Update - Living In A Country at War

On October 12th, five days after the horrors of October 7th, I posted a blog in response to the many messages of support and concern we received for our non-Jewish friends. I cannot put into words how moved and uplifted we felt by these unexpected messages including some from people we thought we had lost touch with! I didn't send it to our family and Jewish friends because they were all living through it themselves in their diffierent ways.

For those that wish to read it here is the link https://www.gordon68.co.uk/post/when-the-impossible-happens

For the first two weeks of the war schools and business's across the country were closed. Only essential shops were open. As Alexander and Gila both live in areas under regular rocket fire and there was no nursery for Eliya, they all stayed with us. Ben, Tali and Noah returned to England two days after it had started, a couple of days earlier than scheduled, but there were still nine of us in the house! Initially we had been very wary of leaving the house not just because of potential rockets but also the fear of further terrorist incursions. The first time I went to the supermarket was the first time I truly felt afraid since the bus bombings in Israel during the 1990's. As we stayed rocket free, Eliya and I started going to the supermarket everyday, as an outing, (there is a public shelter at the shopping complex) and Gila made the most amazing craft activities for him out of random food - flour, chia seeds, shaving foam, hair conditioner and food colouring! Ironically, Covid had prepared us all very well for staying in.

The government were constantly reassessing the risks for each area and restrictions in our area were quite quickly lifted. At the moment we are one of the only places in the country not to have had a siren, seemingly too far from the rocket launchers in both the North and South. We are not complacent. Should Hezbollah become seriously involved their rockets would easily reach us. Alexander went back to Tel Aviv, despite regular rockets, and Gila went back to work, and when Eliya's nursery reopened after a fortnight, back to Efrat. We were back to just Malcolm, myself, Samuel and Sophie.

The hotels and empty apartments had been filling up with evacuated and fleeing residents from the South but, as the dangers increased in the North, their residents were also evacuated to our area. I have no idea what happens in other countries at war - that was a really strange sentence to write - but the way in which people have come together to help complete strangers has been truly amazing. Initially, understandably, it was collecting and distributing supplies for soldiers. Quite whether they needed everything that was being sent to them is debatable but everyone needed to feel they were doing something. Since then efforts have become more focused. With so many displaced people in the area the first needs were the basics. Many had left with very little other than what they were wearing so toiletries, clothes, toys to comfort the children. Hotels were only providing accommodation so people were going in to provide meals. Since then volunteers have been running nurseries for the young children and lessons for the older ones. A friend involved in the teaching said they are now trying to integrate the children into local schools. Apparently they have been told not to expect to go back at least until March - make of that what you will. How already full schools are supposed to do this I do not know. The local community centre has set up a kitchen and, daily, hundreds of meals are made by and delivered by volunteers to displaced families living in the holiday homes that absentee owners have offered for use.

Distribution centres have been set up, many in Tel Aviv, and Malcolm regularly delivers all sorts of supplies to army bases around the country, to those who are still living in the South and to the hotels with evacuees. Initially he and Alexander went together but I wasn't keen on two members of my family going so close to war zones together! He now usually takes a friend, ideally a Hebrew speaking one. He did wonder if he would regret buying an electric car but it has proved a worthy delivery van and, with judicious driving, he can actually make it to the North, or South, and back, on one charge. On those occasions when he has stopped for a break and charged the car he has always found an available and working charging point, although, in the South again last week, and with six deliverys to make, he came within 36km of running out of battery! Sometimes the army will say he can't go any further and the soldiers have to come to him from the base to collect. Early on he realised that Waze was no longer giving him directions. As you get near the border the GPS signal is scrambled so we've had to invest in a road map of the country! In fact Waze no longer gives an indication of heavy traffic any where in the country so no red lines - plenty of traffic though! He was in Kiryat Shemona, in the far North, the day it was evacuated, and in Ofakim last week, one of the towns attacked on October 7th. Malcolm's most regular travelling companion is our friend Philip Lehrer, a fluent Hebrew speaker. Aged 77 and 5'6" he is a black belt in karate. He tells everyone they meet that he is Malcolm's body guard, but as I pointed out, when he told me that he would keep Malcolm safe, if a rocket lands on the car his eight inch knife and karate skills aren't going to be much help!

Everyone is very appreciative of the deliveries, especially when its food. His trip to Ofakim was to deliver hamsters to the children still living there. This was not how he expected to see the country! Why take the risk? We have so many friends with family in the army. One family has all four sons and their son-in-law serving - two of them in Gaza. It's the least we can do.

Our friend Daniel Mednick, who went from being a Travel Agent, pre Covid, to catering, (Munch with Meds) answered a call from his Rabbi and produced a hot meal for the 80 soldiers in his Rabbi's unit.  He took the food up to their impromptu base in a field on the Northern border.  The food had to go hot and stay hot because there was nowhere to heat it at the camp. They are obviously fed by the army but the food is very basic and they hadn't had a hot meal in a fortnight until Meds arrived. Needless to say, they were very happy! Given that they had one small generator for the unit and nowhere to plug in heaters, Meds raised money for some diesel generators which were sent up to them.

Sadly there are requests to attend funerals and prayer services where mourners take comfort from the communal grieving. We spent one Saturday night lining the streets of our area as a soldier was taken for burial. I could never have imagined spending a Saturday night like that and hope never to do that again.

Recently a new volunteering opportunity has arisen. A lot of farmers have lost their workers, with the foreign labourers going back to their countries and Palestinian workers no longer allowed into Israel. I joined a WhatsApp group of those willing to help out local farmers. So far I have only made it to the chilli farm where we took the stalks off the chillis, making sure not to break the chilli in the process. You meet lots of lovely people. Whilst chilli sorting, I sat with a fabulous group of American Israelis from the Jerusalem area in their 70s. They travel all round the country helping the farmers, sometimes picking but also packing and sorting. So far they have worked with cabbages, mushrooms and lettuces as well as the chillis. Our friend Lynne was weeding strawberries last week and Maurice, an enthusiastic 78 year old, who comes round regulaly to borrow books since I started my lending library during covid, is out every day. So far I have pictures of him with chillis, avocados and onions!

My eco-warrior friend posted this message on the group of farming volunteers. It really sums up life at the moment

Valiant farm volunteers 🙋‍♂ 👌 💜

I'm so proud of you all and wish I could join in this important effort. Since Oct 7th I've been living in Modiin looking after my grandchildren whose parents were mobilized including my DIL who is a lieu colonel in the idf and my 3 sons...each in a different part of the country.

Wishing you יישאר כוח and all my best

Love and light, Ellen

We also support the farmers by buying from the impromptu street stalls that pop up in the neighborhood. There is usually a minimum quantity of each product and it can sometimes be a little challenging using it all up!

The school I went to was a funny mixture of modern - I was encouraged to be an engineer - and old fashioned - we did compulsory home economics and needlework. My teacher for both was the mother of one of my closest friends, Anne Glasspool. She was strict and quite scary, at school anyway, but was relatively kind to me given my level of incompetance. My cooking wasn't terrible but well below average and I'm still traumatised by having to make flaky pastry! One of our friends wrote to Anne when her mother passed away, reminiscing, saying "I also remember her getting really mad with Anne Cohen’s pastry making - it was blue from the ink on Anne’s hands!!” Thats me! Into adulthood I baked four cakes a year for each of my children's birthdays. They always looked great but everyone knew not to eat them! So when a Netanya wide Challah Bake was set up to make challah (special plaited bread for the Sabbath meal) for all the displaced families Gila suggested that as they were already traumatised maybe we should keep the challah we baked for ourselves. She also suggested to Malcolm, on the side, that he should buy a couple of challot in the shops. It has been the case for centuries that women making challah for the Shabbat meal will say special prayers for wellbeing for those in need and those who are sick so this communal bake, on zoom, in groups, was especially meaningful and it was hoped would make the prayers more powerful. I am delighted to say the challah turned out looking perfect and actually very tasty. I have made challah every week since - and I make them by hand and not using a breadmaker!

Even more unlikely, I have started knitting! I don't always have a car, if Malcolm's out delivering, or a lift to go to the farms, and knowing I was going to be in England for a week I wanted to continue doing something for the war effort whilst I was away. There is a local knitting group which has existed for many years, knitting clothes for underpriveliged children in the area. They have turned their efforts to knitting woolly hats for the soldiers. Although mild during the day it is now very cold in the North and South at night. This group, led by our friend Rose, has already made hundred's of hats. They prioritse units of family members but always like to make enough for the whole unit before they send them. Now, my needlework skills at school were significantly worse that my cooking! I once made a pair of shorts and sewed up all the openings instead of the sides! In the summer we were allowed to wear any suitable summer dress as long as it was purple, (our school colour being purple) and it's symbol was an oak leaf. In my second year we had to make our own summer dress! Bentalls, our local department store, was selling fabric, white with a purple oak leaf patern, and vice versa. My limited ability meant I had to spend the entire summer wearing a stupid tent in this stupid fabric with a white school shirt underneath - I was 13! You can see it in the picture below and all those other dresses were home made too! If you were being generous you could call it a smock, but basically it had a hole in the top and two holes in the side, no buttons or zips. Thanks to Mrs Glasspool I can sew on a button and can still sew a hem but that is my limit. So when I decided to try knitting Gila, (Gila again!) sugested that I just buy the hats. Apparently you can't! The knitting group had suggested that beginners were welcome. After my first lesson with Lynne I was quite confident that I had grasped it but three hours later I was back at her flat for an unpick. The next morning it was Rose's turn and then Linda's. Knitting has provided several challenges.  Keeping count and remembering what stitch to do next has been a struggle – and there are only two stiches!  The level of concentration required means I can't even listen to something while I knit – and I’m the person who, whilst cooking, reads the newspaper and watches television at the same time, occasionally leading to both a burnt meal and a burnt newspaper! Its also proving a challenge to my varifocals - you need good lighting for black wool!

After several false starts and a lot of help, I finally managed to do a row with 98 stiches, the correct number.  My record was 105 stiches in one row but I intend to persevere. My family have been very rude about my knitting and my Mum laughs every time she sees me knitting. More than one person has suggested that the war will be finished before my hat is - Please G-d.

And despite everything, life still goes on. The sun still shines every day here in Netanya even though it’s late November, the sea is so wonderfully blue and I am now swimming twice a week in the sea. Every day I look at our beautiful neighbourhood and question how it is possible that it is so peaceful and beautiful here when there is a war in our country and so much suffering. All the shops have reopened and we are back to meeting for coffee and we usually get together with friends for coffee on a Saturday evening at home. We occasionally go out for a meal. Eliya ended up in the ER whilst staying with us last Shabbat after falling and cutting his chin.  He was glued and steri-stripped and back home before Malcolm was back from Synagogue – but why do these things always happen on Shabbat! The pediatric ER was mercifully quiet. As we walked in there were three nurses sitting together chatting and laughing. One Orthodox Jewish with her hair covered, one Muslim with her hair covered and one non religious Jewish. This is how it is in many places, all over Israel, and how it should be everywhere. You shop, socialise, laugh and joke - what else is there to do? We take great joy and comfort from our adorable, cute grandchildren, but all the time the twin shadows of the fighting, and the hostages hang over everything.

The Israeli economy is heavily affected by the war with 360,000 reservists called up and 250,000 people displaced. Such a blow after the Covid years. El Al are the only airline flying again and the airport was earily reminiscent of Covid although more depressing. Then it affected everyone, now only us. A friend suggested buying from the shops at the airport as they are struggling with the lack of traffic. Flying to England to see our family there, we did our best. It is beyond my comprehension why one is allowed to take knitting needles in hand luggage. Knitting needles are vicious creatures and I reckon, strategically they could be used to do serious harm if not kill someone! Such a strange world.

We are lifted by support from around the world and I have joined a 'good news only' Whatsapp group. Videos of rallys and of installations representing the hostages, from around the world supporting Israel, are heartwarming My favourite are the cowboys from Montana who have come to help, and the rally in Japan. Within days of the attack, buildings around the world were lit up in support of Israel. We knew that that support wouldn't necessarily last but it felt very special none the less. So many buildings were lit up that it made those that were not stand out. Shame on you the Football Association for not lighting up the Wembley Arch.

Like many countries, the National Flag is regularly flown in Israel, with pride and emotion, to celebrate national holidays and as an act of remembrance, so, within a few days of the war, the flag was being flown from houses along the streets and all advertising hoardings and billboards had been changed with messages of solidarity and the Israeli flag.

I am writing this seven weeks after the attack and until a few days ago nothing much had changed other than the campaign to bring the hostages home having increased in intensity. As time progressed the fate of the hostages and the agony of their families has become more and more prominent and in the pubic conscience - as it should be. Only four hostages had been released and one rescued. A local boy is among the hostages and his face is all over Netanya.

I received this message from a friend in our area on 15th October

I found myself last night with my arms round a distraught woman wearing the same petticoat and flip flops she was wearing last Saturday when she spent 22 hours in hiding on her kibbutz before being rescued. Her daughter was missing. Tonight she was confirmed kidnapped. My heart is in a thousand pieces. Someone in our building has lent their flat to them and I went to see if they needed anything. They’d just heard from the military. The 94 year old grandmother was on the sofa crying with incomprehension. The mother just fell into my arms.

There was a beautiful and moving memorial ceremony on our beach last Friday for three surfers, one of them local, who were killed at the rave. The son of one of the Rabbis at Tzvi's yeshiva lost both of his legs fighting in Gaza. This week there was a shooting at a West Bank checkpoint where there were fatalities and serious injuries. A couple of hours later and Gila would have been driving through that checkpoint. So much heartache.

Everywhere you go there are posters and signs with pictures of the hostages.

The trauma and anguish of the hostage taking is now compounded by the anxiety over the exchange of hostages for prisoners. Israelis agonise over the complex arguments for and against. In 2011, some 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including current Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, were set free in exchange for the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Families of the victims of terror strongly opposed them being released and are still against hostages being exchanged for prisoners. The government have said that no murderers are being released but one of those released was convicted of attempted murder after stabbing a women. One women released was a failed suicide bomber. What's to stop them both trying again and suceeding next time? Should we feel cheated that 3 Palestinians are released for each Israeli or just grateful that they're coming home? Surely you have to do everything you can to bring them home but is there a point when the government has to say enough? How can you say that to the families of the hostages?

Qatar fund Hamas. What are we to feel about their role in the negotiations?

Depsite it being part of the deal, Hamas have refused the Red Crescent access to the rest of the hostages. Was the government right for the deal to go ahead when such an important part of the deal has already been breached? Why is the Red Cross not up in arms about this? The Red Cross have had no access to the hostages. What have they done about it? Nothing. If you look on their website the only mention of Israel is in relation to the situation of Palestinians in Gaza. The children of one of the elderly women released last week repeatedly took her medication to the Red Cross and asked them to get it taken to her. They wouldn't take it. She is now critically ill in hospital. It seems Jewish lives don't matter.

Whatever my views on the cause of the Palestinians suffering I have no issue with those who support their cause or who march in support of them. I may feel they are misguided in their belief that it's all Israel's fault but that's how the world works. But I cannot accept that these people who call themselve humanitarians and compassionate cannot find it in their hearts to feel compassion for Israelis as well as Palestinians. Avigail turned four on Friday. She was snatched from her bed, her parents murdered in front of her. UNICEF World Childrens Day last Tuesday made no mention of the Israeli children. Save the Children make no specific mention of the kidnappings in their statements. Celebrities march for a ceasfire but won't condemn the massacre of October 7th or the hostage taking. How can this be right?

On the release of 9 year old Emily Hand, the Irish Prime Minister tweeted “an innocent child who was lost has now been found.” Lost and found! She was stolen, kidnapped then traded. What is the matter with people? What a coward.

Where is the voice of the feminist groups, who support the Palestinians, condeming Hamas for raping women and mutilating womens bodies? Events filmed by Hamas body cams then posted by Hamas, in celebration, so not open to doubt.

The fuel that is part of the hostage deal is also contentious. I support the view that Hamas will use it for their own purposes and will not give it to the Palestinians. I believe that Hamas care nothing for the Palestinans they just care about their political position.

From an article in the UK Times on Sunday titled 'What Gazans really think about Hamas', "amid the horror, increasing numbers of Gazans are turning against Hamas, which they blame for targeting civilians and children in Israel and for starting a war without consideration for the death and destruction it would bring on the people it rules. In interviews with more than a dozen Gazans, most said that while they supported the decades-long armed “resistance” against the siege of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank, they did not support the massacre of civilians on October 7, and were appalled by the failure of Hamas to help its own in Gaza, suffering under the inevitable Israeli retaliation. Yet Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip as a one-party autocracy and whose armed brigades had started the attack on October 7, was nowhere to be seen. Its fighters were in the tunnels under Gaza, from which civilians are banned, while ordinary people died beneath the rubble of their homes, in refugee camps or on the streets."

Hamas Official: We Will Repeat October 7 Attacks Until Israel Is Annihilated. A senior Hamas official said in an interview aired last week that the October 7 attack against Israel were just the beginning, vowing to launch "a second, a third, a fourth" attack until the country is "annihilated."

So what is Israel supposed to do? I don't want to see more Palestinians killed or their homes turned to rubble and if Israel returns to bombing Gaza, after the truce ends, Israel will undoubtably face condemnation from around the world - but you can't negotiate a ceasefire with people who want to annhialate you and who don't abide by the rules of International Law. What alternatives are there for Israel other than to bomb and go deeper into Gaza until all of Hamas are destroyed?

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So many agonising questions. So much emotional turmoil.

So along with Jews all over the world we get on with life, mostly with a smile, whilst completely churned up inside. We pray for the safe return of all the hostages and for peace.

Am Yisroel Chai - The People of Israel Live