Is this a dvar? No. It is a response to the many texts, whatsapps and messages of concern.
Given the response to yesterday's post, it sounds is useful. (Thank you to my sister Tanya, who suggested doing this in the first place.)
Today there were two red alerts in the Baka area of Jerusalem (where I happened to be at the beginning of the war and am staying in). The first while having lunch in a cafe. Everyone crowded into the bathroom area at the back (nice cafe, nice bathrooms). Everyone was friendly. A woman looked up and said "Raf?" Thus I was reintroduced to a classmate from Middlebury who I hadn't seen in a year and a half. She is half way through the Rabbinic program at Hebrew College. Here for a year. Arrived a month ago.
Ah, Israel.
The second alert occurred when I was in the house. Stayed in the hallway for ten minutes. A couple of booms from the anti-missle system resounded.
What Do I Do?
Volunteering -- Tons of things to do. Today I helped at a community center. They were setting up a daycare site for kids of called up reservists. I helped clean out the bomb shelter room (that, like most, is mostly a storage room), and set up a classroom as a play area. Rubber mats and padded blocks were brought out of storage, cleaned, and set up. Toys and games and coloring stations set up with supplies from that storage/shelter room. It came out nicely!
It was five or six of us doing the work, under the direction of the center's manager. Of the group two were neighbors, two were a mom and 10 year old, and two teens who did the heavy shlepping. That is just who showed up. Worked great.
Checking in w people
Everyone is checking in with each other, and offering support. Especially to folks who are home alone.
Distraction
Cleaning house. Film-a-day. Exercise.
Items:
There are massive "Offers of an Ear." In workplaces, schools, social groups, whatsapp groups, people make themselves available to talk.
My friends in Tel Aviv say almost everything other than grocery stores are closed.
There are huge donation drives in most cities. Supplies for mobilized soldiers.
One of the places those supplies end up (this is mobilization in the North, I believe)
Where I Am
Jerusalem is quiet, and on Bet Lechem (at least in the Baka area), most (but not all) places were open: Falafel stand, cafe, pharmacy. Some areas of the supermarket were bare, but it was overall well stocked. After the classroom setup, we went to get lunch. The cafe had turned itself into a sandwich factory for towns in the south (near Gaza). We went across the street to cafe #2 (where the Red Alert noted above happened.)
Some institutions, like museums, have implemented their "war status" protocol -- like storing valuable works and keeping the doors locked.
Everyone has a family member who has been called up.
A good friend's (Ari Fruchter, for the many who know him) son was at the music festival where the massacre occurred. He managed to escape with a few friends. Here are interviews with him (and one in Norwegian Google Translate can help).
Thought: Is it good for the ______ ?
In the Jewish World, when something big happens, a cliched ritual surfaces: People look at each other and ask: "Will this be good or bad for the Jewish People?" A president getting elected; Turkey joins NATO; (jokingly) Germany wins the World Cup. The attack by Hamas is horrible for the Jewish People and for Israel. The worst event affecting civilian Jews since the Holocaust. A massive Pogrom. I wonder if Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank ask "Will this attack by Hamas be good or bad for the Palestinian People?"
Several months ago, I gave a ride to an Arab construction worker. He was working on a building near my apartment in Tel Aviv. He was trying to get a bus to the central station to go home to Gaza for the weekend. We had both just missed the bus we needed, so I called a cab, and told him he could come with. He didn't get paid much for his job, but it was a lot more than he could make in Gaza or in Israel near Gaza. (He insisted on paying his part of the cab fare.) It was such a hassle for him to get permission from both Hamas and Israel to have a work permit to work outside Gaza.
I am pretty sure the attack by Hamas was bad for him. And thousands like him who struggled and waited and bribed (Hamas) to get those work permits. For how many more?
How To Help
Donating to Hatzolah (the ambulance and paramedic service in Israel)
On line: https://israelrescue.org/
By Wire or ACH:
Beneficiary Name: Friends of United Hatzalah Inc.
Beneficiary Bank: Chase Bank
ABA Routing #: 021000021
SWIFT Code: CHASUS33
Account #: 160225630
Bank Address: 850 Third Ave, New York, New York 10022
Tax ID #: 11‐3533002