War Diaries from Southern Israel
January 6, 2009 / 10 Tevet 5769
Last night, as I put my son Ori to sleep he said to me, "Mommy, what will happen if the siren sounds and I don't hear it because I am sleeping?" With tears in my eyes, I thought that this is the fear that hundreds of thousands of our children are now living with every day.
Today, we took 40 Youth Futures children from Sderot, Trustees and some parents to Tel Aviv to see the taping of a show for the Children's Channel. As I looked at the children, who were so happy to be going on a trip away from the terror, I remembered the fear of last night. I was sure that it also wasn't far from the children's thoughts.
At midnight we heard tremendous explosions coming from Gaza. We can already determine from the sound which side it is coming from, and we knew it was from our side. Two hours later we heard helicopter after helicopter racing to Gaza. It was clear that something had happened and I was hoping beyond hope that it wasn't a disaster. But at 3:30 am my hope was gone. It was written on the Internet that some of our soldiers had been killed. I later learned it was from friendly fire. My heart is with the mothers, fathers and families of these brave soldiers. I feel that they lost their lives protecting me, and my children, and all the citizens in the South.
As I was remembering, we heard a red alert siren. All of the adults quickly got the children out of the bus and we ran for the nearest shelter. It is difficult to do even the simplest everyday things, like walking down the street or getting on a bus, without always thinking of where the closest protected area is. Thank goodness we were all safe and returned to the bus shortly after.
In between everything that has been going on, I have been in constant touch with the wonderful people from our Partnership 2000 (P2K) communities – Holland (Sderot and Sha'ar Hanegev), and Mexico and Northeastern New York (Eshkol). Over the years we have built solid, caring, people-to-people relationships, and they are so concerned about us.
Rod Margolis, Executive Director of the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York wrote to me: "We want you to know, and please share this with Chaim Yellin (head of the Eshkol regional council) and all our brothers and sisters in Eshkol, that we think of you each and every day. Please let us know what is happening when you have the time to do so. Warmest regards and with a prayer for Shalom."
Our friends in Mexico sent a letter in solidarity: "The Mexican Jewish Community is aware of what you, our brethren, are suffering during these difficult days. We pray that peace will come to the region and to all of Israel – days of routine in which children will be able to go to school without their parents worrying about them, parents will go to work without fear and the Arab-Israeli conflict will be no more. We send you our blessings for peace and a message of solidarity and support."
Ravit Ohayon-Michal is director of the Jewish Agency's Israel Department activities in Sderot, Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev. She lives in Ashkelon.
