After Twelve Days....

 Please Gd, this is over. Yesterday, a cease fire with Iran was announced to start at seven in the morning. Starting at 5:13 a.m., we got five pre-warnings that missiles were on the way. B''H they skipped over our section of the country, but unfortunately, four people were killed in Be'er Sheva.....

Best armchair quarterback analysis I heard was that Trump announced the cease fire on his own. Worked for Israel because we've accomplished what was necessary there. Worked for Iran because they were looking for a face-saving way out. If the cease fire sticks, Trump gets to play hero and maybe even get that Nobel Peace Prize he seems to want. If not, he's got an excuse to further pound Iran. While I have no idea if any of that is true, it makes sense to me.

Penina and I went out for dinner to celebrate (poor Menashe had already gone back to Jerusalem. #IOweYouDinner!). This is what the mall looked like at 8 PM on Tuesday evening:

And the big "welcome" sign at the entrance was directions to the nearest safe room in the mall:

HomeFront Command lifted most restrictions right around when we went out.  Crazy hard to find a place that was open, as the previous guidelines had only allowed restaurants to be open for delivery or take out and every non-essential business was not allowed to be open (hence the empty mall since only the restaurants and SuperPharm were open). After trying our top four restaurants, we joined the crowds at the burger joint, which seemed to be the only place open for dine-in.

Came home fully prepared and excited to hopefully have a good night's sleep. At 1:30 I heard Percy barking. Tried to ignore him. Thought about how he'd perhaps gotten spoiled being taken upstairs in the middle of the last 12 nights (for warnings/azakot) and maybe he was now expecting to sleep in someone's bed? Finally decided I'd rather sleep than take a sleep-training stand and brought him up to my bed, where he stood on the edge of my bed and barked. Oh noooo. That must mean.....Yup, his doggie friend Theo, who lives on the next block and (literally) walks himself over for playdates a few times a week, was outside our door. Thankfully Theo's family was still awake and someone came to get him shortly after. And after that? A blissful night's sleep.....

I think this was the war we all thought we would have after October 7: brutal but short, as opposed to brutal-but-628-days-long. Praying that Hamas, seeing what happened to Iran (their main supplier of weapons, training, intelligence, etc etc) will free the remaining hostages.

Schools started up again today and no restrictions of movement/business openings. I have never been so happy to see traffic in the mercaz before!! With tremendous thanks to Hashem, I am making dinner for a number of miluim families tonight, who still have the stress and challenge of their husband/father being out at war. 

Still no update on when my dear husband will be coming home. Our-friend-the-doctor is still stuck in the US, so it's not looking so great for either of them to come back before Shabbos. 

Next up: cleaning up the mamad which got WAY too much use over the past 12 days. Thank you, Hashem, for protecting us. May we never need to use it as anything but a guest room again!

(I feel like I could make a fun (for lack of a better word) "find the" game: Can you find Tums? Rescue Remedy? Sefer Tehilim? The "Go Bag" with medicines, our lock box with cash and all our important papers? Shoes for the three of us because if the house gets destroyed and you need to leave the mamad, you need to be able to walk through the wreckage? Dog food and leash? Snacks and more snacks? Flashlights and battery-operated lights in case the power went out? Satellite phone? Oy. Never mind. I'm getting stressed even thinking about what's in there!)

Update on the Rest of the Family

 It's really weird to have all of our immediate family members who are in Israel in our house and the sum total is....three: Penina, Menashe and me. (Well, four if we're including Percy, but he's not a big traveler)

Shalom Shachne left two weeks ago to go visit his mother and brothers in Los Angeles and then go to NY to visit our kids there. And there he remains. There are something like 100,000 Israelis who are out of the country and trying to come back now. First spots are filled with humanitarian needs (although even our friend who is an MD did not get on a flight yet), soldiers returning for reserve duty and unaccompanied minors (geesh--get those kids home NOW!). El Al keeps sending him emails like, "Sorry, today's not your day, buddy". 

Ilana was on a school trip to Poland when things heated up with Iran. She was supposed to come back home for a few days, pack her stuff and then head to NY to work in a summer camp. When it became clear that she was not going to be able to come home, Penina played travel agent and switched her tickets around to get her to New York without coming home. Except Ilana only had her Israeli passport with her, since she had flown directly from school and we keep her US passport here (it is not necessary to send me messages about always traveling with both passport #WeKnowThatNow). So she missed the last day of the trip and spent the day at the US Embassy in Warsaw getting an emergency passport (thankfully. It was unclear if they would even see her that day, but she was persistent when they tried to send her away).

Just to add to the fun, Israel is now saying that anyone who leaves the country cannot return until 30 days or more have passed. While I understand the reasoning, I hope that changes by the time my next tickets to the US roll around in a month....

After Six Nights of This....

 I'm tired. Much/most/all of the country is tired....

Various posts from my Whatsapp status over the past few days (always a good way to keep track of what's going on with me, for those who know me in real life/have my Whatsapp number). Also good to do it this way because I'm too darn tired to write a whole thing at the moment:

From the night before last:

"Okay, I showered (quickly), took melatonin and ready for lights out. Please Gd: peace, safety and a normal night's sleep"

6:29 am: "I just woke up. We didn't have to go back into the mamad again! Thank you, Hashem!  

I feel so much better from a semi-normal night's sleep ("Iran only sent a volley of intercontinental ballistic missiles to try to kill my entire nation once last night! Wow, I can't believe how refreshing it is that it was only once!"). (PS other parts of the country did have more azakot)"

So I went for a run around the safest part of the city I could think of #FlashbacksToTheBeginningOfTheWar. My Status description says, "Wow, thank you, Hashem, since I know I did not run either this fast or this far. I appreciate the Love Tap". (fun fact: the only other time my run tracker has not been accurate is when I walk around Logan Airport waiting for my flight back here. While I'm dragging my carry-on along trying to get my steps in, I always notice (and appreciate) that the km get racked up in a way that is clearly not accurate (but IS appreciated). I assume it has something to do with electrical interference/GPS usage from all the planes there and, well, doesn't that make sense re. why my run tracker wouldn't be accurate at the moment [PS I always fly at night from here and never put my tracker on, so don't know if it's every airport, but I wouldn't be too surprised]).

It was a nice run and good to be out, even if I did feel a might creaky. Then, when I was coming home:

(Penina gets extra points for always doing her part to make sure I know danger is on the way)

And just a last few memes before I try to go take a nap before work:

What time is it? Who am I? Why did I wake up? Did I even sleep? Did we win already?

Who are we? The Israelis
What do we want? Sleep!
And what will we do? Wait for the azazka

'Night all!

A Day In Our Lives, During These Crazy Times....

Everyone woke up late due to the late-night azakot last night. I was exercising in my room (running outside would be folly) when I suddenly realized it was 9:20 and Percy usually goes for a walk at 8. I took him from the mamad, where he was with Penina and Menashe (they had given up moving back after the second siren and decided to stay there the rest of the night. I figured that the azaka was going to wake me wherever I was, so I might as well be comfortable in my own bed).

Heartfelt davening. 

I had told the Yeshiva that I would not be coming in person (as a nurse, I could technically have gone #CovidFlashbacks, but, again : FOLLY!), but would do clinic virtually if students needed me. Most were scheduled to fly out tonight, but that will not be happening since the airport is closed for the foreseeable future.

Penina, Menashe and I went grocery shopping. Limit of two cartons of eggs and two milks per person (and most stores were running low on milk). We got lots of goodies to tide us over: "If we have to live through war, we're not going to be concerned about the grocery budget. Buy whatever you want". 

The woman who organizes gluten-free meals for soldiers thought she had both a need and a driver, so I made 5 meals of GF falafel with quiona-brown rice pilaf, salad, GF pita and homemade GF cookies (from the freezer). 

Then, time to leave for work (private duty RN with an incredible Holocaust survivor who lives about ten minutes away). I called my mother as I started driving and thus missed FOURTEEN calls/Whatsapps/Facetimes from Penina and Menashe trying to make sure I knew that an "early warning stay near a safe space" had been announced. I did not know. Eek. When I finally saw that Penina was calling me on time 14, I was almost to work, thankfully. I walked in about three minutes before the siren went off and was able to help "my lovely lady" get to the mamad.

mamad hand-holding chain between me, her and her husband

I had ended up bringing the meals with me, as the coordinator was having trouble contacting the volunteer driver (which, if he is in the Army, is understandable). When I was ready to leave work, she told me she wasn't able to find anyone and that the meals were going far away so I couldn't bring them myself (honestly, I would only have gone within my city limits). As I was driving home (after updating Penina and Menashe that I was leaving and would put my phone where I could see incoming alerts), I thought to call the two miluim families I often cook for and explain that I had fresh GF meals that couldn't be frozen and would they like? I had been concerned that I might not be able to cook for these two families this week, so it was great that they both said 'yes' and, although not how I had planned it, I was glad their families could get a meal they didn't need to prepare.

Tonight we were supposed to attend a wedding at the same winery Penina and Menashe got married in. All in-person gatherings were canceled, however ;( . SO moved by the incredible letter the families sent out earlier today, which read, in part:

"Tonight was meant to be a joyful celebration of N. and G's wedding....Unfortunately, we are unable to hold the event as originally planned.

But as our history has shown time and again, the Jewish spirit is not easily shaken. N. and G. are resolute in their commitment--not only to each other, but to building a life rooted in faith, resilience and love. They have chosen to proceed with a small, intimate chuppah in a private home in the Old City of Jerusalem, a place deeply meaningful to them both and steeped in the eternal legacy of our people.

They will not allow the ayatollahs of Iran--or any enemy of Am Yisrael--to define their future. With Hashem's help, they will begin their life together with the same courage and devotion that have always carried the Jewish people forward, even in the most uncertain times"

Watched the wedding virtually (the bride carried a Mashiach-welcoming tambourine. Chills). It was so beautiful to see our people's resilience!

I slept from 10-midnight when a pre-warning woke us up. Back to the mamad. To wait and wait. Best case scenario: Israel knocked everything down outside of the country. At the moment, it's  unclear. 

Praying for peace. Praying for safety. 

Iran

It's Saturday night and I'm writing this from our mamad. Shalom Shachne is in Los Angeles, visiting his Mom and brothers, and Ilana is on a school trip to Poland. 

Thursday night, after Israel carried out targeted attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and leaders (feel free to PM me if you need any convincing that reducing Iran's nuclear capabilities is anything but a huge chesed to the world), Israel sent out an alert to everyone's phones. It was a different alert sound than normal; while I jump from the regular tone, this one made me jump practically out of my skin, partially because I had no idea what the tone meant, but it clearly was nothing good given how it sounded and the fact they it was sent at three in the morning. I grabbed Percy and headed to the mamad. It took quite a while to figure it out, but it was basically a warning by the country that it had done these attacks and Iran might respond ASAP.

In my opinion, the best comment out of the many rawther-snarky memes and videos that came out after this: "This warning could have been an email"

Thursday evening, before anything started, Penina and Menashe had said that if things started getting sticky with Iran they would come for Shabbos, but late in the afternoon on Friday, after Penina's online classes ended at two. They have no mamad in their apartment and no miklat  (communal shelter) in either their building or their neighborhood (the recommended safe spaces are underground parking garages).  After they had to twice sprint to a nearby hotel and hang out with the rest of the neighborhood in the underground stairwells Thursday night, I was lamenting that they hadn't come earlier. Now, who knew if travel was safe? All buses had been canceled. 

And then the news that 100 drones had been sent towards Israel and prepare to batten down the hatches when they arrived, around 11 Friday morning. Two different friends had invited me to come stay with them over Shabbos so it wouldn't be here alone with Percy. I had planned to stay home until late in the afternoon and then head over to Julie's house (closer than Michal's). With news of 100 drones, however, I decided to head over as soon as I could get myself together: I changed into Shabbat clothes that were comfortable enough to sleep in, packed six liters of water (which had been sold out in the mercaz that morning, so, basically, I was bringing the ultimate hostess gift), 3 dozen cookies out of the eight dozen chesed cookies I had made Thursday evening, most of which had not been delivered yet, 1/2 a watermelon, Percy and his travel house.....Basically, by the time I was done packing I could barely get down the stairs! Thankfully, Aliza (the flower girl at Penina and Menashe's wedding) came to help me get to their house. Gd bless the 12 year-olds!!!

It was very calming to be with others and even more calming that Israel was able to shoot down the drones. Then: decision time. Should I just stay there until Shabbat was over? Go home and hope to be able to come back in the afternoon? B''H the decision became clear (go home and stay there) once Penina and Menashe were able to book a taxi here. I was expecting price gouging (and would have been fine to pay it), but the price was only about $10 over normal (don't worry, we gave the guy a healthy tip).

It was such a relief knowing that they would have a mamad available and that we were together. We cooked more (I had planned to go to Michal's for Friday night so hadn't made anything for dinner) and I made another 8 dozen chocolate chip cookies for a group of soldiers that had ended up in our city and without food for Shabbat. Someone from our neighborhood who took over the cookies (and lots of other things from lots of other people) sent this video. Never tell a Jewish mother (or father!) that people might be hungry, and especially not over Shabbos!

https://youtube.com/shorts/9ev3-5BpNQI?si=W6Qw4af18yb5CLTE

Friday night, just as we were finishing lighting Shabbos candles, the first siren happened. And then the whole night was this.....

https://youtube.com/shorts/9ev3-5BpNQI?si=25X5nw3tTlE1Unc7

HUGE thanks to the Rabinowitz family for the interlinear tehilim they gave Penina as a bat mitzvah gift a decade ago. While we've had a number of sirens on Shabbat/Holidays (when we don't use phones), this was the first all-nighter we've had when we got the giant reminder that IT'S ALL HASHEM. For the first time ever, I finished the entire Sefer Tehilim in one day, and got tremendous comfort from it. 

Evidently today was some kind of holiday in Iran and and it was quiet during the day. My friend Sharon and her adult son walked over for lunch (they are up the stairs and over one building so they said they felt safe that they could either get back home or get to us if a siren started). Her husband is also away in the US and we had planned "Feminocentric Shabbos Lunch" with a single mom who lives nearby, but not 90 seconds-to-get-to-shelter nearby, so we weren't surprised that she didn't show up (we set lunch to start at 12-12:15 so assumed they weren't coming as soon as it was 12:15).

And so the day passed. And here we are again, in the mamad with huge booms overhead.

Before signing off, I'd like to share a beautiful prayer that my dear friend Kelly wrote while texting with me:

Praying for peace. Praying for safety. 

 

Omer Shem Tov in Boston (!)

 

photo by Sheila :)

With thanks to Cousin Loren and Morah Sheila who tipped me off, I have enjoyed reading about Omer Shem Tov's recent trip to Boston. Combined Jewish Philanthropies paid for him and his parents to come to Boston. He was met by day school students at the airport, spoke at a synagogue, toured Gillette stadium and threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Monday night, at Jewish Heritage Night. 

The Boston Herald had a write-up and this photo, of Omer surrounded on the pitcher's mound by Jewish Red Sox staff members:

I had been wondering how hard it was for an Israeli (aka "someone with zero baseball background") to learn to throw a pitch. The Herald reports that he practiced a few times in Israel but wasn't nervous because, "after all the things I've been through" there are very few things "that can affect me". 

As we learn more about the horrific conditions of his captivity (CBS News, reporting on his visit, writes that he was fed "one biscuit a day with salty water"), I'm glad he was able to get some extra support and love from Boston. 

Here is a video of Omer describing some of his captivity:

https://youtu.be/pok1RqlduVI?si=9zGICG8CCK1vDsO8

Eurovision 2025

Some interesting background that I wanted to share:

Israel's contestant this year, 24 year-old Yuval Rafael, is a survivor of the Nova massacre. I saw a video that overlaid her singing at Eurovision with a recording of her phone call to her father on October 7. Chilling. He likely saved her life by telling her to hang up and pretend to be dead (like most of the people around her). For eight hours she lay covered in corpses.....And survived.

And she's no long-term professional: her first on-stage performance was only six months ago.

Eurovision was held in Basel, Switzerland this year. Site of the 1901 Fifth Zionist Congress and Theodor Herzl's famous speech. Yuval recreated Herzl's historic balcony photo:

And the set she sang on during the contest was made to resemble a giant chandelier and balcony. Basically, it was a Herzl homage ;)

And what's this last photo??

It's not my photo, but shows the Eurovision results on the left and the Home front Command incoming missile alerts on the right. As YnetNews said, "Coinciding with Saturday's announcement of the winner, air raid sirens sounded across Israel amid missile fire from Yemen". (Our area, thankfully, was out of the zone)

PS: Israel came in second place, and won the popular vote!