RED ALERT!
RED ALERT!
A siren’s wail pierced through the silent desert night.
I jumped up from my bed, frantically searched for my glasses, grabbed my gun, ran out of the room, and jumped into a ditch.
My fellow soldiers joined me with our hands over our heads, bellies to the ground.
The gasps to regain our breaths were masked by the cry of the siren. The cry of the siren was masked by my thoughts about the thousands of Israeli children with tears in their eyes as they had a night like mine.
A few moments later we heard several loud booms. Thankfully, the Iron Dome (Israel’s missile defense system) had intercepted the rockets. The siren ceased and we were dismissed back to bed.
20 minutes of sleep until, again, RED ALERT!
The best word I can find to express my feelings about the situation is heartbreak.
My heart aches for everyone affected by this tragedy. I didn’t want this. We didn’t want this. Israel didn’t want this.
Yet here we were, Operation Guardian of the Walls.
Hamas terrorists launched nearly 5000 rockets toward civilians. Toward Jewish Israelis, Muslim Israelis, Christian Israelis, and even foreign nationals.
Israel responded back with targeted air strikes against these terrorists.
I was transported back to my 16-year-old self.
If you recall from my previous blog posts, the first time I came to Israel was during the last major outbreak in fighting between Israel and Hamas in 2014: Operation Protective Edge.
So much has changed in my life. I have transformed from an uninformed tourist to a soldier. As for the fighting, it felt nearly identical.
Again, the unsolved wound of this beautiful land began to bleed. Our infected scabs were picked at and tormented by sadistic liars who use their own people as human shields.
Many of you reached out to me during this conflict. It meant more than I can ever put into words. You all gave me the strength to stay hopeful during a time where there were no winners.
I usually responded with a thank you and then an ask: to keep up the fight against the misinformation on social media.
I was not surprised by any of this. As someone who worked in pro-Israel advocacy on a college campus, I know how things are going. The young American public, and specifically the politically active young American public, is turning against Israel.
Every post equating Israel to the Nazis or making contemporary blood libel claims angered me to my core. They did not, however, shock me. Unfortunately, we have a clear roadmap of how things are going if we just look at Europe and its surge in antisemitism under the leadership of “progressives” such as Jeremy Corbyn.
There were posts with blatantly antisemitic poison (i.e. Israel is just like the Nazis, Israel should be completely dismantled); however, there was also a more popular, softer, palatable antisemitism.
I saw many posts making claims along the lines of “both sides just need to stop the violence.” While this sounds perfectly logical, it is dangerous and grossly inaccurate.
Hamas deliberately attacks civilians. The Israel Defense Forces goes through great lengths to prevent civilian deaths, more so than any military in the entire world.
I will say this clearly: I fully support and commend the actions of the IDF.
There is no “but…” or “that being said…”
The IDF is a force for good.
Where was I during the fighting?
I remained on base for nearly all of the operation. While I am in a combat unit, I am still in basic training so I was not sent to the Gaza border. I continued to train as usual.
The atmosphere was tense, to put it lightly.
The first soldier to be killed during the fighting was in my unit, Nahal. His vehicle was struck by terrorists as he was on a patrol protecting the border.
We were in a shooting drill when we heard the news. My phone had been vibrating in my pocket all day from the rocket notifications- nearly every 5 minutes.
I felt another buzz. A commander came shortly after and told us that there were reports of a death in Nahal. The air was sucked out of us. We were quiet for a moment.
“Alright, we need to get back to training.”
The base was filled with an angry depression.
Heartbreak.
When I am not on base, I live on Kibbutz Urim. It is a beautiful farming community located near Gaza. This region is known as the Gaza Envelope. Communities in this area were pounded by rockets during the fighting.
Most of the nearly 5000 rockets were aimed at my kibbutz and others in the Gaza Envelope.
I was stressed and worried. My host family and many friends were on the kibbutz during the war.
Thankfully, everyone in my group on base who lives in the Gaza Envelope received permission to have their phones during the operation.
Every day I would receive notifications through the Iron Dome app signaling that there was a rocket launched at my kibbutz. This alert was followed by a text to my host family asking if everything was ok. This was followed by an agonizing silence as I waited for a response.
Fortunately, all the rockets aimed at the houses on my kibbutz were intercepted by the Iron Dome. My host mom would send me photos of smoke trails littering the same sky that my girlfriend and I love to watch the sunset.
Girlfriend?
Yes Jewish elderly communities from Boca Raton to Brooklyn, I am dating a nice Jewish girl!
Her name is Lea and she is also a lone soldier from Chicago.
I love her.
Lea is a part of my program (Garin Tzabar) on Kibbutz Urim. We started dating soon after making Aliyah in late August.
Lea is also a combat soldier. She serves in the artillery forces.
We both had to stay on base for many weeks due to the fighting. This meant that I could not see her.
Our home was being pummeled with rockets, our units were mobilizing for war, and we remained apart at distant ends of the Israeli desert.
In the past 2 months, I have only seen her for a few short hours.
It sucks.
But it’s also why I love her.
We are both combat soldiers in the IDF. We are sacrificing our time together because we believe with all of our being in the State of Israel.
It’s almost laughable how virtuous this all is.
I wouldn’t want it any other way.
The more weekends on base also meant that we had to spend the Jewish holiday of Shavuot in the army. We were all pretty disappointed, the schedule had us getting out for a much needed long holiday weekend. Lea and I were going to go to Tel Aviv.
Shavuot is the holiday commemorating when Hashem gave the Jewish people the Torah at Mount Sinai.
The Torah is the eternal truth for the Jewish people.
We packed into the synagogue on base. We stood shoulder to shoulder (the blessings of a vaccinated society). We were still in mourning for the fallen soldier from our unit, but we also celebrated the deliverance of the eternal truth to the Nation of Israel. We sang, we danced, and we laughed.
For a moment, there was no war, there was no death, there was just the beautiful continuation of a Jewish tradition and truth.
It’s something we all need a bit more of now, eternal truth.
The misinformation, the hatred, the antisemitism, the violence. This too shall pass.
These past few months felt like we were in a crucible.
Heartbreak.
But when we remember our history, as I have always tried to do in this blog, we have so much to be hopeful for.
Look at where we have come from. The Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai exactly 3333 years ago.
That 3333 year journey has seen expulsions, exile, destructions, pogroms, and Holocaust.
We still have our Torah, our eternal truth. And I can promise you that after the next 3333 years, we’ll still have our Torah.
Because eternal truth will always prevail.
We will prevail.
עם ישראל חי!
The Nation of Israel lives!