Yesterday was without a doubt the most emotionally chaotic day I’ve ever experienced in Israel.
I was privileged to make Aliyah to Israel 4 years ago. And while I was here during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza at the end of 2008, I was not here during the intifadas.
I have never experienced life during random terror attacks on buses and inside restaurants and cafes. I’ve seen the pictures and the videos. I pass by the memorial plaques, I’ve heard the stories. But I’ve never experienced it first hand. Until yesterday.
Sadly I’ve grown used to hearing about rocket attacks in the south of Israel. By God’s grace no civilians have been killed in a few years (since Cast Lead) so even though I know I have cousins who live near the Gaza border and friends in Be’er Sheva and Ashdod, I don’t get all worked up when I hear another grad rocket or mortar has been fired at our southern communities. Don’t get me wrong, I abhor it and pray for my loved one’s protection, but in a way I’ve just become numb to it.
Yesterday, however, really woke me out of that ‘numbness.’
You see I live in Tel Aviv. They call it ‘the bubble.’ We’re in the center of the country, so we’re usually outside of rocket range from terrorists in Gaza (although Iran is working hard to supply both Hamas and Hezbollah with longer-range missiles). So most of the time life just goes on here as normal even when terrorists are striking in other parts of the country.
My daily routine involves going to my coffee shop each morning for ‘breakfast’ to go. Taking 2 buses and then going to work here at Maoz. My commute home involves 2 more buses and then I’m back in my apartment (with my roommates, 2 of whom currently serve in the IDF).
It’s a pretty normal routine, and I greatly enjoy my work, my home, my life in general in this beautiful, miraculous nation.
But yesterday, terrorists disrupted my routine. They bombed a bus in Jerusalem. A bus. They packed explosives and shrapnel inside a package/bag and left it to explode at a bus stop near the entrance to the city, just outside the international convention center.
A bus.
I ride 4 buses every day here in Israel.
Yesterday’s attack really hit home.
After work last night, after watching the news from Jerusalem, reading all the horrific details, hearing about the woman who died and the dozens who were injured… I walked out of the office and what passed by? A bus. An ‘Egged’ bus (the name of the bus line that was attacked yesterday). My heart sank.
Despite the cold and rainy weather, I actually considered walking home for a moment.
But, I couldn’t. Not out of laziness, but out of resolve. I had to get on that bus, I had to live my life. I couldn’t let “them,” as they say, ‘win.’
And so I did. I got on the bus. I admit I looked around at everyone a little more suspiciously than usual. I looked for any unusual looking bags/packages. It was nerve-racking. But I had to do it.
I also took my second bus, and by God’s grace we all made it home safely.
But it’s a day I’ll never forget.
It’s the day my safety ‘bubble’ here in Israel got burst.
Yesterday school children in Ashdod and Be’er Sheva had no classes. It wasn’t a snow-day, it was a ‘bomb day.’ Because so many rockets and mortars had been fired on the cities over the weekend, classes were actually cancelled.
Our executive secretary here at Maoz came running to my office yesterday morning to ask for prayer, because her daughter called her from the campus of Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva, when the warning sirens went off, indicating an incoming attack.
Yes, it was a stressful day. And today a family is mourning a loved one, 56 year old Mary-Jane Gardner who just got on the bus, like I do, to live her normal life. She was a student studying the Bible in Israel. A believer in Yeshua, who had plans to go to Africa to work on translating the Bible into a language currently without the Holy Scriptures.
And today 12 people remain hospitalized and dozens more are at home, still in shock, their families and friends also still recovering from the anxiety.
One of the victims, Sasson Tzedaka, survived another terror attack 8 years earlier outside Cafe Rimon, also in downtown Jerusalem. Can you even imagine what life is like for him today?
So, when the headlines die down, and the ‘blame-Israel’ rhetoric begins again… just know that we’ll still be here. Getting on our buses, living our lives, and secretly, deep down wondering when the next attack will happen again.
And what is our crime? What did we do to deserve these attacks? We accepted a small strip of land in 1948, that by the way, the international community offered us. The Palestinians were also offered a strip of land, but they said ‘no.’ They wanted both strips. And they attacked us on that first day in our re-born nation in 1948 and they’ve been attacking us ever since.
I recently heard journalist Tom Brokaw say ‘all life is like junior high school’. How right he is. The Palestinians didn’t want to share. They wanted it all for themselves, and they’ve been pouting in the corner, trying to get the world to feel sorry for them and allowing their bigger brothers to exploit their ‘victimization’ ever since. And they’ve been throwing rocks and anything else they can get their hands on.
Yes, junior high behavior for sure.
Isn’t 62 years of pouting and rock throwing enough? Apparently not.
God tells us in His word to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And in Psalm 137 it says:
“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth- If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.”
Today Jerusalem and all of Israel is in mourning. Will you mourn with us? Will you pray for us? Will you stand by us?
We could sure use a friend today…on this ‘day after.’
No comments:
Post a Comment