 "Wow, how far is that?"

 "It normally takes about 15 minutes, but I did it in 8" ;))

We're heading into the October 7 anniversary and I was focused on what memorial events would I attend, when Ilana's seminary sent out a notice that they had told the girls to stay on campus due to the high risk of terror attacks (one person was killed yesterday in a terrorist attack at the Be'er Sheva central bus station). I hadn't even thought about that....Hashem Yishmor

What a Night Part 2

 Part 1 was the Iranian missile strike five months ago. And last night we had the encore.

Last evening I left my house with my bubbe cart, walking to the mercaz to get all the fruit and vegetables we would need for Rosh Hashanah, which, this year, is the rare-in-Israel Three Day Yontif (I mentioned to someone at work yesterday that, although I miss very few things from life in the US, when we have three-day holidays, I REALLY miss my second freezer and second refrigerator).

Just at the end of our street, our family chat got messages from Penina, who was in Tel Aviv on her way home from work (she's a pre-intern at a small international law firm and really enjoying it). She said that there had been a terrorist attack in Yafo. But the news was really conflicting at that time with whether the attack was in the CITY of Yafo (which is essentially part of Tel Aviv--you might have even heard of it as "Tel Aviv/Yafo") or on Yafo STREET (in Jerusalem, which Penina and Menashe's apartment is off of. As in one building off of). We had news reports of each place. Menashe had just come in to their apartment and he felt that it couldn't be Jerusalem as things had been totally normal on Yafo street. 

At 7:05, Penina sent this:

"Maybe I should just turn around?" I asked on the chat. "Everyone stay home" Penina responded. (I would like to thank you, Penina, for saving me last night. Not saving me physically, since we know that, THANK GD, no one was killed in Israel, but mentally because that was a brutal night and would have been more so had I been in some random stairwell in the mercaz. Not to mention I would have abandoned by bubbe cart and probably lost 200 nis worth of fruit and vegetables!).

I stopped at the apartment of a young couple on our street who are having a tough time financially and gave them some money to help with their Holiday preparations and came home. Not saying this to humble brag, just seriously sharing the concept that we learn from Rosh Hashanah that prayer, repentance and acts of charity avert harsh decrees. 

And then.....While Shalom Shachne was talking with his Mom on the phone, the sirens started.

First our phones came through with an usual sound telling everyone to get in a protected space which made us wonder if we (okay, not really "we") should listen to the advice. "Who cares?? Let's go!!!! Bye, Ma--gotta go. Sirens here" (Sorry, Ma, that must have been scary to hear).

We took Percy into the mamad  (which had had a problem with the metal shutters closing that my amazing Shalom Shachne had just fixed mere hours before) and then, oh my goodness.....

The sirens on my phone

The sirens on his phone

The sirens outside

The BOOMS. We should be old hat at this after almost a year, but this was the worst we have ever heard. 

And more sirens coming, coming, coming. 

I had heard people question: If we're supposed to stay in the safe room ten minutes after a missile siren, what would happen if a second missile came in during that time--would there be a second siren or not?I now have the answer: YES, there will be another siren because we had, I think, three almost in direct sequence. 

I can't even imagine how stressful it was for Penina being in the protected room of the train station with all the other passengers and hearing EVERYONE'S phone alerts going off at the same time (I just about jumped out of my skin with the two phones we had in the mamad with us).

Ilana was in the safe room at seminary. She was supposed to come home in the evening and then seminary announced that girls could only leave if they got a ride, no public transportation. Thank Gd she and I weren't on the road driving. Our friend, Eitan, who just came to yeshiva in the Old City a few weeks ago, was at his school, thankfully. Our friend Menachem who was in the grocery store in the mercaz went in the safe room there and they had a maariv minyan for evening prayers :). At the mall, there was singing in the safe room. Cousin Coby was on a bus from Jerusalem and, poor guy, had to twice get out and lie on the side of the road. And the woman who did evening shift at work had to stop three times on her way home to lie on the side of the road (thank you, Hashem, for giving me day shift yesterday). She said it looked just like this video that someone else in the city posted: 

WARNING: you will hear sirens in this video: If you don't see if here, it's also posted on Youtube here: https://youtube.com/shorts/H6OCyIFzVTo?feature=share

I'm crying writing this.

It is a total and complete miracle that people were not seriously injured or killed; thank you, Hashem.

It was SO incredibly hard to not be together. During every other siren we've had we were either all together, or I was at work and the rest of the family was here together. And worrying about Penina and how she would get home was brutal. I felt like Mrs. Weasley in Harry Potter, where the clock in their house points to family member's location and, during the war, all of the clock hands are pointed to "Mortal Peril". 

Shalom Shachne and I said tehilim and learned some of hilchos Rosh Hashanah (thanks to Rabbi Shalom Andy Shulman for sending that out earlier in the day). I discovered that it really DOES work to lie down and put one's feet up when you're feeling faint (I didn't actually think I would faint, but I was definitely feeling lightheaded). I had a routine: take some Rescue Remedy (can I just say again that that stuff works wonders?!), read some tehilim, check my phone for the family chat, and repeat. Again and again and again for an hour.

This was perhaps the scariest thing I've ever lived through, because there was no saying when it would end and/or how it would end......Were they taking a coffee break and they would start up again? Later that night, a car door slammed outside and I practically screamed, "WHATWASTHAT?!"

There is a thought that we should all include a new siman at our Rosh Hashanah dinners tonight: a burnt food, so that Hashem should "burn up" our enemies and as a reminder of all the miracles we witnessed last night.

I will be offline until Saturday night, Israel time. Wishing us all a new year of PEACE, health, happiness, love and financial ease. 

Sharing a quick read

 While flipping through the latest issue of Hadassah magazine, I read this very compelling "graphic essay", "Welcome Home", by Abby Horowitz. I think many of you will relate to what the author writes about visiting Israel and the difference for her from life in the US:

https://issuu.com/hadassahmag/docs/hadassah_sepoct_2024_1_/20?ff

Things are heating up, but, thankfully, still calm where we live

Yup, that's about all I have to say at this point (mostly because I'm slightly desperate to go to sleep after a morning run, working in Jerusalem and then a few hours with Menashe's family in Ikea [at least the food there is kosher so you can get a snack when faint from hunger]).

Lots (and LOTS) of soldiers are being called up for reserve duty.....My good friend's daughter, who is in the army, just told the family she won't be home for Rosh Hashanah.....The son of a woman I work with, who was supposed to be home until the end of October, got called up today (like "go ASAP").....We hear planes and helicopters overhead throughout the day and night.....I'm going (yet again) tomorrow to stock up the pantry (the mamad is still fully-stocked. But the pantry, not so much. What can I say? We keep eating).

This editorial in the Jerusalem Post really sums up my feelings (and fears, frankly):

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-821395

With thanks to all who have checked in and sent supportive messages. We feel your care and concern!

Yay! Menashe's family is here!

 b''H they arrived early Friday morning after three planes, delays, a missed flight, and missing luggage. What can I say--we know that the land of Israel is acquired by yissurim and hopefully this will be the worst "pain with a purpose" that they have here.

#SweetestPictureEver

#ThanksChanaForTheBalloon

For their first week, while they outfit their apartment, they are staying with friends from Costa Rica in another part of our city, so Shalom Shachne and I visited before Shabbat started:

That sign played an important role in OUR aliyah journey! Our friend Temima's sisters made the sign and then showed up at the crack of dawn at the airport to welcome us 9 years ago. I told Menashe's mom that I was specifically giving them that sign, updated for their family, rather than making them a new sign, so that we could try to share with them the strength we've gained and the good things we've experienced over the years here. 

Gosh, we were young!

SO GLAD THEY'RE HERE!!! YAY!

BeeperGate

 First, the serious stuff and a few talking points:

Hezbollah  has sent THOUSANDS of missiles and drones into Northern Israel in the past 11 months (on July 4 alone, over 200 rockets and drones were sent from Hezbollah), effectively pushing back the border of the country and causing over 60,000 Israelis to be displaced from their homes. Hezbollah has acted totally indiscriminately--a missile does not distinguish between a combatant and a civilian. While I desperately pray for peace in, and for, our beautiful country, to my mind, exploding beepers and walkie-talkies that are in the hands of bad guys seems like the least bad all the bad alternatives. 

And is it just me or have other people made the connection that JK Rowling had this as a Harry Potter plot line with the "dark mark" showing up on Voldemort's troops? Like, seriously, WHAT is the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon doing with a Hezbollah pager?! He's from Iran, so let's assume he's not winning any Boy Scout award, but seriously?!

As Col. Richard Kemp (former commander of British troops in Afghanistan) said, "It's hard to think of a more precise and discriminating method of attack than detonating pagers known to be specifically assigned to individual terrorists, using devices that limit the potential for collateral damage. I doubt any widespread military arrack in history in civilian areas has ever been so precisely targeted". Read the full article here: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/en/news/396381

But I know what you're hoping for (at least some of you): the irreverent take on this. Well, here you go:

Here's to a beautiful, PEACEFUL Shabbat.

What It's Like (in [almost] real time)

 I thought it might be interesting to give an inside view into this news and show what it was like (for me, at least) in (recreated) real time:

I left home at 6:20 for my morning exercise and arrived (by foot) at the newish road that is a shortcut through open fields between my part of the city and the original part of the city. It's 2.5 km long. Did I mention the "open fields" part?! It's beautiful and lovely and also very exposed.

 Juuuust as I arrived I heard the loudest overhead BOOM I have heard since October 7. Looking up, I saw a big, fat trail of white smoke going across what appeared to be the whole sky. Uh oh....Then I heard a whole lot of "pop pop pop", which in the US might be fireworks but here are generally much more nefarious (my understanding is that it's incoming missiles and Iron Dome interceptions that are not close enough that we need a "get in the bomb shelter" siren, but close enough that we hear the action). 

Got on my favorite news source: the local Anglos list :):

Found out that there were rockets in Modi'in and Ramle among other places that, while not around the corner, are also not terribly far away. And that other people also thought this BOOM was much louder than others. I went on the Red Alert app from the Homefront Command and saw this, which literally gave shivers for a moment: 

112 places were having sirens right now?! And I'm standing on the edge of a long, open field trying to decide if I should continue to run or go home.

I turned to the right and WOW--just like the "Room of Requirement" in Harry Potter I saw a freestanding bomb shelter! Hurrah! Pretty sure I have never seen another in my part of the city (then again, forgot this one was there until I needed it)

Walked a few steps more and saw that, alas, I continue to wait for my Hogwarts acceptance letter because the darn thing was locked:

One of the heads of the local volunteer EMT squad posted shortly after I did (the list was going bonkers with messages), so (five minutes after the BOOM), I asked him privately for his input:

A minute later someone posted this photo to the Anglos list, which made me a tad more concerned (which sounds so much nicer than "panicky", doesn't it?!):

EEEK. I can't imagine anyone looking at that photo and feeling calm and collected.....

By this point, nothing else had happened. So I just kept going. And kept refreshing the news:

By about thirty minutes after the BOOM and halfway through my run, we knew that the BOOM had been a ballistic missile (aka "A BIG ONE"), although it was assumed that Iran was the bad actor (turned out they likely funded it but didn't send it themselves)

Heard back from my friend (Bella and Avi's mom) who lives nearest to the place I was running, who I had asked earlier if I could join them in their mamad if a siren happened. Ended up being the ENN ("Ellen News Network"). telling her what was going on. 

Still going back and forth in a reduced area for my run. Still nothing else had happened. On the one hand, it was possible Iran (or one of the other groups that hates us and wants us wiped off the map) was taking a coffee break before starting a giant attack. On the other hand, it was entirely possible that what had already occurred was all that was going to happen.

From my WhatsApp status:

And still, I was going back and forth in an area of about 3/4 km. In the end, I just kept praying and just kept going. Ended up with 7 km rather than my usual 6, but slooow pace because, hey, I had a lot of checking the news to do while I was running.

And then I came home, got ready and went to to work in Jerusalem like today was just like any normal day. Because here in Miracle-Ville, where tons of people *might* have died this morning but didn't, life just goes on.

Yet another happy ending to the early morning drama: Shalom Shachne came with me and we went to the Kotel in honor of his birthday today :)

 

One more bit of nice news ;)

Yesterday, Ilana started seminary in Jerusalem (Bayit V'Gan neighborhood, near Malcha Mall). I guess we were being too cool to take first day photos :). And, WOW, thus ends almost three decades of day-to-day parenting!

Happy First Anniversary!

Wow! Happy First (English) Anniversary to Penina and Menashe! 

I was eloquent and bracha-laden in private so I'll just put some photo highlights in :)

Although our anniversaries are not the same on either the English or Hebrew calendars, today is also the 32nd (Hebrew) anniversary for Shalom Shachne and me!

The last bit of news to share is that Menashe's family's aliyah flight got pushed off until next week. They will now arrive at 4 a.m. next Friday morning (which, hopefully, due to jet lag won't feel at all like 4 a.m. to them). 

Some Good News

Finally, some good news to report:

First, our friend who has been in the army since October 7 is FINALLY home. Actually, although he and Shalom Shachne were friendly at shul, the rest of us didn't even know each other until I stated walking Bella to shul and we got to know each other over many Shabbos lunches (I told Chanie they had a standing invitation and every Thursday I would check in to see if she got a better offer, ie a family with kids the ages of Bella and Avi). M is home at least until late fall (please Gd. Always subject to change).

The other big news is that, HOORAY, Menashe's mother, stepfather and little brother Iosi are b''n making aliyah on Tuesday!!!! Can't wait to have more "relatives" in the country (I think my total is still, technically, zero, but machatunim are close enough to count ;))

I had a real "only in Israel"  moment the other day: while on a 5km run with two friends we stopped for 15 minutes....to help harvest grapes in the fields we were running through (there is still a desperate need for agricultural help in Israel, as so many foreign workers have gone home since October 7). The tiny crew of only 6 people were happy to get our brief help (together, the three of us filled one 5 gallon bucket) and told us to pass their number around in case others want to help. So drop me a line if you're in the area and want Olga's number.

Lastly, today I started back at the yeshiva where I'm the nurse twice a week. Wonderful to be back in the Old City on a regular basis

Shabbat Shalom!

September 1, 2024

September 1 is a big day in Israel--the majority of kids go back to school today and the air is usually festive and fun. 

And then there's this year.

The women are saying, "Their backpacks become heavier from year to year" and the kids' backpacks each have written, "My father was badly injured", "displaced from the North", "My father was killed", "My sister is a hostage in Gaza", "displaced from the South"....

That was the post I had started to write about September 1st. And then....

We woke up to the heartbreaking news that these six hostages were found murdered (no, New York Times, they were not "found dead") in the Gaza tunnels

 May the memories of 

    Hersh Goldberg-Polin

    Eden Yerushalmi

    Carmel Bat

    Almog Sarusi

    Alex Lobanov

and Ori Danino

be for a blessing. This is so devastating....

Their bodies were found only one kilometer from where Qaid Farhan Al-Kadi was discovered last week. When Farhan was found, the country was so darn happy. 

This photo, by Soroka Medical Center, shows the reality of Israel: a religious Jewish doctor treating a Muslim Arab who was freed by 18 Israeli soldiers from his captivity by Hamas terrorists. 

This week.....

 This week marks eleven months since the start of the war. This week, the families of the 1200 people murdered by Hamas on October 7 stop saying kaddish.....

How many times can our hearts break in eleven months?

Hersh Goldberg-Polin

I was speaking with a relative recently and was kind stunned that they didn't know the names/stories of any of the hostages. "Not even Hersh Goldberg-Polin???" I asked. Nope, not even. So I started writing this blog post. There are at least two people on this list who know Hersh/his family personally. Please feel free to PM me if there's something I should add in here, or put it in the comments section below.

Hersh is a 23 year-old American-Israeli dual citizen. His parents were both born and raised in Chicago, and he made aliyah from Los Angeles when he was seven. He was at the Nova music festival on October 7, and was taken captive after he, his friend Aner Shapira, and a large group of other festival-goers hid in a small roadside bomb shelter. Hamas terrorists lobbed hand grenades into the shelter. Aner threw back seven before the eighth one killed him.....Hersh was taken captive with the lower half of his (dominant) left arm blown off.....At the end of April, Hamas released a video of Hersh, showing that, b''H, he was, as of that time, still alive.

Hersh's parents have gone on a worldwide tour to raise awareness about Hersh and all the hostages. As they say, they will talk with anyone to raise awareness. They have met with the Pope and President Biden, and his mother was chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2024. They spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week, saying, "At this moment, 109 treasured human beings are being held by Hamas. They are Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists....Among the hostages are 8 American citizens. One of those hostages is our only son Hersh". If you haven't seen their speech, here it is (and, if you would like to see the equally moving speech by the parents of hostage Omer Neutra, who spoke at the RNC, here is a link to that:

Here's a good article in the Atlantic, talking about how his parents are making through each day. Hard to believe this interview took place on Day 200 and now we are past Day 300: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/hersh-goldberg-polin-israeli-hostage-family/678452/

"Free Hersh" graffiti (the Goldberg-Polins live in Jerusalem) is found pretty much all over Jerusalem, at leas the parts I go in (this is the side of a recycling container).

I was in Boston last week visiting my family and the Goldberg-Polins were actually on my flight home (I assume they spoke somewhere in Boston on Thursday after the DNC Wednesday night. Anyone know?). Seeing them in person was profoundly moving.....

At Ben Gurion airport, there is a display of signs along the walkway to passport control. This was the third time I've flown since the war started. It's heartbreaking to see the signs getting fuller and fuller with well-wishes and words of love and support each time. This was Hersh's sign in February:

And this is Hersh's sign now:

The  Jerusalem Post published a beautiful article in June about Hersh's friend Jeremiah Smith who, after being tutored in elementary school by Hersh's grandmother, lived with her from 7th grade through high school and went with her on every trip she took to Israel, including for Hersh's bar mitzvah. Hersh used to joke that Jeremiah was his "brother cousin uncle". Jeremiah now drives a truck with signs like "Chicagoan Kidnapped by Hamas" on it to raise awareness. 

Although not a fan of the "Bring Them Home Now" slogan, as it seems to put the onus on Israel rather than on Hamas to "Let My People Go", I fervently hope that, however it happens, Hersh and all of the hostages are soon home and starting to heal from their nightmare of, as of today, 323 days in captivity.

Tisha b'Av

 Monday nights starts Tisha b'Av. It's one of only two sundown-to-sundown fast days in Judaism (the other is Yom Kippur), and is the saddest day of the year. We observe all of the same customs as when someone close to us has died, except this time we are mourning a string of devastating events that happened over the course of Jewish history. A friend said to me today that we've all had days since October 7 where we just want to sit and cry, and here we are, being handed a day when the whole country, and Jews around the world, will sit and cry together.

It has been hypothesized that, if Iran is going to attack, they will (knowing enough about Jewish history) do it on Tisha b'Av (hopefully all that diplomacy that's been coming to them has helped get them off the ledge and they won't do anything). But there is tremendous spiritual power in a nation that, as one, is fasting. So if you normally don't fast on Tisha b'Av, please consider it this year. And if you already do fast, join me in crying for everything and everyone we have lost this year and pray for a future we've been looking forward to for thousands of years. 

I have signed up to watch the video put out by Aish HaTorah that includes interviews with our neighbor, Jen Airley, whose soldier son Binyamin, was killed by a terrorist in Gaza in November. Here is the trailer for "October 7: Voices of Pain, Hope and Heroism". Jen is the first person who speaks in the trailer.

I appreciate all the supportive messages received after my last post, and all the helpful advice of additional products to place in the mamad. I've spent the better part of 1.5 weeks stocking up on a few things (okay, a lot of things), pretty much every time I go to the store (which is a few times a week, since we live so near the mercaz). But finally even *I* reached my limit. On Thursday, while shopping for Shabbat, I reached for a can of mandarin oranges.

Were they an ingredient in anything on the menu? No. Has anything with canned mandarin oranges been on the menu at any time in the last year? Nah. Do I even like mandarin oranges? Actually, I do ;). But as I reached for the can, thinking "maybe I should get one of these for the mamad, I found myself just about laughing out loud, and, wow, was that cathartic. Since then, I've found my tension level to be WAY lower (b''H). (Of course, each day that passes helps even more than mandarin oranges).

To try to end on a less somber note, have a chuckle looking at this. Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, tried to be super scary on social media. I'd say it failed because responses to his post are still coming out (my fave: "He should eat a diet higher in fiber"):

and this (if cross-dressing Israelis don't bother you :)):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mYScv8jOTQ

What's in the mamad?

 

I'm still thinking about what I'd like to say in a longer post, but, for now, since headlines such as this are all over the news, I thought you might like to see a list of what we have in our mamad/safe room:

First off, we're fortunate to have two beds in there (mamad at work is standing-room-only)

We've added in:

12 liters of bottled water and cups

chocolate bars (to keep the dementors away, as any good Harry Potter fan knows)

rice cakes

tuna (not that we're such fans, but all the cool kids have tuna in their mamad.....)

chips/Doritos/Bamba 

fireproof lockbox with important papers and some cash

Rescue Remedy (kosher version. Not sure if the link I'm giving is, but it's possible to get, should you find yourself, y'know, staring down Iran)

dog food for Percy, a bowl for water, and a faux piddle pad I put together for him

multi charger x 2 (for the Android/iPhone split among us)

battery-powered flashlight x 2

two sifrei tehilim (so we can keep saying "the L-rd is my shepherd").

Pray for peace and permanent security for our beautiful, holy country!!

The Downs and Ups of Living in Israel

 Yesterday, in the late afternoon, I made a shiva visit to a family from our shul whose son, while fighting in the Army in Gaza last week, was hit by an anti-tank missile. Yonatan Greenblatt, hy''d, died on Shabbat. 

And then, a few hours later, I went to an engagement party for my friend's son (out of the Army until August, when he's back in Gaza. May Hashem protect him and all of our soldiers).

To everything there is a season.....

But in Israel the seasons seem to come a whole lot faster and stronger than they did in the US.

Guest Post by Our 3 Year-Old Friend

 

Avi, his 7 year-old sister Bella  (who has been walking to shul with me most weeks for the past few months) and their mom often join us for Shabbos lunch. Their dad/husband was called up for reserve duty on October 7 and has spent the vast majority of the last 9 months fighting for the safety of our country.....(SUCH a small country--he has his car with him and, when possible, he drives the few hours home. Having grown up on war stories where the brave soldier is going overseas on a plane or boat and won't see his family for months, if not years, this concept is incredible [and also terrifying, frankly, that the war front is easily drivable from my sleepy suburb]).

Last week, Bella brought her brother's little siddur to shul with her, so she could say the special prayer we say for the soldiers. When I saw Avi's "personal prayer" in the back, I got quite the lump in my throat. He prays that his father "could go to the Army and also be at home".....

Agro-Terrorism

I read two articles today that got me thinking far more in-depth than I had been about the agricultural issues resulting from October 7. I knew that fields and farm animals suffered severe damage. That vast swaths of crops were rotting because many farm workers had been called up into the military and a lot of foreign workers had gone home (there are still local- and regional postings almost every day looking for volunteers to pick crops). I certainly knew that food prices had gone up.

What I didn't realize is that it was all part of the evil plot Hamas carried out on October 7. Mishpacha magazine's excellent article "Bitter Fruits" quotes the head of an agricultural community in the affected region who says, "Agriculture wasn't just collateral damage, as the general narrative goes. It was a deliberate target". The area affected, the WSJ notes, "produces 70% of the country's vegetables, 20% of its fruit and 6% of its milk".

The Wall Street Journal discusses Kibbutz Alumim, just 2 miles over the Gaza border. Three chicken coops there were burned to the ground on October 7, but 300,000 more chickens died of thirst and hunger after terrorists destroyed the automated dispensers that gave water and food for five more chicken coops, and no humans were around to tend to the chickens by hand.

In Nachal Oz, where the Mishpacha interviewee lives, "all 40 irrigation control boxes were smashed and the terrorists went straight for the customized computer chips that regulate the entire system; every farm vehicle was either burned or taken into Gaza".

In a previous post here about "The Hostages You Might Not Have Heard About" I mentioned foreign workers like Bipin Joshi. Why would Hamas want to take him hostage? Yonoson Rosenblum (of whose work I am quite the fan) and Rachel Ginsberg of Mishpacha explain:"Because Israeli agriculture can't survive without foreign workers, the terrorists located, massacred and abducted foreign workers in order to neutralize this vital labor source.....When the first Israeli soldiers reached  [the barracks where Thai workers slept] they found Thai workers not just killed, but horribly mutilated. Those photos were subsequently sent to the king of Thailand, with the specific intent that he would order his subjects to return to Thailand". Which something like 85 percent of them have done....

I encourage you to read both pieces:

https://mishpacha.com/bitter-fruits/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hamas-agricultural-terrorism-oct-7-israel-food-supply-trying-to-break-the-community-e4d91a71?st=jtwkaauxhbgs4id&reflink=article_gmail_share

Click here if you would like to donate to the Save a Farm Fund from Keren HaShviis (mentioned in the Mishpacha article):

photo from Save a Farm Fund

Guest Post by Fern: War Day #220 Yom Hazikaron: What gets lost

Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day, was yesterday. 

''What gets lost

Our glasses.

Our keys. 

The umbrella that used to be in that closet. 

6,000, in the Israeli War of Independence.

Our cellphones, 

the phone charger, 

the pacifier, and the small bear.

In 1963, one thousand lost, in just six days. 

The dress watch.

The remote control. 

Our place in the book. 

2,500 lives in the Yom Kippur war (three times the per capita of the Vietnam War to the US.)

Some things are lost and then found. 

Some are lost, and never recovered. 

That pen.

And one blue striped sock, in the laundry. 

Our feeling of belonging in the world. 

They say 25,000 total lost in wars. Plus many more in intifadas.

Six million, of course. 

We have not lost our resolve.

But our energy for battle? 

Can one lose what one never really had?

And then 1,200 all at once, on October 7th.

And with those 1,200, our confidence in our army, and Anne Frank’s belief in the essential goodness of people. 

And some of us have lost our faith. 

(Though, ironically, we pray for its return.)

We lose weighty things:

The moment,

Our temper, 

Our sense of self,

World support. 

Even our sanity. 

And hostages, 

So many loved ones 

gone astray,

With no trace. 

Our national anthem, Hatikvah, says: 

‎עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ

“Our hope is not yet lost.”

We cling to this hope, but how long until we lose that, too?

May you have a meaningful Yom Hazikaron.

---------------------

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https://fernmusing.substack.com/

Eurovision Update

Nice to share the happy news that Israel made it into the finals of Eurovision, to be held Saturday night.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/defying-haters-israels-eden-golan-advances-to-the-eurovision-grand-final-on-saturday/

With thanks to the Times of Israel for pointing out that the European Broadcasting Union that televises Eurovision used its high-tech "anti-boo technology" (I'd make fun of the name, but will refrain because I'm glad there is such a thing) to make sure home viewers did not hear the hate in the actual arena.

A large rally protesting Israel participating in Eurovision (although, from the photos, it just seems to be an anti-Israel rally) was held in Malmo, and, sadly, another is planned to Saturday, when the final competition happens. 

Rooting for Eden and Israel! Shabbat Shalom!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/09/eurovision-israel-protests-eden-golan/ (if you want to read more).

Hurricane

 "Hurricane" is probably a better title, so that no one worries that the weather here has gone crazy (although it did pour TWICE on Monday, and rain after Purim is unusual and rain after Pesach is downright rare. Monday was Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Memorial Day and my friend Michal, whose mother was born in a DP camp to her Holocaust-surviving grandparents, very movingly described standing in the pouring rain for the two minute national siren that causes the nation to stop and stand in honor, and feeling that Gd was crying with her).

The "Hurricane" I'm referencing is Israel's entrance to the international singing competition, Eurovision (I wrote once before about Eurovision and, in homage to all of us clueless Americans, called my post "Euro-Whata?"). This year, there has been a huge amount of controversy associated with Eurovision. Aside from calls and petitions for Israel to be refused entry to the competition, the song itself, originally called "October Rain" was disqualified for being "too political" and required several weeks of rewrites before being accepted with its current, much more oblique, lyrics ("it's really about making it through any challenging time".  Yeah, right....).

Singer Eden Golan, all of 20, did not participate in the Eurovision opening ceremony on Monday, instead opting to go to a Yom HaShoah memorial event with the Swedish Jewish community. Golan was "welcomed" back with boos and screams of "Free Palestine" during the dress rehearsal the next day, to the extent that she had to wait to start her song (how this young woman has done such an excellent job keeping her composure is beyond my comprehension [I got teary just watching the video of the dress rehearsal]). Golan was born in Israel and moved to Russia when she was six for her father's work. They didn't move back until Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 (her mother is Ukranian). If she'd like my input, I think North Korea might not be a bad place to move next, if she's trying to have more hate in her life.....

During the actual competition, Golan will be on stage with backup dancers (all of whom are wearing clothing that looks like rags/bandages. The yellow outfit she was originally supposed to wear was rejected as "too political" given its references to freeing the hostages. Sigh). For anyone interested in hearing the song, I'd like to point you to this beautiful AI video (kol isha, no real humans are shown): Hurricane Video

Israel is participating in the semi-finals Thursday (ie hopefully the day you are receiving this). Voting for one's home country is not allowed, so if you'd like to vote/send Israel some love, please visit https://www.esc.vote/. 

Pesach Roundup 2024

 It was a pretty mellow Pesach, and that suited me juuuuust fine.

Seder highlight: Menashe saying the Four Questions in Spanish, with Penina joining in when she could (I suggested that they increase the adorable newlywed vibes and practice to say it in unison next year).

Chol HaMoed highlight (although, since this was the only family trip I participated in, there was no competition): Guided tour of the gorgeous new National Library of Israel 

and a fun time messing around in the Library's sculpture garden:

The thrill of being in Israel for Passover truly never goes away. From seeing the streets get cleaned early in the morning erev Pesach

to having entire rows closed off in the supermarkets because they're chametz 

and having a chuckle at the sign on the soda machine assuring that everything inside is kosher for Passover.

The flip side is also true: the emotional depth of being in Israel is so intense.....Yizkor: the last time this memorial prayer was said was over Sukkot, just as the war was starting. How many people were saying it for the first time this Pesach? How many parents mourning children, especially soldiers killed in action? Took my breath away to think of.....