All of us listen to the news and hear the facts about the war in Eretz Yisrael. But nothing compares to hearing from people who are living through it. I spoke with a few of my relatives to find out what it is like.
I spoke first to my sister, Chaya,
who lives in Bnei Brak. I asked her why she sounds so calm. Wasn’t she worried
that a missile might fall on her head during our conversation? She explained
that it is a defense mechanism. “You can’t live in constant fear and remain
sane,” she said. “Life goes on as normal most of the time.”
While we were taking at about 10 p.m.,
Israeli time, one of Chaya’s daughters was outside going for a walk with her
friend. I found that hard to believe. Chaya explained, “The children are
prepared. They understand that if an alert comes, they should go into a shelter
room in a nearby building. Other adults on the street help the children. If a
siren goes off while people are on a bus, the bus stops and people go into
nearby buildings.
While we were talking, there was an
automated call from her children’s teachers explaining that, although there would
be no school tomorrow, the children would learn over the phone.
The war began on the Shabbos before
Purim at 8:15 in the morning. There were sirens all day on Shabbos. Every time
Chaya tried to take a nap, another siren went off. “Whenever a siren goes off,
I do a head count to make sure all my children are accounted for and I know
where they all are.”
Chaya’s building has a miklat, a
shelter, but it does not feel very safe. Used for storage, it has a lot of
stuff in it and does not meet the safety requirements. During the last war, in
the summer, Chaya and her husband decided to avoid the miklat room and
to go into an area of their house under the attic, which has a reinforced roof
and no windows.
“Parents have to think of ideas to
protect their children’s mental health,” says Chaya. “It is very scary to hear
warnings and to hear sirens. Now they have a new system set up by the Home
Front Command. Instead of just hearing the siren, we first hear a warning alarm
called a hasra’ah. This happens about eight minutes before the siren
sounds. This gives us time to go to our safe location. A few of my children do
not feel safe in the attic space so they have time to go to another building’s
shelter.
“We put a mattress in the safe area,
and the children lie on the mattress. My husband and I sit on chairs. My
husband has a beautiful and loud voice and uses the opportunity to sing. His
singing is very pleasant and makes everyone more relaxed. My neighbors have
told me that they enjoy his singing and that it is an inspiration for the
building. I think his singing make my
children more relaxed and protects their mental health.”
Chaya continues, “Even though I
think it was necessary to attack Iran, at first, I was annoyed that Trump
decided to do it right around Purim. I was worried that it would ruin the Purim
spirit. All the children’s Purim parties were cancelled, although Purim day was
regular. My husband assured me that it was not Trump who decided to attack this
week; it was Hashem. That made me feel a little better.
“We have gotten so used to the
sound of the booms that we can tell how far away the missile is from how loud
the boom is. When a missile fell in Tel Aviv, our building shook in Bnei Brak.
Sometimes, even though the Iron Dome intercepts the missile, shrapnel from the
rocket falls. Shrapnel is also very dangerous and can cause injury and damage. On
Shabbos, shrapnel fell on a building right behind our apartment. As soon as we heard
the boom, we knew it was very close. Three pieces of shrapnel in Bnei Brak
destroyed parts of two buildings, although no one was inside at the time, and a
piece fell on a car, which burst into flames.
*
* *
Next I spoke to my niece Nechama,
who lives in Beitar. Nechama has a mamad in her apartment, which she
says is a life changer. Several years ago, a law was passed that all new
buildings have to have a safe room in the apartment. “Having a safe room in our
own home makes our life so much easier,” she said. “If you must run outside to
a safe room, you can’t sleep in your pajamas. You have to always be dressed in
case you have to run outside in the middle of the night.”
I asked Nechama how she entertains
her children in the safe room, which is her boys’ bedroom. “Sometimes we say tehillim.
We bring in an extra mattress, so the children fight over who is going to sleep
in which spot. There is also a number to call that tells you when the missile
has landed. My children enjoy calling that number and seeing who can get the
machine to understand which city they are calling from. The computer that
answers the call does not always understand the name of their city unless they
say it in a special way.”
Nechama told me that even when their
phones are turned off on Shabbos, they still hear the warnings and get text
messages. “Of course, it is hard because there is no school and no schedule.
Until now, we were told that there could be no gatherings at all. Today, the
rule changed to allow gatherings of fewer than 50 people. I think that is
because Iran is running out of missiles.”
Unfortunately, a war brings
casualties. Nechama was acquainted with the people who were killed in the
missile hit in Beit Shemesh. “You can’t compare hearing on the radio or on the
internet about people who were killed to knowing who the people are,” she said.
*
* *
My grandson was learning in a yeshiva
in Eretz Yisrael and came home through Egypt. I thought it was ironic to come
home through Egypt right before Pesach. Here is what he told me about his trip:
“The whole trip was arranged by an
Israeli company. They hired a bus to take all the travelers though border
control at a place called Taba and the long ride to the small airport in Egypt at
Sharm El-Shiekh. Nobody was particularly nice when we went through the border,
and everything that took place in the airport was inefficient and slow. The
people who were in charge bribed the border control officers so that they let
us through without making problems.
“The final destination was JFK in New
York, but our stopover in Portugal took much longer than planned, so we arrived
in JFK too late to get back to Baltimore for Shabbos.”
*
* *
Speaking to Chaya, Nechama, and my
grandson made me feel much closer to the situation in Eretz Yisrael. Hopefully,
this war will be over soon and life can go back to normal.
