Spoke Too Soon

Remember way back yesterday when I talked about all those missiles and finished my post with how wonderful that there had been "nothing since then"? Not fifteen minutes after I hit "publish", we heard that crazy, horrible, immediate-fight-or-flight WHOOOOOOOOO of an azaka. When that siren sounds it is the most visceral thing. I think the best thing to compare the very first microsecond of a siren gearing up for full wail is (sorry for a gross comparison) when you have a stomach bug and wake up in the middle of the night; there's that split second where you're trying to figure out what's going on and then you're sprinting to the bathroom. 

Again, the Houthis sending a ballistic missile (at least they usually only send one a day #WarOnABudget). Which is truly the best that can be said about their behavior. 

Again it was, thankfully, shot down outside of Israel and no one in Israel was injured.

Fragments of the missile as well as the intercepting missile fell in our sleepy suburb  (I think I've got to stop calling it that. Yesterday, it was announced that we live in the fastest growing city in all of Israel). Truly amazing how this biggest part fell in an open area about 100 feet from where all the apartment buildings at the entrance to the city are. Thank you, Hashem.

found in someone's garden. Eek

Off to get some shut-eye. Last year, to "celebrate" New Year's missiles were sent. Hoping for a quiet night and a 2025 of peace and security.

-------

PS: "only" five places in Israel had azakot at midnight (in comparison, the day before there were 231). The head of the local Hatzala said that the Houthis tried to send another ballistic missile, but it fell in an open area in Saudia Arabia. All I know is that I fell asleep shortly before midnight with the light on downstairs so I could grab Percy from his crate easier, and a light on in the mamad so we wouldn't trip on the box of Chanukah supplies in the hallway and then, YAY, slept until the morning.

Chanukah 2024/5785

Some nice highs this Chanukah. Chana came to visit from New York for two weeks (she just left this morning. Booooo) and it was so nice to have time with her. Penina, Mensahe, Ilana and Cousin Coby came for Shabbos and it was great to be together.

Chanukah party with Menashe's family ;)

Downsides: a BUNCH of sirens. The Houthis have been trying their darndest to hurt people here. Thankfully, so far they haven't succeeded (thank you, Hashem). Most of the ballistic missiles have been shot down outside of Israel, over the Mediterranean (to the tune of $2-3 million each one. sigh).

So the Houthis decided to wake us up with a missile on Wednesday night at 4:20 in the morning. 

As the three of us (well, four including Percy) were in the mamad, I told Chana it was so that she could have an "authentic" experience to report back to her friends in the US.....

Then another on Thursday night at 3:30 in the morning (Penina, Menashe and Ilana were staying with us by then)

And then over Shabbat:

not my Whatsapp status, but sums up the situation nicely

b''H nothing since then,  I'll say that this tiniest of tastes of what life up north/down south is Israel is like was enough.....

Happy Chanukah 

PS for those of you who play Wordle, look at what happened tonight (!)

So where DO the things I collect for the Army go?

 Great question! Thanks to "AP" for asking it, as I'm sure others are also wondering. 

The short answer is, "I know a guy" :). Moti lives in my neighborhood and we knew each other a bit before the war started as we both have Maltese dogs. 

Leo trying to help pack bags for soldiers (he and Percy really DO look alike, don't they?!)

When the war began, Moti started procuring supplies for local soldiers that he knew, then branched out into assisting low income soldiers (the army gives basic supplies, but, in order to be well tricked-out, soldiers need to chip in on their own) and helping "lone soldiers" (those from overseas who don't have immediate family in Israel. This includes a  LOT of Americans). He does his best now to give to any soldier who contacts him, and has helped thousands of soldiers over this last, crazy year.

He spends time going to the airport to pick up the duffel bags sent to him by US contacts (eight came in yesterday). He's at the airport once or twice a week and each time it takes 5-6 hours to release the bags with all of the forms filled out and any taxes dealt with. Sometimes, people bring duffels to Israel with them, like my friend Temima from NY who brought 7 duffel bags with her earlier this fall (Go, Temima!!). 

Eight duffel bags picked up on Wednesday

Unloading them in his basement, the entirety of which has been taken over as an unofficial Army supply depot:

Look to the side: this was Wednesday night and there are two duffel bags that came back that afternoon waiting to be unloaded :)

And spending time each night giving out items to soldiers. 

Moti has been so amazing putting in hours and hours each day doing this. 

"Are you still able to work your regular job, Moti?" (software, working American hours [4-midnight])

"I am working but it has taken a huge toll of work delays, missed days, etc"

"You once mentioned to me the amount of your own money you've put into this. It's been a while. How much, now, do you think you've put in of your own money?"

"I don't want to know....."

Here's a little tour of their basement by Moti and two of his kids:

When I was in Boston over the summer, people reading this might have donated granola bars and protein bars for me to take back. Thank you! Moti's guys loved them ;)

If you would like to help Moti's incredible efforts, here's the US tax-deductible link to "We In It Together":

https://secure.cardknox.com/weinittogether

And you've got 1.5 more weeks until I show up in the US and start packing up all the things that Moti requested I shlep back. Here's the link to the Amazon registry: 

https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/owner-view/3M02MX8X2KQG0?ref_=registries_subnav

THANK YOU!!!

"You Give Strength to the Weary"

For a long time, I have maintained that the appropriate prayer for any issue a person is dealing with is found in Morning Blessings.

It is hard to believe that for 404 days, we have been saying the blessing matir asurim --"You release the bound"--with the concept that, yes, our limbs are moving and we can arise from sleeping, but also that there are hostages who truly are bound and need to be released. Every morning I say the name of each one of the hostages and Daven that today will be the day they come home. 

We ask Gd each morning to give us strength ("Please Gd, give all the soldiers who are working so hard, all the strength they need").

But the blessing that is most resonating with me these days is hanoten l'yaef koach, "You give strength to the weary". I try not to speak for everyone, but for this, I think I can truly say that the country is weary. It is hard to believe it's been 13.5 months since the war started. 

When it began, I numbered my blog posts ("War Day 5"), in the innocence of thinking this would be over soon.....

Now, we have my friend's son, who was called up in his Reserve Unit on October 7 and was in the Army until mid-October. That's OVER A YEAR. He's home now, working and getting ready for his upcoming marriage, and just found out that, though he was supposed to go back in the Army in February, it's been moved up to January. His wedding is the 29th of December, so they better not push it back any further....

A video going around shows a restaurant closed as the owner has been called up for reserve duty. "Pray for me" the sign says:

It is soon to be our neighbor Binyamin Airley's first yahrzeit. His mom, Jen, has become a very popular speaker on the English-language circuit (listen/read any of these: she's always amazing). His parents opened Beit Binyamin in his memory, to give soldiers, first responders, war widows and others deeply affected by the war the space to do some healing. 

And each day, each week there are the smiles in the photos of the beautiful soldiers who have been killed in battle. "Approved for release" have become heartbreaking words because they're followed with the names of soldiers who have fallen in battle:

And how can there still be HUNDREDS of missiles being sent to us each day?! Yesterday alone, there were 265 incoming missile alerts. The total since the beginning of the war is 28,000 incoming missile sirens in Israel. 

This is what the middle of the country looked like on Tuesday, mid-day. Menashe, who has started a new job in Tel Aviv, says he's learned his way to the building safe room really well:

We had an "incoming" siren the other morning at 5:56 a.m. The best spin on it that I heard was, "At least I didn't need to wake up my kids for school". 

And here I am, about to make my annual weekend visit to my mother to celebrate my birthday and I truly cannot wrap my head around the fact that I am, again, collecting supplies for soldiers. Last November, I would have said there was no way I'd be collecting again this year. Yet here we are.....

https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/3M02MX8X2KQG0

Still praying for peace and permanent safety for our tiny little corner of the world.

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.