Always such drama. And the temps keep rising. We found out just before we went to Jerusalem on Monday that our “host” was unaware of our even being invited – it was a third party invite – so we had to scramble like the dickens to find anything available on the evening and day of a major holiday. Crazy, no? Pressure, no? Luckily, there were none of the usual tens of thousands of tourists that flood the city during a holy time, and we managed to find a gorgeous room right at the Old City Walls for an incredibly cheap price.
I was smart enough to bring our own food from home as EVERYTHING closes around 2pm from markets to transportation on the evening of a holiday or Sabbath. And to bring my all-white clothes, as is customary to wear on Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks or the Giving of the 10 Commandments to Moses at Mt. Sinai.
The next day we finally met up with our friends at the Hurvah Synagogue to hear the Torah reading of the Ten Commandments. Two of the men and their wives had been up all night studying the book of Ruth, the Torah and other subjects. This is traditional for Shavuot. Something I used to do a few years ago – I am now sorry I didn’t attend the women’s study sessions. But as young as they were, they were pretty exhausted when we met.
Shavuot marks the birth and the death of King David. I did not realize this. So we went to David’s tomb, which was pretty packed. The Upper Room where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper is located in the same building just above David. I also had not realized this. It was locked, but the roof access was open, so we went up there to pray and to chat. There were a few people already up there, including a group from Hong Kong, of all places. So a lady we spoke with was kind enough to take a photo of us.
Max came home for the day to babysit our doggie (a spoiled rotten long-haired dachshund, Haggis). Usually I don’t answer my phone on Shabbat or holidays, but the buzzing wouldn’t stop and was driving me nuts. By 9:30 I must have gotten more than 50 buzzes, so I finally checked, just to see if Max needed something, or if, G-d forbid, there was another attack.
It turns out the IDF hit a really high level Hizbulla commander on Sunday night. This combined with the hostage rescue in Gaza and Hizbulla’s solidarity with Hamas, and they were angry, angry, angry. And wanted to teach us a lesson. From Tuesday night through Wednesday there were over 200 rockets/missiles directed at the Upper and Lower Galilee and the Golan Heights. Our friends’ daughter served as an IDF nurse at the hospital in Tsfat. When David, Jocelyn’s dad, picked her up at 9, they were dodging shrapnel the whole way home. Our friends in Korazin, in Migdal, in Tiberias spent most of the morning in their bomb shelters. All the people in the Sea of Galilee hotels who’ve been displaced by the war since October were even more traumatized. Katsrin and other locations in the Golan received direct hits as did Metulla and Kiryat Shmona. Fires caused by incendiary carrying drones from Lebanon were burning in many places. Even towns far south like Cana, Tura’an, Mughar (all Muslim), Tavor (as in Mt Tabor), and the Jezreel Valley were hit.
So it’s been pretty incessant for the last two days. The jets and copters are once again nonstop strafing the skies here – all day and all night. Don’t know if it’s recon, retaliatory or just to let Hizbulla and proxies know we’re still in the game? And the outdoor temps are reaching a sizzling 99*/39* throughout the weekend. I feel so badly for the firefighters and the troops out there in all their protective gear. And we just heard the rumor that the IDF got Nasralla’s brother (head of Hizbulla) in an air strike in Lebanon early this morning. So we expect “the temperatures to climb” even higher this weekend.
I went out early this morning to do some grocery shopping. Every morning I recite Psalm 121 It’s become one of my favorites (YouTube Omer Adam singing ‘Esa Einai,’ the Psalm in Hebrew!!!). “I lift my eyes to the mountains, from whence comes my help. My help comes from the L-rd…” So these days as we’re driving I lift my eyes continually to the next mountain ridge over. Except I’m looking for drones and missiles and interceptions. And trying to figure out where the next community shelter is. The International Council of Christians and Jews has placed 24person concrete bunkers on every other corner. Thank you US givers!! It’s become an interesting life for us….but we still feel safer here than anywhere else. So far only four people have been mildly injured from shrapnel here. I think there are angels up there watching over us.
So we are now beginning to hear ‘the rest of the story’ of how the actual rescue of the four hostages earlier this week went down. It was like a Fauda episode, only it was real life. Undercover elite Israeli spies who spoke fluent Arabic, including women disguised in burkas and hijabs, posed as wealthy Gazans, Hamas associates escaping the IDF in Rafiah, rented a house in the Nuseirat neighborhood. They were there to gather intelligence, to confirm suspicions that Noa Argamani was being held in the vicinity. Super-cool, nu?
They confirmed not only Noa, but the three men down the street being held by the journalist. The spies vacated in undercover cars and on foot on 5 June, and Yamam elite began the planning and training that night. The mission was executed the next morning. The captives were all safely rescued, but complications arose due to heavy fire from the Hamas terrorists embedded in the neighborhood. It seemed every home in the area had someone with a gun, an RPG or grenade. Cmdr. Arnon Zamora, 36, fathers of 2, was killed in the melee. Gaza Health Ministry first said 197, then amended to 436, later revised down to 274 innocent Palestinian civilians were killed. There was no specification of how many of these innocents were actually terrorists.
It’s getting late and I must start food prep and last minute cleaning before Shabbat, but let me leave you with a few bits from the North this morning. All non-necessary clubs, activities, shops, classes, religious or other are canceled in Tsfat, Ma’alot, Nahariyya, Rosh Pina, Sea of Galilee communities (see map). Sirens have sounded in Northern towns all day, although now it seems quiet. The smoke makes me feel like I’m back in Southern California during brushfires season. We are thoroughly prepared and as the Brits say, we ‘keep calm and carry on.’ Like, what else can one do? We had volunteered to go cherry picking in the Golan with friends next week, it now, it looks like that will be canceled. Again, this harvest season, much of the produce is going unpicked. Hopefully soon-
In the meantime, I wish us all a very peaceful and very quiet, and very relaxing weekend. Until next week💙🇮🇱💪🏼🙏🏻🩵 אם ישראל חי The people of Israel live.
The United States today is facing a time of the erasure of its history; “cultural misappropriation” and confusion; fractioned families; identity confusion. Colleges and universities have been taken over by waves of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and Boycott, Divest and Sanction programs against Israel. There has been an ongoing bias in the UN and in the media against Israel. Also, there has been a growing shift towards secularism and away from any and all religion. How then to connect the Jewish young adult to his/her heritage? How does one foster a connection to Judaism, to the land of Israel, to awaken a dormant spirituality, to create a sense of heritage, belonging, and identity?
Israel Dreams 