4 | OCTOBER 12 • 2023
J
N
PURELY COMMENTARY
world news
Holiday/Shabbat prayers go on,
while tragedy unfolds in Israel.
Beit Shemesh, Israel
N
early everyone at
the early morning
services for Shemini
Atzeret/Simchat Torah (Oct.
7) noticed the
noise of pass-
ing aircraft
and occasional
distant popping
sounds. Those
seemed normal
enough to a
recent immi-
grant from
Michigan, but alarming to
people used to Israel.
The main morning service
that started later was inter-
rupted by sirens more than
once. The Iron Dome system
was intercepting rockets,
some close to Beit Shemesh
in central Israel. Worshippers
had no doubt we were under
attack by rockets — and
maybe in other ways, too.
At lunch, family members
from the later services report-
ed that some worshippers
took this in stride, and other
people needed help dealing
with their anxiety. The sirens
also came during lunch.
Each house in this neigh-
borhood has a room that also
serves as a bomb shelter, a
mamad, and we had to gather
in the mamad a few times
that afternoon. The youngest
of our group, a 2-year-old,
received a matter-of-fact
explanation from his mother:
“When the alarm sounds, we
go into the mamad for a few
minutes, and then we can
come out again. It is safer
inside the mamad.”
Inside the shelter, he
seemed restless. His mother
suggested that they sing, and
he asked for a Simchat Torah
song. So, they sang an old
standard tune for the day, a
musical setting for a verse
from Psalms: “Hoshiah et
Amekha” (Psalms 28:9). Its
message, a prayer asking God
to “save your people,” seems
especially appropriate right at
this moment.
A couple of the people
around the table are in the
active military. They need to
have their phones with them
now. One phone keeps going
off, and the soldier steps out-
side to get his orders.
The rest of us do not use
our phones or radios on
Shabbat, as usual, so we do
not get any up-to-date infor-
mation about the threat. We
certainly have heard nothing
reassuring.
As the Festival of Shemini
Atzeret/Simchat Torah and
Shabbat draw to a close,
friends met on the street to
discuss the situation. Should
we go to the synagogue?
Someone said the govern-
ment had asked people not to
gather in large numbers. One
contingent walked past on
its way up to the synagogue.
Maybe they have not heard
the rumor. About 15 men and
a few women stayed behind
to say the afternoon prayer
right there on the street. That
street counts as a safe place
for prayers on Shabbat: a cul-
de-sac in a national religious
neighborhood, it hardly ever
has any traffic then.
Conversation on the street
turns to who had been called
up during the day. One
family had a festive meal
for the extended family that
morning, but now two sons
and one son-in-law have
received their calls and left.
Another man said he had
just returned from driving a
son to his rendezvous when
the call came for his other
son; now he has come back
from the second trip.
Then we say the after-
noon service on the street.
During the service, a cell-
phone chimes and one
of the military-aged men
discretely slips away. A car
comes down the street slow-
ly; worshippers step aside
to let it through. It pulls
over at the last house on the
street, where a young man
comes out to get in the car. A
woman follows for one long
look at him as the car turns
around and drives quickly
back up the street.
When night falls, everyone
will hurry to find a news
source.
Louis
Finkelman
Contributing
Writer
Beit Shemesh
WIKIPEDIA