Because We Need R2BC Today

I'm totally out of sync with the newly revived Reasons 2B Cheerful linky over at Becky's Lakes Single Mum, but today we need some R2BC.

Over 150 Rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza strip since last night. Today all schools and non-urgent work was cancelled from Tel Aviv in the centre of the country down the coast to Beer Sheba in the south. (Incidently, each rocket costs between $10K and $100K apparently. Just saying.)

So here are my R2BC...

1
The Iron Dome
We have the iron dome which intercepts most of the rocket and explodes them in the sky before they hit land. There have been a few injuries today when people running to the bomb shelters have fallen, but thankfully no serious injuries. One very scary video clip showed a rocket that the iron dome missed, exploding on the motorway just behind two travelling cars. Jerusalem has been quiet so far and we are praying for a better night for those in the security areas.

2
I Subscribed
The Times of Israel is the online newspaper that I read regularly and rely on for good quality analyses of news about Israel and the Middle East. The other day they sent an email announcing a new Times of Israel Community. Basically it was a request to pay a nominal and discretionary amount for the subscription. It's voluntary. The content will not be behind a pay-wall and I could have continued receiving all the articles and features in my inbox without paying a shekel. However, I also read The Guardian and The Telegraph (both UK papers) online and don't pay a penny for them. I feel that there comes a time when you have to contribute for some of the services you enjoy or they will cease. So I was happy to sign up for a mere $6 a month.

3
Team leader
DD is taking her job as one of the team leaders for the school crossing guard very seriously. She has a team who all have back-up substitutes in case they can't make it (half an hour before school starts and for half an hour at the end of school). On her days she's on the phone the night before whatsapping her team to remind them to be on time and check that they are coming. A couple of time another team leader couldn't come so she rushed out at 7.30 am to take her place.

We live right by one of the crossings and if I know the child on duty I take a photo and send it to his or her mother. I'm the secret Mother's Pride Patrol. LOL.

R2BC - A Cutting, Elections And Love

Can you see the difference from last week?

After yesterday's list of tragic events that took place during a horrific week, last week, there are also reasons 2B cheerful and here they are. The linky is back with Michelle on Mummy from the Heart for the month of November.

1
A Cutting
The person in the School Greenhouse who gave me the plants last week, also told me how to take cuttings. "It's easy," she said. I've tried it before and it never worked. One of the small branches of the pretty purple plant got a bit crushed and droopy on the way home. So I took it off and planted it in the soil next to the mother plant. You can see it looking all sorry for itself here. Well, blow me, if it hasn't taken. I have a little purple plant making its own way into the world, independent of its mother. I'm so proud. This week I'm going to set it up in its own home nearby, but no so close as to be under each other's feet.

2
Solidarity
Margie from Toronto, a lovely lady who regularly comments on my blog and we have also been in contact by email, commented yesterday that...

"The shootings at Tree of Life were just horrendous - a woman originally from Toronto was one of the victims - members of many churches and mosques here are forming circles around various synagogues this weekend as a sign of solidarity and safety. " 

I was very touched and moved by this news of love and support from the wider community.

3
Election Day
For the first time ever, they coordinated all the municipal elections onto one day and declared it a national holiday. We also have a holiday for the government elections but this is [supposedly] only once in four years. Apart from that, the only other national holiday day like election day is Independence Day in May.

I'll explain. Most adults work a normal, Western World five day week from Sunday till Thursday. However, most children are in school on Friday mornings. Teachers get a different day off in lieu of Friday mornings but the children don't (although they do finish early on Tuesday afternoons when the parents don't). Thus, you have to be at home on Fridays for school. You have to get up early and hussle your kids off to school. And when they come home around midday, the shops and eateries are only open for another two hours until 2pm (sometimes 3pm in the summer). Hardly a family day.

Shabbat comes in at sundown on Friday night and lasts for 25 hours, starting with a festive family meal. There are some places of entertainment (a few restaurants and some cinemas in Jerusalem) and shopping malls open (not in Jerusalem) for those who want them. But for those keeping a traditional shabbat, they are up early for synagogue on Saturday, they have a festive family lunch, and they do not use mechanical transport, screens, telephones, or anything electrical throughout the day.

About those festive family meals... they don't appear out of nowhere. They have to be prepared and cooked on Friday, the house is cleaned, and many families host overnight guests for the duration because they can't travel home after dinner. I'm not complaining about Shabbat, it's a lovely, sociable day. However, it has its limitations as you can see.

That is why a national holiday is so amazing. We have no [we call it] Sunday here. For religious Christians outside Israel it would be your Saturday (although your Sunday isn't nearly as restrictive as Shabbat). A day to go on long trips, eat out, for family shopping, a day at the beach, parties, etc... One morning in the week to get up late and have pancakes or French toast for breakfast and then maybe travel to your grandparents or cousins for tea.

There have been many attempts here to give us our Sundays, especially as no business can be done with the outside world on that day. Sadly, it's not happening. For one thing, we'd effectively be working on a 4.5 day week as you'd still need to finish early on Fridays. Otoh, shopkeepers and eateries take over a month's worth of income on election days.

Finally, a great reason 2B cheerful, we have two new female mayors. One in Haifa, Israel's third largest city, and one in Bet Shemesh where the ultra-orthodox have tried to intimidate women out of public life completely (e.g. even blurring their faces out of photos and tearing down adverts with pictures of women). Two excellent results.

After A Horrific Week

I found it very hard to get my head around writing Reasons 2B Cheerful this week, without mentioning all the terrible events that happened. On a personal level it was a good week but on a community level it was horrific. I feel I need to pay my respects to the community first and I'll come back tomorrow with some personal R2BC.

Last Shabbat 11 Jewish worshipers were shot in a Synagogue in Pittsburgh, USA. Jews everywhere are reeling. It could have happened anywhere and we all have friends and family everywhere. One elderly mother buried two if her sons. One victim was a 97 year old holocaust survivor. Synagogues in the US and the UK, which should be open and welcoming places of God, are seriously considering having armed guards on the doors.

On Tuesday we had a lovely, sunny, municipal elections day which was designated to be a public holiday. Many families went on trips to the beaches, the parks, or the Dead Sea. A family of two parents and six children were driving home from a day out when a car coming in the opposite direction tried to overtake on a blind bend. He hit the family head on and their car burst into flames. All eight were burned to death inside the car. No I didn't know this particular family personally but we are all families in a very small country sharing the roads with drivers who gamble with our lives, either by reckless driving or using their phones whilst driving. The whole country was in shock. It could have been any of us.

Yesterday we heard that an 18 month old baby in Jerusalem has died of measles. A disease that was almost eradicated years ago and one that children in Israel are routinely and without charge, vaccinated against. This baby's parents belong to a cult sect of ultra-orthodox Jews whose rabbis have told them not to vaccinate. I don't know the exact reason why not. They are against the State of Israel as an authority as only God can protect us and only the Messiah was supposed to bring about the return to Zion. Something like that. They are against modern technology because it makes knowledge of the outside world available to all their followers. And against science because it keeps proving things they don't believe in. Basically it's a power struggle and one child was sacrificed for it this week.

And today I received frightening photos from the kibbutz where my friends live, the kibbutz that we go to for holidays and festivals sometimes, my happy place.... A balloon carrying a bomb was let off in Gaza and landed on the path right by my friends' houses (I have several friends on that kibbutz). It hit a jeep that burst into flames, and it started a major fire of trees and bushes along the path. What child doesn't run to catch a balloon floating down from the sky? Israeli kids don't. One of these balloon bombs was found as far from Gaza as Jerusalem (1.5 hrs drive in a car) a few weeks ago. I, and all parents here, had to warn our children not to touch balloons in the street.

Here's to a much better week and may you all have a calm and peaceful weekend.

After The Fast - Dedicated To Ari Fuld z"l

Today was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On this day like on no other day of the year, the whole country shuts down. All places of work (except for hospitals and the military) and entertainment are closed. The airport is closed. The streets are clear except for the occasional police patrol or an ambulance. Children who are not synagogue-goers take advantage of the lack of traffic and ride their bikes on the roads. I've written about it before.

After a long day of introspection, prayer, and atonement, we put the old year to rest. We contemplate how we can improve ourselves and our behaviour in the coming year.

There was a lot to think about today. Last week there was a tragic terrorist attack in a community nearby. Almost all my friends either knew Ari Fuld, a 45 year old father of four children, personally or knew someone close to him. For a while many years ago I was in a women's group with his mother. Jerusalem and indeed Israel, is like that. We are all connected.

Many of my friends said it made them appreciate the present. Ari's close friends urged everyone to be like Ari - a man of action, a doer. He was outspoken, yes, but for the truth. He was a teacher, a soldier, and a leader. CCTV footage shows that after he was stabbed and before collapsing, Ari ran after the terrorist and shot him as he was chasing his next victim, thereby saving her life and potentially more lives after that. His daughter quoted Ari at the funeral: "If your life is too comfortable you're doing it wrong."

There was much outpouring of grief. Facebook and newspaper comments inevitably got political. Some comments, both from the extreme left and the extreme right, were way out of order, imo. Emotions ran high. Moderates, in the middle of the road, tried to keep things calm and civil. Well if you can't stand in the middle of the road on Yom Kippur when can you?

At just after 7pm today the shofar (a hollowed out ram's horn) is blown for the last time and we finish introspecting and have to start doing. Of course we have to break our fast first. And then we should start as we mean to go on.

The first deed after Yom Kippur is traditionally to build your sukkah - a temporary booth in which to sleep and eat for the upcoming seven-day festival of Sukkot. As I sat at my computer tonight I could hear the bang bang bang of many hammers as a number of sukkot were being erected in the garden behind my building. 

I was at the computer and finished grading all my Summer Course papers to date. DD prepared her school bag for tomorrow, showered and washed her hair, and read a chapter of her book all without prompting, to show that she was already making good changes.

I will try to be more of a doer. I will stand up for the truth as I believe it. Neither agreeing with those on the extreme right nor the extreme left of most political and religious issues, but finding the middle road with the best possible outcome for the most people. I will continue to support strict security measures and harsh punishments for terrorists whilst not blaming every member of their race or religion.

In keeping with the words of Rabbi Zushya, I can never be an Ari Fuld, but I will try to be a better Rachel Selby.

Reasons 2B Cheerful In A Turbulent Week

The school wheat field ready for harvesting.

Here are my Reasons 2B Cheerful for this week. From entertainment to politics to war to harvesting to love. It's been a turbulent week. 

1
Eurovision
Last Saturday night Israel won the Eurovision Song Contest for the fourth time in the history of the event. The singer, Netta Barzilai, is an example of how you don't have to be stick thin to be successful. She's a lovely person - modest, kind, and unspoilt by all the glitz. I hated the song at first but all my pupils at school and my DD at home are playing it and singing it constantly. I admit it's growing on me. I can't argue with the song's message.

2
Embassy
The US Embassy moved from Tel Aviv to the capital city of Jerusalem. It's positioned within the Green Line - the pre-1967 borders - so it doesn't touch or any way alter East Jerusalem which can still be the capital of Palestine in the future, if that's what is wanted. All the two state solutions are about Palestine being all the land allotted to it in the 1947 UN vote for partition (i.e. before Israel took it over in the 1967 Six Day War). So it's only a provocative move if you want the whole of Jerusalem to be Palestinian and not a shared city.

3
Defense
This week my friends who live near the border with Gaza, again within the Green Line of course, were safe because the IDF stopped thousands of terrorists crossing the border with the express purpose of murdering Israelis. And yes I am happy that 53 of the 60 who died were Hamas activists who will not be able to try again.

-1
Suffering
I'm also angry at the parents of an eight month old baby with a serious heart condition, who took their child to the front lines of a war zone where they knew there would be violence and tear gas - as  there has been on every Friday for the past few months. I am sorry that the other six casualties and the many others who were wounded, did not heed the IDF warning leaflets to stay away, that were dropped over Gaza at the beginning of the week. But most of all, I'm sorry that the Gazans have to live under Hamas because the Israeli Arabs that I know do not want to live like this. I suspect that most Gazans would also choose to live and prosper rather than wage war and suffer.

Partially harvested. Each class harvested a patch. 

4
The Wheat Harvest
This weekend it's the festival of Shavuot. We celebrate the giving of the Torah on Mt Sinai and also the wheat harvest. My school is very agricultural as it's a kibbutz school so we do actually have a small wheat field for educational purposes. This week we harvested the wheat. Each class did a small section. They threshed the seeds out of the chaff, they ground it to make coarse flour, and they cooked with it. We use the straw to .... something ... with the animals (I'm not an animal person so I don't go there), and also to build mud walls strengthened with straw. I learned loads.

5
Love and Gratitude
Today hundreds of Israelis filled their cars with food and other supplies for the holiday and drove down to the border areas with Gaza to feed our boys on the front line. It's not just the food of course, it's the outpouring of love and support after a difficult week. It's acknowledgement that they are in a shit situation and they do it to keep the rest of us safe.

So there you have it. A roller-coaster of a week. I'm joining Michelle's linky on Mummy from the Heart. 

I'm exhausted from all the facebook activity and trying to explain what's going on here after the BBC and other media channels unfairly reported that Israel massacred 60 peaceful and unarmed civilian demonstrators. There was nothing peaceful, they were mostly not civilians, and they were armed. I'm done with explaining so I won't be accepting any challenging comments on this post. Just so as you know, I'm up for discussion on facebook but my blog is my home. 

Only In Israel

Random schoolbag in our hallway

All the schoolchildren in Jerusalem get a course of swimming lessons during the school year of 6th Grade. The schools don't have their own pools but the kids are bused to a local public pool or to the University which has a pool on each campus. My 6th Grade girls are currently missing every other lesson for this event.

Last week I asked one of them, "how was swimming today?" She replied. "I didn't go because the army blew up my swimming bag."

Bizarre? Not really. I immediately knew exactly what had happened. "Silly girl. Where did you leave it unattended?"
"Outside the Community Centre."
I rolled my eyes and she continued, "with my schoolbag."
"What?! All your books too?"
"Yes..... and teacher, also my book report."

No one questioned the excuse for not handing in her book report. It wasn't even a big story. We've all seen schoolbags left in public places by kids - usually outside the school gates. An obvious action would be to take the bag into the school where they could open it and identify the pupil. But we are taught not to approach unattended bags or packages. We call the police and they close the road for 200 metres or more each way. The police call the bomb squad and the bomb squad blow up the bag in a controlled explosion. Nothing unusual, it happens all the time.

P.S. I told her she still had to write me a book report but I gave her extra time to do it.

A Necessary Reaction?!

This isn't the post I was going to write today - I had the whole week planned in blog posts. But then this happened on Friday night.....

Friends who I used to be very close with about 20 years ago when I was flatmates with the wife's sister for four years, were sitting down to their Friday night dinner when they heard terrified screams from the house opposite. Their son, who is in the army, ran to the safe to get his gun whilst simultaneously shouting at his father, who was heading out the door, not to go out without a gun. The son ran across the road and climbed up to the kitchen window where he saw a terrorist stabbing his neighbours. He shot once through the closed window and brought the man down, injured but not dead. 

The neighbours, grandparents aged 70 and 68, had been hosting their son, 35, their daughter-in-law, their daughter, 46, and five gandchildren for shabbat. After dinner they had invited friends and neighbours to drop in for a 'lechayim!' (ironically meaning, 'to life!'), a schnapps to celebrate the birth of a new grandchild. It was already 9.30 and they were preparing for the party so the front door was unlocked. 

The terrorist, a 19 year old from a local village, walked into the house and stabbed Yosef Salomon to death, he stabbed Elad Salomon, his son, to death. He stabbed Chaya Salomon, his daughter, to death. Tova Salomon, the grandmother, was also stabbed but survived and is in hospital. Elad's wife, Michal, rushed her three older children, aged 11, 9 and 5, into a bedroom where her 1 year old twins were sleeping and held the door shut. She then called the police and described what was happening. 

The terrorist, not expecting to survive, had left a message on facebook saying that this attack was to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

From what did he need to kill a family at dinner in order to defend the Al-Aqsa mosque? 

Here is the background to the recent unrest surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque, copied from Wikipedia.

 "Following the 2017 Temple Mount shooting on the Friday the week before the attack in which three Muslim Israelis attacked and killed two Druze policemen outside and inside the Temple mount, Israel increased security measures in the area before the entrances of the Temple mount, including placing metal detectors. Muslim leadership refused to accept the new measures, and called on their followers to protest the new measures, and to pray in front of the Temple mount declaring that prayers of those who pass through the metal detectors are null and void. In rioting on the day of the attack three Muslims were killed in and around Jerusalem.^[3]"


What sort of God is Allah who cannot accept prayers from men who have passed through security gates. And why can he accept the security gates in Mecca but not in Jerusalem? We know why  of course. But Israel, like at the Western Wall, like at The Vatican, like at the Albert Hall, like at every airport in the world, places security measures where they are needed. If you are not intending to hurt anyone these measures are slightly inconvenient at the most. Nevertheless, Hamas responded thus: 

"Hamas issued a statement calling the attack a "necessary reaction" to the new Israeli security measures at the Temple Mount. Additionally, in a tweet, they called it "heroic."^[11][12]"

^{The four funerals will be held this afternoon.} 

Are Faith Schools Breaking Down Society?

We, the Reasons 2B Cheerful regulars, decided to give it a miss this week, out of respect for the families of Manchester. Another alternative light-hearted post also did not sit well me today. I have been in turmoil since this evil terrorist attack and trying to make sense of where we as a society went wrong.

We need solutions not just platitudes. Piers Morgan and Katie Hopkins have offered their no-nonsense plans of action for crisis control. I don't disagree with them but we need to go deeper and examine some of the problems in our society. I am writing from Israel and we have some similar problems here. I'm not talking about terrorism. Terrorism isn't similar, it's the same evil wherever it occurs. I'm talking about religion keeping people apart.

When I was a child I, and most of my Jewish friends, went to the local primary school. Yes there were Jewish schools but not many and in London there were far more Jews in local authority schools than in Jewish schools. The divide was mainly down to how religious you were - the more orthodox went to the Jewish schools, the more traditional and reform Jews did not. 

I grew up hearing stories about Jesus, singing hymns, and celebrating Easter and Christmas in school while learning about my Judaism at home and at after school Hebrew classes. It was the dawn of multiculturalism and we had the local Rabbi come in to talk about Hannuka, Passover, and Shabbat. In our area there were not yet enough other ethnic groups to warrant any further multicultural events.

By the time I became a teacher the local authority schools were embracing Diwali, Ramadan and other Hundhu, Sikh and Muslim holidays. However, over the years there has been a rise in Faith Schools. Most of the Jewish community now go to Jewish schools (60% according to Wikipedia).

There is historical and political background. With the creation of Comprehensive Schools and the closing of Grammar Schools in the early 1970s, there was more demand for Public Schools. True to the laws of supply and demand, competition became fierce and tuition fees rose. The middle classes who prioritized academia  needed an alternative and Faith Schools offered a stricter curriculum than the free for all Comprehensives.

But still there were not so many - only 32 Jewish schools by 2001 when the Guardian shows the Government positively encouraging more Faith schools.

"...according to the Blair government, which believes they [Faith Schools] improve educational standards and wants to see more of them. Previous education secretary David Blunkett said he wanted to "bottle" the ethos of faith schools, and a recent white paper declares: " We wish to welcome faith schools, with their distinctive ethos and character, into the maintained (state) sector, where there is clear local agreement.""

Reading between the lines, I see this as meaning that the State system cannot deal with behavioural issues so it's best if the Faith Schools use their religions to control the kids (and scare the hell out of them as only religion can). By 2011. "about one third of the 20,000 state funded schools in England were faith schools, approximately 7,000 in total." (Wikipedia) And these numbers do not include all the privately funded Faith Schools. 

When he went to University my nephew said that he was looking forward to meeting some people who aren't Jewish. He went to Jewish schools, Jewish scouts. Jewish clubs. Jewish football leagues, and prayed with a Jewish community. He'd lived in London all his life and he didn't know any non-Jews!

In Israel for many years we had very set state-run educational systems - The Ultra-Orthodox, the State Orthodox, the State Secular, and the Arab schools. Recent years have seen the rise of other alternatives. My daughter goes to a "Traditional" School. It would have been so easy for me to choose the State Orthodox school around the corner where I am friendly with many of the other parents and familiar with the community. But in the end I had to vote with my principles and chose the school that teaches Jewish values whilst not pushing Jewish practice. We have Orthodox, Traditional, Reform and Secular Jews, a community of Christians, and some African refugees in our school. I love the diversity and I believe our lives are richer for it. (No Arabs yet but it's a process. There is an Arab-Jewish school near us but only one so far.)

However, one thing Israeli State Orthodox, Traditional and Secular Schools have is a definite nationalistic agenda. All our children have to serve in the army and our survival depends on a level of national pride, love of our country, and national responsibility like no other nation I can think of. Once when I posted photos of Israeli flags hanging from windows, balconies and cars on Independence Day, other bloggers commented that it was strange to them, refreshing even, as in England (though not in Scotland or Wales) flying a national flag can sometimes be construed as sinister or provocative. How sad is that?

America is more into nation building than England. All school children pledge allegiance to the flag, the President, and the Constitution - all non-denominational by law. Further than that I can't comment. I know they have their share of Faith Schools as well and have also been tackling problems of internal xenophobia. 

I am beginning to believe that as comfortable and cozy as it is to have your children in a Faith School within your own community, it might be the undoing of British society. I believe that religion should be a family issue and living in communities around your church, synagogue or mosque is a personal choice. However, the Government provides free education (yes I know we pay for it through taxation) and therefore the Government should enforce a national curriculum to encourage nation building in a multicultural society. Call it a Nanny State if you like but the people of Britain need to know who they are, who takes care of them, who they need to protect, who their fellow citizens are, and what they should be grateful for. 

On facebook yesterday, my cousin's Muslim friend praised her for taking the time to get to know Muslims and become true friends with them. Both women have lived in England all their lives and yet being friends is considered extraordinary. This anomaly has to be addressed from Reception Class up, across the nation. 

Israel Is Burning 2

I have a personal rule that I never publish two blog posts in one day. For more of the background see my previous post. Except that today I'm going to break that rule because I just read this personal account from Rachel Creeger on facebook, of how she escaped the fires in a village where I know several people. I have copied and pasted it in full.

Rachel Creeger

14 hrs · 

May cause distress:

I am now safely back in Jerusalem with my parents after a terrifying experience. Yesterday I travelled with some family members from the UK (aunt, uncle, cousins) to our cousin's community to spend a special Shabbat (Sabbath) celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of his son. I was hosted by a wonderful Australian-Israeli family who made me very welcome. Following evening prayers and a huge, delicious family meal, I went back to my host family and we chatted for a while then I went to bed.

Not long afterwards there was a banging on my door and one of the host's daughters shouted, "Fire, fire is coming, we need to get out!" She threw a coat at me and I grabbed my bag (luckily I'd been too tired to unpack properly) and made for the door. From the front garden I could see the tops of flames in the brushland below the house.

The hostess called out that she was grabbing her phone and I ran back in to get mine too, while her husband went to turn off the electricity. We came out and met in front of the house and there was a sudden gust of wind and I saw the flames rise up to the house. We ran down pedestrian footpath through the houses shouting at the neighbours to get out and as we came through the trees to the road at the bottom we could see the fire.

The sky was full of glowing orange embers which were strangely beautiful, then suddenly there was a terrible smell of smoke.

We began to run towards the synagogue which was the emergency meeting point but then one of the daughters remembered an elderly couple who might not hear the commotion and so my host and hostess ran down the road to check on them, shouting to their daughters to look after me. I asked the girls where the house was that my relatives were staying in and they pointed towards it saying that they were sure everyone from there had been evacuated. At that moment we saw a figure moving about behind the curtains and realised that they were still inside.

The girls ran in to make them hurry and there was another gust of wind, and what I can only describe as a wall of fire rose up further down the road. I began to scream "the fire's here, get out, run!" My relatives and their host family ran out in their pyjamas, shoes and coats, there was no time for them to bring anything. We headed for the synagogue but the wind picked up and it was no longer safe.

We began to run towards the exit of the village, literally trying to outrun the flames and smoke. Those community members who had managed to get their cars were stopping and offering lifts to whoever they could fit in. Others were shouting that they were looking for their kids or their spouse. Someone had two seats so we sent our young cousins into that car. We continued to run and eventually another car with a mother and her 2 daughters offered the 3 of us places. By the time we got to the gate we had taken in other people so there were 7 of us in the 5 seater with 2 on laps.

We managed to get out and drove away without any plan of where to go. My aunt and uncle realised that their kids didn't have phones or any way to contact us and wouldn't know where we were. We had no idea whose car they were in or where they would be taken although we knew that they'd be looked after. The family decided to stay with a relative about 45 mins away and as they were travelling past my brother's town we asked them to drop us off.

On the way, the daughters were hysterical, thinking of their friends and family and home. The driver thankfully managed to speak to her husband who had found their other kids and told him where they were heading.

Once we were dropped off, following effusive thanks to the family who'd helped us get away, we woke up my brother and sister in law who were absolute stars and took us in, they could not have done more for us. My aunt and uncle had nothing but the clothes they stood up in and we all stank of smoke. By about 3.30am we'd found out that our Israeli family members were safe and together but no one knew the whereabouts of our 2 young English cousins who'd been in the other car. We were finally able to locate them this evening with much thanks to our Israeli cousins.

My brother took my aunt and uncle to collect their kids from a neighbouring village where they had been beautifully taken care of. The Bar Mitzvah family ended up in yet another village where the community had given their son the opportunity to read his Torah portion in their synagogue this morning. He had his parents, siblings, grandparents and a few cousins with him so even though many of us were now unable to attend he became bar mitzvah.

We discovered that the house that my uncle and aunt had been staying in had only received superficial smoke and water damage and my uncle was allowed to briefly enter tonight to collect their cases, passports and other items. I'd managed to grab most of my stuff but throughout today I noticed the things I'd left behind, my DMs and smart suede party shoes, odd bits of clothing, books, my charger... and what I saved smells of smoke.

To put it in perspective though, I was devastated to learn that the house I'd been staying in had been burnt to the ground and that wonderful, warm family had lost everything. It seems likely that the lady who drove us to safety did too, as it turns out that she lived in the same neighbourhood. At least 15 houses have been completely razed to the ground. I have seen an aerial photograph and only the brick outlines of the foundations remain.

This has been a incredibly traumatic experience and I am very shaken although so grateful to be alive and well, and to have been with family.

I will never forget the kindness shown to us, especially from my host family who had to worry about a stranger as well as their children. They have a tight knit community and I'm confident that they will move on and rebuild, both literally and figuratively, but I don't think we'll forget the past 24 hours in a hurry. I'm hoping that writing this will help to relieve some of my shakiness and anxiety so that I can sleep.

I am safe and well.

Israel Is Burning

Not as dramatic as a photo of raging wildfires but rather the tragic aftermath.
This is what almost 1,000 families all over Israel are facing this week.

Since last Tuesday Israel has been burning, Wildfires all over the country have destroyed almost 1,000 homes. Hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated at different times over the past six days - some for several days.

Friends in Zichron Ya'akov lost their home completely. The house, along with ten other homes, has completely gone. Another friend showed similar pictures of his mother's house in Haifa where over 600 homes have been damaged and 400 completely destroyed. At my college today one of the lecturers told us that her daughter's house had been destroyed. Outside Jerusalem some of my students were evacuated. Other friends have posted photos of raging wildfires taken from their windows.

It has got to the stage where everyone in this small country knows someone directly affected.

And they have proof now that much of it it is arson (some of the original fires may not have been but at least 1/3 of the subsequent fires definitely are). A new form of terrorism for when the winds are strong and we have only had one short rain since the summer. As it's the end of November and we are in the Middle East, everything is extremely dry,

Being Israel, everyone is collecting and donating warm clothes and blankets, furniture and other household goods for the homeless families. Lists of phone numbers and locations are circulating where families are offering to take in another family or have empty accommodation to offer, The fire stations are drowning under mountains of home baked goods to keep them going over long shifts,

We have received help in the form of fire-fighting aircraft and crews from Greece, Cyprus, Russia, Turkey, France, Spain, Canada, and Sweden and Italy (and offers from others). The Palestinian Authority have sent fire-fighters to help extinguish the blazes on the ground.

They say rain expected on Wednesday. Meanwhile Israel is still burning,

Not A Fancy Wedding

I was hoping to get back to mundane but happier topics with the start of August. I expect I will soon as the end of the war seems to be in sight. The tunnels under Israel that took Hamas 5 years to build and cost them millions of dollars are all but destroyed. I've heard that we are pulling out of Gaza.

Today on fb I saw these photos posted by Lisa Brink.

It looks like a fancy wedding doesn't it? It was in fact the Friday Night Dinner at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv. The guests were the families of wounded soldiers who were staying in the hospital over Shabbat to be with their sons, husbands, boyfriends, and brothers.

And here are goody parcels to keep them going in between meals.

Sometimes I love Israel even more than I yearn for salt and vinegar crisps.

We Are At War & I Am Proud To Be Israeli

I've not written for a week as the situation here has deteriorated and so has my mood.

On a personal level I have a traumatised child here. I hesitate to even write this as families on the border with Gaza have been running from rocket attacks for the past 14 years. We have had 3 air raid sirens and coped with them admirably. However, I am not in control of what the other kids say at kindergarten. The kids with older brothers and sisters who have friends with even older brothers and sisters.... and so things trickle down to even the little ones.

DD, who was already sleeping in my bed, will not now go to sleep in the bedroom if I am not there. She wakes up in the night and tells me she's scared of the baddies but she won't tell me what exactly because, "it's too bad, I can't tell you." Twice this week she was supposed to go to a friend to play after day-camp and cried that she didn't want to go, so they brought her home instead. And the frequent questions about rockets, what they do, baddies, where they are, etc... For all my lighthearted carry on attitude events have not gone unnoticed.

I am no longer concerned about our own safety. Rockets to Jerusalem were obviously not cost effective and seem to have stopped (although they're still raining down all over the south and centre of the country). Now it is a far worse situation. We had hoped to avoid a ground invasion at all costs but after 3 cease fires where we cease and Hamas fires, terror tunnels found as far as 1.5km into Israel and even under a kibbutz dining hall, rockets found hidden in an UNWRA school which UNWRA handed back to Hamas, and Gazan citizens told to ignore Israel's warnings that they send before firing (we want to destroy weapon stores not kill people), there was no other choice.

So now our boys and our men, my students, my friends' sons, brothers, and husbands, fathers, colleagues, neighbours, are risking their lives for our safety. Over 20 families have so far been plunged into despair. I was too frightened to call one of my friends last night as 13 soldiers from her new son-in-law's brigade were killed yesterday.

This is a war against Hamas, a recognised terrorist organisation funded by Iran and no less dangerous than Al Quaeda funded by Iraq. When America was brought to its knees on 9/11 and London was attacked on 7/7 four years later, America, Britain, France and Germany invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. That was approximately 3,052 civilians killed in the US and UK. Since then:

Between 2001-2014, some 21,000 to 23,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan.

Between 2001-2014, 20,000 to 30,000 civilians were killed in Pakistan.

Between 2001-2014, 133,000 to 147,000 civilians were killed in Iraq.

All these civilians were killed by U.S., French, British and German forces.

data from http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/us-israel-could-do-more-to-prevent-civilian-deaths/2014/07/18/

So don't talk to me about disproportionate retaliation.

I read this in a DailyMail comment (serves me right for going there): "Hamas rockets don't actually hurt anyone." - They are metal missiles with sharp edges, about 1m long and packed with explosives. What do you mean they don't hurt?! Over 1,500 of these have been fired into Israel in the past three weeks.

About the poor Palestinians. I'm not being facetious. They are poor indeed. When Israel pulled out of Gaza 9 years ago, we left working agricultural farms and were offering to provide training for their continuation. We left hotels, houses, factories. All this, along with billions in financial aid from Europe and the US, could have gone toward building a Palestinian utopia. Instead everything was destroyed. They have a long Mediterranean coastline - beaches for tourism (look at Sharm El Sheik for example), a port for exports (Israel did not start sanctions on shipping from Gaza until it was used to import weapons for destroying Israel), a delsalination plant could have been built so that water shortages will never be an issue. There was money for all this and more to spare. It was all used by Hamas to buy weapons of destruction.

The Gaza-Egyptian border is permanently closed because Egypt is scared of Hamas. No one mentions the Egyptian border when Israel is accused of locking the Gazans in. This is doubly ironic when Israel sends daily supplies of food and medicine across the border and Gazans cross into Israel for work and medical treatment in Israeli hospitals.

Now their homes, schools and hospitals are being used to store these weapons. Hamas knows it cannot win a weapons war against Israel with their unpredictable rockets, over 100 of which have fallen inside Gaza itself, but it can win the PR war if only thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians are killed. It was a coup for them when their own rockets destroyed the main electrical cables into Gaza - 70,000 civilians without electricity. The UN wasted no time announcing an impending humanitarian distaster. However, Israel fixed the cables so that we could continue supplying free electricity. Yes the Palestinians in Gaza are poor indeed.

We are fighting against terrorists and make no mistake, if they are allowed to continue operating they are not going to stop at destroying Israel. Israel is an easy target - it is a western outpost in the midst of hostile neighbours (some less hostile and we do 'enjoy' a cold peace with Jordan and Egypt, though not any actual support), it is small, and the world has a tendency to hate Jews and want to annihilate them every few hundred years.

9/11 and 7/7 followed by years of quagmire war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, should have taught the West who the baddies are. But still there are larger rallies protesting against Israel defending itself (and ultimately everyone) than there are rallies against the atrocities in Syria or Nigeria.

I started to get upset by the ignorance of many internet users, even though I have had wonderfully supportive and kind messages from my blogging friends. I watched incredulously as British politicians bashed Israel - where were they on 7/7/2005? I don't begin to understand the motives of non-Moslem moderates who in every other area of their lives enjoy the fruits of Israeli innovation and technology - laptops, mobile phones, medical innovations, kindles... watch the video below and see if you can realistically boycott Israel.

I started to get upset but then I rose above it. I am proud to be Israeli. I will continue to try to educate those who don't get it and pray that their ignorance does not in the end allow us all to be destroyed.