Taking Shelter….Again

On Tuesday evening, we saw the news update that an attack from Iran was imminent. I spent some time tidying up, pretending to keep my cool, trying to get all my kids to stay under one roof, casually packing a bomb shelter tote. At about 7:30pm (10 minutes after my 11-year-old son finally walked in the door, after having delivered pre-Rosh Hashana care packages to families whose fathers were called back up to Reserve duty) we all got automatic push notifications to our phones that we should immediately enter the nearest bomb shelter and stay there until further notice. So we did. Our building’s bomb shelter is on the same floor as our apartment, so it was a quick walk down the hall for us. It took about 5 minutes before we heard the first sirens and explosions outside. The bomb shelter filled up with neighbors streaming in with their families, and strangers who ran in off the street when they got the same notification to take shelter. 

Can I say that we were all in there cowering from fear in the bomb shelter? No, because we weren’t. There were about 30 kids from our building in the shelter, and they set up a mat on the floor and happily played card games together for an hour. The younger kids set up a coloring corner with papers and markers, and contentedly colored rainbows, butterflies, hearts, and Rosh Hashanah cards. It was a beautiful sight to behold. They are not oblivious, they know what’s going on outside, and they also know that they were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. Through the thick shelter walls, and with all the noise inside, we couldn’t hear the explosions too loudly, which was probably for the best. 

This experience wasn’t unique to our family or to our building, this was more-or-less the experience of the entire country for that hour. Nearly 10 million people, under fire, taking cover in bomb shelters with their families and neighbors. People who didn’t have time to prepare, sheltered wherever they could – in stairwells, highway underpasses, etc. The messages that came through on the neighborhood WhatsApp groups…. “Two of my kids were at the store when the sirens went off and haven’t come home yet, if they’re sheltering in your building, please let me know”, “I rushed home and the only spot available was a handicap spot, so I parked there. I’m sorry and I’ll move my car as soon as I can”, “Someone parked their car outside our building and left it running with the keys in the ignition. We turned the car off, but they might want to come get their keys”. And then, after an hour when we finally got the all clear to leave our bomb shelter, the messages jumped right back to real life “Is the grocery store open?” “Has anyone seen leeks anywhere?” And we too, pivoted back to our normal lives. Trying to coax my kids to sleep in their beds after spending the last hour with 50 neighbors in the bomb shelter. How should I cook the salmon that’s been sitting on the kitchen counter while we were busy fending off an apocalypse? Honey mustard or teriyaki? And all the while I feel like I’m wearing a full body lead vest – so heavy. So bone tired.

In what reality is this normal? In what reality is it acceptable for huge parts of the world population to throw Israel under the bus while this is going on? Israel is fighting off Hamas in the South – a self-declared, brutal, terrorist organization – you’re welcome world! Israel is fighting off Hezbollah in the North – another self-declared, very powerful terrorist organization – you’re welcome again dear world! And now this is the second direct attack on Israel from Iran in the last 6 months. Iran (!) I open up the international news sites “Iran attacks Israel: No casualties” No casualties? Do you know why there are no casualties? Because Israel knows it is surrounded by enemy states, because every building in Israel, by law, has to have a bomb shelter in close proximity, because Israel has developed a huge arsenal of advanced missile defense systems, all of this in order to prevent casualties. 

I think about my kids happily playing Uno on the floor of the bomb shelter with their friends, because they know, they know they live in an objectively dangerous place, but a place where people care about their safety and wellbeing. They can sit and color pictures of rainbows while one of the free world’s biggest threats, the Iranian theocracy, fires 180 ballistic missiles across the region at us. 

I can’t bring myself to open another news site. I can’t face the double standards right now. This is not a time for impartiality.