Ups and downs of the Israeli rollercoaster

I was driving home from my Kinneret sunrise swim this morning, when I heard the news.  Israel won a 7th Olympic medal on Saturday when our women’s Rhythmic Gymnastics Team captured silver, its first-ever medal in the team competition.  This has been a triumphant Olympics for Israel, breaking a previous record of four medals in Tokyo. Until now, we had a total of 13 medals in our entire history of Olympic competition. Today that number surged to 20 Olympic medals!

I burst into tears, hearing the jubilance and astonishment in the voices of the Israeli newscasters from the live broadcast the day before.  Such pride and joy for us,  a brief relief from an anxious week where the entire nation has been on high alert, limiting our movements, waiting for an imminent military attack from Iran, Hezbollah and possibly several other Iranian proxies. Watching the TV news switch back and forth, from elated reporters in Paris to Israeli analysts in the studio tensely trying to predict how and when the attack will come, I was struck by the dizzying rollercoaster of our lives here, the highs and lows of being an Israeli, a Jew. 

One moment on top, then a swift sickening dive, and before we can catch our breath, its up and down again. Olympic achievements, international condemnations, daring rescues, brash assassinations, threats of annihilation, daily rocket attacks, calumnies and lies, Israel – genocide! I gave up rollercoasters forty years ago. I don’t like being whipped around on a track laid by others. Yet here I am, tethered to the fate of my beloved country in a very dark hour. Nothing to do but take a deep breath and buckle my seat belt.