The first time rockets fall in your city and you’re not there because you’ve left but all your friends and their children are running to bomb shelters, and the kids, who finally got back to school in person as the COVID situation stabilized but are now home on zoom once again because school was called off due to the rocket attacks, you pay a little more attention than you did the last time, before you had lived there.
Its nice to hear your friends and acquaintances tell you they’re so glad you left when you did, so glad that you’re here and safe. And you think of your friends in bomb shelters and how you ran away to the land of oversized houses, minivans and pickup trucks. And you know you didn’t really run away. And yet.
Listening to the live webcast of the Israeli radio station you used to listen to, you hear the DJs trying to cheer people up because we’re all in this together, and you hear the happy/sad songs they’re playing, and you hear the interruptions every minute or two with more announcements from the Home Front Command warning people in specific locations to go to their bomb shelter – “Announcement from the Home Front Command…Tel-Aviv South…Yaffo…Tel-Aviv East…Kfar Sava…Ra’anana…Herzliya…Petah Tikva…Ramat Gan…Enter your shelters….”
Below is the translation of one of the many texts I still receive from the city of Ra’anana :
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It is important to update that no falls have been reported in the city area.
When an alarm or explosion sounds, you must enter the protected area closest to you.In the protected room, sit on the floor, below the window line, stick to an inner wall and do not sit in front of a window.Those staying outside are asked to enter a nearby building or shelter.
If there is no shelter nearby – lie down and protect your head with your hands.Residents are asked to remain calm, and to obey the instructions of the municipality and the Home Front Command.
– We have opened a special open line – anyone who is interested in the help of a social worker or psychologist, help, support, counseling or anything else – is welcome to contact the municipal center at Kochavit 9107 which is at your disposal for reporting and information 24 hours a day.
Additional information can be obtained regularly on the municipal website www.raanana.muni.il, and on the Raanana Municipality’s Facebook page.
The municipality works in full cooperation with the security forces and is prepared to provide a solution to everything required in an emergency.
Additional urban updates will be provided later, as well as updates regarding the activities of the education system.
This is the regular weekly WhatsApp text from our shul in Ra’anana about last shabbat services:
לחברי הקהילה שלום.עקב המצב הבטחוני אנו חייבים לצמצם את מספר המתפללים למניין (10) בלבד. -כל התפילות תיערכנה באוהל החיצוני.- תפילות שבת פרשת במדבר (14-15/05):המתפללים שמתחייבים להגיע- נא להירשם בקובץ גוגל המצורף.
– במקרה של אזעקה עומדת לרשותינו דקה אחת כדי להגיע למחסה. באזעקת אמת נעבור כולנו להרדוף 1 , נכנסים לחדר המדרגות ומיד שמאלה להתכנס מאחורי הקיר של תא המעלית, ליד הדלת של משפחת מלכי.
נאחל לכולנו שבת שקטה ותפילות שלוות.
לגבי התפילות בחג השבועות נעדכן בנפרדDear Kehillat Netivot members,Due to the current security situation we are required to limit the number of participants at teffilot to 10.-All tefillot will be in the outside tents.-Tefillot this Shabbat 14-15/5:Those who commit to coming , please sign up on the attached google document
In the case of a siren, we have one minute to reach cover. We will go to 1 Harduf St, enter the stairwell, and immediately turn left behind the wall of elevator shaft, next to the home of the Malachi family.
Wishing everyone a quiet Shabbat and peaceful tefillah.
Regarding Shavuot- a separate update will be sent.
Back at work, in my office practice, many of my patients who know that recently came back from Israel inquire if my friends and family are OK and voice their support for Israel. One of them gave me a lapel pin with the US and Israeli flags together. A device rep (person who helps with the technical aspects of some of the more complicated devices we use) whom I have worked with for many years suddenly told me how he holds Israel in very high regard, how he is a “bible reader” and that he knows that Jerusalem is God’s chosen city and that the Jewish People are God’s chosen people, and that he’s praying for us. (He’s not Jewish – I actually don’t know what he is) I’ve worked with this guy for years – he’s a regular guy, very nice, very technically capable, and I had no idea he felt that way. And he’s not the only one. I have many patients, nurses, and technicians who tell me similar things, now that they know I’ve been in Israel. It is so interesting and eye-opening to see how things come out when the circumstances are right, things that were there all along but you just weren’t aware of. The point isn’t to “pat ourselves on the back” or to showcase that we in red-state Arizona have a lot of religious right wing people here. The point is that Israel and we ourselves as the Jewish People mean a lot to a lot of people. We matter more than we realize. Its not just about us.
