How it began

Friday night was Simchat Torah. We went to the synagogue and danced joyously with the torah. This was going to be our last Shabbat in Israel before flying back to the US on Tuesday, Oct 10. We had been here for a month, spending time with Jesse, Maya, Liyah and Robbie. We had many good times together, visiting their village in the Galillee, renting an airbnb in Caesarea, eating in the sukkah. We caught up with our many friends, some of whom date back to our year here in 1997-98. Noah and I even visited the Israel Museum and took a quick detour into the gorgeous brand new National Library.

On Shabbat morning, Saturday, we were awakened at 8:15 am by sirens. Along with our upstairs neighbors, we went down 3 flights to the bomb shelter in the basement. There is electricity there, but no cellphone reception so after 10 minutes of quiet we would go up to the street level and check our phones. There were 8 more sirens over the next two hours, something our neighbors who have been here for 30 years had never experienced. We brought water and snacks down, also some stools to sit on. The shelter is also used as the bike storage room, but there was still room for 6 of us.

Rob is now living in Tel Aviv and he was out walking so he went into a building and under a staircase.  He made it back to his apartment and during several more sirens, he and his neighbors went under the stairwell in his building. 

We started hearing about what was happening, that Hamas had broken through the border and was inside Israel. I have a free app called red alert that signals for every bomb launched. It was dinging nonstop all day. We also subscribe to i24 news in English so I can watch the live tv portion and see what is happening.

The streets which were usually filled with people all day long on Shabbat were empty and eerily quiet. All the fighting is in the south near Gaza. Everyone fears that this is just the beginning and Israel is going to have a fierce response. The potential agreement with Saudi Arabia, and the fracturing of Israeli society, are being proposed as possible reasons for Hamas to attack at this time.


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