This isn't a normal blog post but we wanted to write a quick note to let you know that we are fine.
Yesterday, after shabbat had started an alarm was sounded in Jerusalem. Soon after, two rockets fell not in Jerusalem itself, but near Gush Etzion (where Gavi's family lives), about 8.5 miles from the city. No one was hurt.
We're fine. We happened to be away for shabbat near the Kineret on a trip with the Conservative Yeshiva. We returned back to Jerusalem tonight, spooked, but happy to be home.
We've spoken to our parents, they know we are safe. And after shabbat we got a call from Gavi's cousin who lives in Jerusalem to check in. We're having dinner with him tomorrow and he said he'll walk us through what Israeli's do in times like these. Where to go if another siren goes off... etcetera.
The truth is, we don't know what happens next. We pray the situation calms down, we pray for peace, but we also pray for calm in the face of scary situations and circumstances and reactions we can not foresee.
For me (Gavi), this changes things a bit. Last week I was reading about sirens in towns closer to Gaza in my ulpan (hebrew intensive) class. We talked about the towns where they only had 15-30 seconds to find shelter after a siren went off before a rocket was expected to land in the area. They were told to at all times be at most 15 seconds away from shelter; school was canceled and daily life disturbed to the core. Someone asked if the rockets could reach Jerusalem. We looked at the map together and discussed in broken hebrew that it was highly unlikely. We continued to discussed that this problem was a serious one for our neighbors and our country, for our friends and family in the army, for am yisrael, but not one for our day-to-day lives in Jerusalem. We were wrong.
I spoke to my Israeli aunt before shabbat. She asked how Jason and I were handeling the news from the south. I told her that I was realizing that despite threats of danger in this country, life goes on. She responded "You noticed?"
So life goes on. We wish we could tell you more. But that seems to be all there is for now.
We want to sincerely thank all of you how have sent emails, facebook messages, and tweets to inquire how we are. It was very nice to feel your love and support during a strange and difficult time. Both of our programs are staying current with all of the security information and are in regular contact with us about what is going on and how it will affect our daily lives here in Jerusalem. We have been very appreciative of HUC's outreach as many professors and administrators have sent kind notes of support, context, and comfort. At the bottom is a note that our Year-in-Israel Director wrote to a student to share with family. He then passed it along to the rest of the class us to share with family and friends who were concerned.
"I can appreciate that from afar and with the news as seen from overseas, the situation might cause some worry. The current situation in this part of the country, whilst of concern does not in our opinion call for any dramatic decisions. The college continues to monitor the situation and is in contact with the Situation Room of the Jewish Agency which receives regular updates from the military and other security services. We are in consultation with them about our upcoming field trip and we will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds. We have no ability to predict what will happen in the coming days; for example although reservists have been called up and many of them are making their way down to the Gaza region this does not mean that there will be a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip. This may just be a tactic applying pressure on Hamas.
So, in the meantime, there are no changes in our programming plans but of course will keep abreast of developments and take all the security service recommendations into consideration.
Your welfare and those of all students remains our key concern at this time. I am confident that you are letting her know that we are doing everything we can to keep you safe and secure."We hope you will stay up to date with the news (be sure to read stories from multiple outlets) and we will do our best to keep you posted on life here.
We hope this is the only post of this nature that we have to write. In the meantime, we will continue our prayers for peace:
עושה שלום במרומיו הוא יעשה שלום עלינו ועל כל ישראל ואמרו אמן
No comments:
Post a Comment