This is not our first extermination rodeo

I look out my office window at the sky urgently searching the horizon for infiltrating UAVs or rockets and the corresponding reaction of our heroic Iron Dome. I am hoping to go away this weekend to a hotel I booked weeks ago, for our anniversary. I call the hotel and the woman who answers the phone says she remembers my voice as she had taken my reservation. (And no, I do not have a thick American accented Hebrew!) It is a large hotel, but it is indeed a small country. I ask her about cancellation costs if the war starts and she reassures me that I need not worry. I send my daughter a note filled with information about us and our dogs, in the event that something catastrophic occurs to us while we are away. Although she says that it is completely morbid, she understands and tells us to have wonderful time. She is running around in a reserve unit, commanding an ambulance, and declaring the death of terrorists, but I am the morbid one?

I actually wrote that note to her at two thirty a.m. because really, who needs sleep? We are a nation of insomniacs. I worried about whether she would know who has our dogs, where the will is, who we bank with, and who to call in the event of…. on my partner’s side. I list our lawyers, our banker, our veterinarian, and give her the code to my computer. This is our life now. We, like the IDF and our allies, are preparing for war. We stock up our bomb shelters – yes, many of us actually have them built into our apartments, make sure there is water, tuna, corn, and other non-perishables. We charge our power banks, make sure we have a working radio, and flashlights along with dog food, treats, and toys for our furry friends. They too have become Israeli! They know what a siren means, they know where to run, and you can see their crazy excitement because they sense we are running around in what they perceive is excitement, but is mostly a mix of panic, nausea, and an attempt to stay organized in the 90 seconds we have to get us all in and seal that door. I cannot imagine my fellow Israelis who have only 15 seconds, if at all. G-d help them!

I call my mom, who lives in the building across from me, and instruct her to sleep in the bomb shelter in her apartment. I do not want her running around in the dark to the shelter across her hallway. I just want her to seal the door and feel safe. Feel safe? Really? What is that anymore? None of us feel safe. But trust me when I say this, all this stress, this psychological warfare, is not a win for Iran or any of her evil proxies. I am certain if it. Why? Because here in Israel we know this is temporary. Somehow, we are sure of it. And we know that we also have our 3,000 year history to back us. We have survived so much. Seriously, this is not our first extermination rodeo! So, to all my fellow Israelis, I say – “We got this!” We know that we have paid a price, that we continue to pay a price with each hostage that is not free and at home with their loved ones, with each soldier we lose, and with each civilian murdered in cold blood by those who continue in the treacherous footsteps of Hamas. May Hashem avenge their blood!

Despite all of this, I believe with my whole soul that history and G-d are on our side. We have survived countless massacres, countless attempts at extermination, countless rockets, countless wars in this country, intifadas, and waves of antisemitic hatred for no reason other than we breathe. Or maybe it is because we love life, and our current enemies glorify death. Ours is a religion that seeks peace with our neighbor, commands us to love him, and despite our fighting amongst ourselves, like one dysfunctional family, we are one family. For we each know that it is existential for us. We want to live. We do not want to die and reap some perverted benefit of 72 virgins. And really, ask yourselves, what do Muslim women get to achieve in the next world? It seems they are as irrelevant there as they are here in some Muslim countries – other than to bear more martyrs for the fundamentalist Islamic cause. Muslim Brotherhood, my —-. Seriously, have you seen how not one of the over 30 Muslim countries in the Middle East are willing to take in the “poor” Palestinians? And have you seen how on the other hand, countless Jews around the world are rushing to help Israel, any way they can, even making Aliyah amidst this madness. Welcome home my brothers and sisters!

This is the difference between us and them. This is why we will prevail. So please take a moment to breath, process these words, and to hopefully find some chizuk (strength) in them. It is why I write. I long to connect with each of you, to remind you that “Am Yisrael Chai!” is our call, and that this too shall pass. We will all bear witness to the fall of yet another enemy, to the triumph of our nation that perseveres against the worst of atrocities, and to the restoration of our faith. It has all been prophesied by Isaiah: “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise [to G-d].” (Isaiah 60:18) That is the reality of the State of Israel, its people, and its land. Again, shout it loud and proud – Am Yisrael Chai!