Pre-Warnings

Usually we get pre-warnings of incoming missiles. I have a love/hate relationship with pre-warnings. They used to reliably be about ten minutes before we got a siren. Lately (looking at you, Iran) they have been about 3-4 minutes before, if they come at all (looking at you, Hezbollah in Lebanon. Too close to have advanced warning). We've also had a LOT of pre-warnings without having an actual siren lately. Like over Shabbat we had eight pre-warnings and only 1 siren (not that I'm complaining).

Except am I going to complain a little. The sound the Homefront Command app makes for a pre-alert is LOUD. Like CRAZY LOUD (even if your phone is on silent #MeAllTheTime). And unbelievably startling. One moment you're just on your phone playing Wordle (hi, Anne) and the next your phone is doing an Amber Alert along with a machine gun rattle added in. Imagine that eight times a day.....Some people (umm, maybe even me) have been known (only once. Maybe twice) to even toss their phone in the air because they get so startled at the sound of the hatra'a pre-alert (usually, I just go "AAAAHHH" which, if people around me aren't stressed enough, usually gets them up to speed).

(Ha--ironically, we just got a pre-alert as I'm writing this [can't make this stuff up. Did not turn into a siren for us]) If you'd like to hear what a pre-alert sounds like, watch this BBC clip: https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cx2lg4y96kpo (although I don't hear the machine gun rattle at the end of his pre-alert, I'm tired of scrolling and listening to pre-alerts on video to find the "perfect" one to share)

as I was writing this post....🙄

We've all been sleeping with our phones either off or on airplane mode so as not to get the pre-alerts (we hear the siren just fine from our house and have plenty of time to get to the mamad in our house). If I get up in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back asleep, I've gone old school and am reading a book (Henry James's "The Golden Bowl", which, at least from the first 100 pages, is neither boring enough to immediately put me back to sleep nor great enough to make me happy to pick it up. Recommendations for the "most sleep-inducing book you can think of" happily acccepted).

Commentator Yael Levontin wrote it better than I ever could in a recent Facebook post:

Okay, Home Front Command פיקוד העורף

We need to talk.

Specifically about the phone sirens.

What did we agree on? The rockets are stressful enough. The news is stressful enough. Life is stressful enough. Why is my phone screaming like it just saw a ghost?

That sound doesn’t “alert” me. It launches my soul out of my body. I age three years every time it goes off. I’m pretty sure I can pinpoint the exact siren that turned half my hair gray.

Could we maybe workshop a new tone? Something a little less “impending doom” and a little more “gentle nudge to not stand near windows”? A polite Israeli voice saying, “Hi motek, just a quick heads up…” Maybe some soft background music? A harp? A spa vibe?

I understand the urgency. I respect the urgency. I do not, however, need my nervous system to leave the chat every single time.

I fully appreciate the protection. Truly. Five stars for safety. Think: same protection, slightly less cardiac event.

Respectfully submitted by someone who would like to survive both the rockets and the notifications

Todah rabah.

Shabat After a Week of War with Iran

Thankfully, Shabbat felt pretty normal. We had eight pre-warnings, but only one turned into a siren (Tel Aviv and other areas were not so fortunate). We had friends over for dinner with their friend Janet/Chemda from Boston (who was visiting Israel and got "warred" in. It's like snowed in but more dangerous). My family and Janet's go way back (like she even babysat for me a few times!) and it was nice to hear some stories about my grandparents, who were good friends with her parents.

Woke up this morning to a 5:45 a.m. siren. Heckuva way to wake up. Like the loudest alarm you can imagine, but this one has the subtle undertone of "better get up because if you stay in bed you might die". 

Couldn't fall back asleep after the all-clear and eventually got up and did my usual (which hasn't been very "usual" lately) stretching/body weight training session. Just as I was about to leave for a run: pre-alert. Got the all clear and decided to still go. A week off with zero physical activity and endless comfort food is enough! I stayed on a route where there were unlocked buildings the entire way, so I had a place to duck into if necessary. 

I had 25 minutes before shul started. Made it 3.5 km and arrived just as services were starting so I could amen Shalom Shachne's kaddish for my mother, a''h, whose Hebrew birthday would have been today. 

Thanks for the emails and Whatsapp messages. I apologize if I haven' responded (yet!). I appreciate the good thoughts, wishes and prayers

Starting my run. It's always uphill both ways around here.

Follow-up to the Missile Hit in our City

 On Monday, a missile made a direct hit in our city (blog post here). This missile hit a synagogue and the neighborhood shelter underneath it. 9 people were killed, many related to each other: an adult mother and daughter (the daughter, in her 40s, volunteered as an EMT. I can't imagine what it was like for members of her team to be searching for her/finding her body in the rubble. Three of her children were wounded, but not critically).

Three teenage siblings were killed in their house near the impact site. Their father, a rabbi, said at their funerals, “Our patriarch Abraham bound one son, I bound three,” he said. “I bound my son Yaakov, my daughter Avigail and my daughter Sara. Gd wanted to take these holy souls.” The family is sitting Shiva a hotel in Jerusalem as their house was destroyed....

Another family had an incoming missile siren during the funeral....

This is a good article about the people who were killed: https://www.timesofisrael.com/four-of-the-9-victims-of-iranian-missile-strike-on-beit-shemesh-named-by-authorities/

This is what a friend's living room, about 1/2 mile from the impact looked like after:

A good reminder that, although people died while in the shelter, many people were saved in the same shelter

For anyone interested in helping financially, Lema'an Achai, the organization I do a lot of volunteering for, is one of the organizations helping with urgent needs the families have, like clothing and items for daily life: 

https://www.lemaanachai.org/en/project/emergency-campaign-beit-shemesh-hit-by-rockets/

Purim 2026/5786

Despite it all (and there was a fair bit of "all"), a beautiful Purim!

Although there was a siren in the middle of the night, Shalom Shachne and I were able to get up and out to the neitz (sunrise) minyan. 

Came home and made a nice breakfast of eggs in shakshuka sauce with feta and fresh herbs, Israeli salad, pancakes and fruit. The joke on Sunday was should people bother to make 40 mishloach manot food packages to give out or were we all doing about three this year? 

We decided not to walk around to give to people. If people showed up at our door then we were happy to give our packages out. 20 ended up being just right.

This year, we gave out sparkly grape juice and dark chocolate bars along with donation cards to the organization Kedma which supports families who have a member serving in the reserves. They give out restaurant gift vouchers (double dipping because the restaurants are usually owned by reservists as well) and pay for therapy for children.

 

Penina led us in dressing up as the gang from Scooby Doo. We were outside trying to take our family photo when a siren went off. We decided it was very appropriate that our family photo this year would be taken inside our mamad. We did try again later and got a normal photo

Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, Fred and the villain who
"would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids"

We went for our seudah/festive meal at our friends' house (coordinated with other friends who live two doors away that some of us at the first house would be going to the other mamad if a siren went off, since there were too many people to fit in the hosts' mamad). This was a nice touch of normalcy during my year of mourning for my mother, since Purim is one of the rare exceptions when I can go to a group event.

Before we left, I had an interesting phone call from Magen David Adom (MADA):

"Hello, you called for an ambulance?"

"An AMBULANCE?! No! Sorry! We're all fine! I'm so sorry for the confusion--Happy Purim"

When MADA called again later, I picked up the phone and said, "I'm so sorry for the confusion but we don't need an ambulance. Happy Purim" and the woman calling launched into a long spiel about....donating blood. Seems the first person had received the wrong info about why they were calling me and really they were calling to ask if I would make an appointment to donate blood *that night* (if nothing else I write gives you a sense for the seriousness of the situation here, the fact that MADA was doing an emergency blood drive PURIM NIGHT might do it).

So I ended my day donating blood (which I had wanted to do the day before but appointments were "sold out" before I could make one. People spoke of standing in line for two hours to donate)

Velma donates blood

One final Purim thought:

Purim Morning Update

Has there ever been a Purim like this one, aside from the very first Purim??? (Okay, 1991, when the Gulf War ENDED on Purim and Israelis were able to throw off their gas masks and emerge from their sealed rooms is right up there)

Many shuls are closed (if there is no safe room, they are technically supposed to be closed, although many, including ours, announced they would be closed and then had small minyanim and left it to the participants to figure out where they would go if a siren went off) . Sign up sheets have been going around for home readings of the megillah. Signing up is necessary as people are only accepting the maximum number they can fit in their mamad/safe room.

I missed the sign-up for our neighbor across the street and asked him if we could join anyway since we could easily get back to our house's mamad. He said we could chance it but that, if they ended up in the mamad, he was going to continue reading the megillah (and since one has to hear every word of the megillah, we would have had to go to a second reading)

Our street minyan (started during Covid and still going strong in what, during the week, is two parking spots under a house and on Shabbat and holidays becomes a full [if small] synagogue with upholstered chairs, a fully library, air conditioning and a gorgeous Sefardi Torah scroll] at the last minute announced a reading, so Penina, Ilana and I went there. Easy to sprint home if necessary. b''H made it through the entire megillah without even a pre-warning (most of us thought that a barrage would start the second the sun went down and it became Purim).

The way I grew up, a LOT of noise is made every time wicked Haman's (booooo) name is read. While there are readings like that, I think the most common thing is to booooo only the first and last time his name is read. And if it wasn't your minyan's custom *before* last night, it certainly is the custom today, as everyone is doing their best to get through the entire megillah without interrupting and hearing the entire thing (ie so participants don't need to go to another reading). There are zoom links going around for readings that kids can participate in and make all the noise they want (not for adults to count as fulfilling the mitzvah of hearing the megillah)

One siren during the night.....

Got up and davened with the neitz sunrise minyan, the earliest time. Off to try to grab the full spiritual potential of this incredible day.

Happy Purim! Join me in praying for miracles.

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

Here are the guidelines sent out by the Rav of our shul:

Dear Wonderful Community,
We would like to sincerely thank everyone who has volunteered to read the Megillah and to host the community for tefillah and the reading. Your dedication is deeply appreciated.

Guidelines for Purim
1. Pikuach Nefesh — The Highest Priority
The Torah commands: “וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּם מְאֹד לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם” (דברים ד:טו) “You shall carefully guard your lives.”
Chazal teach: “וחי בהם — ולא שימות בהם” (יומא פה ע״ב) “You shall live by them—and not die by them.”

“פיקוח נפש דוחה את כל התורה כולה” (יומא שם; רמב״ם הלכות שבת ב:א; שולחן ערוך אורח חיים שכח:ב) “Saving a life overrides the entire Torah.”

Therefore, it is a halachic obligation to act responsibly.
2. Megillah Readings
Megillah readings will take place at designated locations.
Please see the group chat for exact times and locations.
3. In Case of a Siren
• Everyone should proceed to the nearest protected space
4. Continuing the Reading in a Safe Room
If:
• There is sufficient space, and
• It is safe to do so
The Megillah reading may continue in the protected space.
5. If the Reading Must Stop
If it is not possible to continue:
• Stop the reading
• Avoid unrelated speech
Halachic basis:
• One should not interrupt with unrelated matters during Megillah reading (שולחן ערוך או״ח תרצ:ה)
• Even Tehillim should not be recited aloud during the interruption
When it becomes possible to resume:
• Continue from where you stopped
• There is no need to return to the beginning (משנה ברורה תרצ:טו)
6. Missing Words During the Megillah
If someone missed words:
• They should read those words from a text in their possession
Halacha: One who misses even one word must complete it

(שולחן ערוך או״ח תרצ:ג; משנה ברורה שם)

This applies even if:
• The text is not a kosher Megillah (not written on parchment)
7. Making Noise at the Mention of Haman
To avoid prolonging the reading:
• On context to the Minyan - Noise will be made only at the first and last mention of Haman
Halachic note:
• The custom to make noise exists, but one must ensure that every word is heard (רמ״א או״ח תרצ:יז)
8. Megillah Blessings
• The blessings before the Megillah are recited even without a minyan

(שולחן ערוך או״ח תרצב:א)

• The blessing after the Megillah: “הרב את ריבנו” is recited only with a minyan (שם; משנה ברורה תרצב:י)
9. Drinking on Purim (With Awareness of the Current Situation) and Remember you can go to Sleep!
The Gemara teaches: “מיחייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא” (מגילה ז ע״ב) “A person is obligated to drink on Purim.”
However, the poskim clarify:
• One should not become dangerously intoxicated
• One must maintain awareness and dignity (רמ״א או״ח תרצה:ב; משנה ברורה שם)
Given the current situation:
• One must remain alert and able to respond to instructions

With gratitude to Hashem for the protection of Am Yisrael,
May we merit:
• The downfall of all evil
• The revelation of Hashem’s presence
• The complete redemption
• And the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash במהרה בימינו, אמן

Much Love,

Yehoshua Gerzi

Morning Update (Mourning?)

Our "sleepy suburb" has, thankfully, been pretty sheltered from the brunt of war. Until yesterday. Sunday afternoon an Iranian missile that the NY Times estimates was carrying HALF A TON of explosives crashed into a residential neighborhood in the older part of our city, about a 10-12 minute drive from where we live. The missile made a direct hit on a neighborhood bomb shelter. As of now, 9 people are confirmed dead. 11 are still missing. 40 are wounded, some critically.....Gd help us....

We don't have friends in the neighborhood that was hit, but friends about a five minute walk away all had extensive damage to their houses, including windows blown in, but, thankfully, they are all unhurt.

We appreciate that so many of you reached out to make sure we were okay. I will continue to try to write daily blog posts (probably easier just to check the blog site rather than waiting for the emails to be sent out 24 hours later) and post Whatsapp status updates.

We have just started the Fast of Esther. May we have the ability to channel our inner Queen Esther and may Hashem listen to our pleas for permanent peace, safety and security.

Iran (part 3). Hopefully the final part....

 

First siren Saturday morning. SO thankful that we had a normal night before this all went down....

We had a full house for Shabbat, b''H. Malden's own Ariella with Chaim and their beyond-adorable kids (3 and 9 months) and Ilana's friend Noa. And then two guys from the local Yeshiva for lunch. Despite a bunch of times in the mamad, a lovely Shabbat.  Since we don't use phones etc on Shabbat we had little clue what exactly was going on, but, from a faith perspective it was great: a reminder that it's all from Above and scrolling is not really important.

Our guests all decided to go back home to Jerusalem and made it safely, b''H. Menashe even was able to take the bus there and back without sirens to get things they needed to temporarily move in here.

Ilana's seminary roommate and her father are in Israel on a trip and the needed to leave their AirB&B, so we trooped upstairs after Shabbat ended and changed sheets and cleaned up for the next in the revolving door :).

It is wild that this is all going down in the Hebrew month of Adar with Purim just a few days away. We are truly reliving the Purim story (and, hey, Iran--it didn't turn out so well for you guys the last time either).

Praying for peace, safety and security in our beautiful holy land. Praying for peace throughout the wold.