How Are You Coping?

I find it quite interesting being a recipient of a flood of phone calls, texts, emails expressing concern about our well being during these difficult times. They ask “how are you coping?”. It is true that we here in Israel are at war with a ruthless enemy and this is quite frightening. I receive the calls and texts with an open heart and embrace them from the place of love from which they come.

I find myself somewhat baffled at the prevailing undertone in this attitude which smacks of “you poor Israelis enduring such hardships.” Who can escape the news that is fraught daily with an upsurge in Anti-Semitic incidents not only in France, Germany, Norway, etc. but in the streets of New York and Chicago as well. Hate crimes against Jews are on the rise and the expected outrage is not. The world is closing in on the Jews and no blinders lens is thick enough to hide It.

When I am speaking to these loved ones I want to respond in kind with the same caring sympathetic tone, what will you do? Who is going to protect you? You have no army defending your right to be a Jew. Have you not learned history? Don’t you understand how this gets played out? Why do you think you’re different? The only difference between now and then is the existence of Israel. You want safety and security, you need to move here. You rely falsely on Israel’s mere existence without devoting your very being to her.You think you are taken seriously by the nations because Israel “has your back״.  It doesn’t work that way. We are seeing proof of this. The dollar bill can not be your Iron Dome. There is nothing to protect you in those foreign lands. Your existence there is at the whim of unreliable governments that won’t, at the end of the day, protect you.

I feel saddened and frightened for family, friends and loved ones who don’t reside in Israel. I see where their future is headed and I worry. I wonder how they sleep. I wonder what they tell themselves to get through these telltale signs of a grim future. I know living in Israel seems scary at this moment, but it has promise. We are working with our people, our land and our G-d, who helps us to build our future in this country. This is how I cope.

I ask them, “how are you coping?”