| time for another update (letter #2) | ||
It's almost 14:00. I just finished washing the after lunch dishes. Considering that it's only Tzippi and me that's an easy task, though I was busy a bit earlier washing things after Tzippi prepared a cheesecake for the upcoming holiday. A bit less than half an hour ago there was a very heavy barrage of rockets, much of it to the Tel Aviv area, and for some reason by us things were quiet (though we did hear a number of booms, most probably from Iron Dome interceptions). We'd just put on the news station after watching a performance of Schumann's piano quintet on the classical music station we get while we ate lunch. Thursday evening was the first time we deviated from watching only the news station, putting on an episode of a Netflix series we've been watching instead - before, of course, returning to the news. Last night we also allowed ourselves to watch some "regular" television. I don't remember if it was last night or Thursday when we switched back to the news programming, and discovered that we were just in time to get a report on the start of a new barrage. (The video below gives a good picture of how the various rocket attacks get reported. That was a pretty massive barrage, similar to the one reported on above. BTW, the areas being targeted are alphabetized so new places show up not at the bottom of the list but instead in alphabetical order.)
I finished the above paragraph (from approximately "the classical music station") after this one which took precedence. Things happen a bit too quickly for even a fast typist, especially one that attempts to establish a bit of framework for what he reports. I was writing about that heavy barrage that didn't reach us when ... a new one did. We sat for a few minutes in what I refer to as our semi-protected space (let's abbreviate that to SPS), hearing a number of booms, including loud ones, above us. Clearly it's hard to give play-by-play when things are happening faster than I can report.
Last night we went to bed a bit earlier than usual (which is actually rather normal for us on 'erev Shabbat). So we were in bed around 01:00 when sirens went off and we were back in our SPS for about five minutes, and then again ten minutes after that. I'm known as a very good sleeper and this morning Tzippi reported that she got up to go to the SPS two more times during the night, but since she wasn't sure that the sirens she heard were distinctly for us (we hear sirens from towns all around us) she didn't see the point in trying to wake me. Between my last report of three days ago and last night we've sat in our SPS at least three other times. I guess that the fact that I don't exactly remember means that we've gotten used to this.
Another siren (and the subsequent booms) delayed the starting of this sentence for about five minutes. On a more pleasant note, we also spoke with Hila on the phone getting an update from her. This weekend she's at Giv'at Chaviva at a seminar for HaShomer HaTzair and though all is well with her she reported that the group of post-high-school students she's responsible for in Be'er Sheva was shipped out to a kibbutz in the north for safety and that rockets had fallen very close to their ken.
At least until about an hour ago I'd been intending to go to a demonstration this evening. Various groups are organizing vigils. Most of these focus on internal issues ("Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies" - in Hebrew it rhymes). At present I'm not aware of vigils directed toward stopping Israel's bombing of Gaza. Two days ago I knew of one central demonstration, but it seems that now the plan is small vigils in various communities. With the latest rocket attacks these have become ill-advised. I'm not sure I want to go to the spot on the road where I usually demonstrate considering that rockets have fallen pretty much at that exact spot twice in the past. The central Jerusalem demonstration at the Prime Minister's residence (Balfour) has been cancelled for safety reasons. So it looks like I'll be home this evening - getting upset at the news but not doing anything about it.
There are a number of political issues that demand attention, and a report of this kind that doesn't include those in the larger picture is definitely lacking. But considering that I started writing this almost an hour and a half ago and have pretty much typed myself out, I'll have to try to get around to those soon.
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sent: May 15, 2021 |
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to the next letter to War Writing |