10 | OCTOBER 19 • 2023 J
N

essays
From the Front Lines

Editor’s Note: The following essays are from
former Metro Detroiters now living in Israel.
O

n the morning of Shemini
Atzeret/Simchat Torah: I heard
sirens. Unexpected, but that
happens sometimes. But then more
sirens, and Iron Dome explosions,
which can be heard from
tens of kilometers away.
When the sirens went
off, people in shul moved
to the mamad (bomb
shelter room), and then
came back out. When it
happened again and again,
the people in charge made
the decision to cut services short. There
must have been six interruptions to
the prayers. So they decided, no more
hakafot (circling the synagogue with the
Sifrei Torah), no singing, just reciting
the words quickly to finish early and go
home.
I was actually leading the Musaf
service at that time, which begins with
reciting the prayer for the peace of the
State of Israel and for the Israel Defense

Forces. As if on cue, in the middle of
this prayer, a uniformed soldier ran in
and called out to younger soldiers to
report to their base for active duty.
At first, most of us did not know
much of what was going on, but one
member of the congregation has a lead-
ing position in Hatzalah; another, in
Magen David Adom; they always keep
their radios handy, and they had their
radios on all along. They knew what
was going on and relayed the details
they were hearing.
Information and rumors snowballed.
Besides the soldiers, doctors in the con-
gregation left and reported for duty.
As the afternoon wore on, we kept get-
ting snippets of news; the magnitude kept
getting worse. It was upsetting. We start-
ed to realize that this was “game-chang-
ing,” not just another incident.
I have been in Israel more than
20 years. I lived through the second
intifada in 2000, the 2005 withdrawal
from Gaza, the three boys who were
kidnapped, other traumatic events that
riveted the country. This felt like a dif-
ferent order of magnitude. The number

of people killed or captured over such
a short period of time … even veteran
Israelis who have been here far longer
than I recognize that this is different.
This gives us the opportunity to focus
on important things and let other less
important things fall by the wayside.
We should focus on advocating for
Israel, supporting each other, support-
ing the Jewish people. Also on seem-
ingly small things, that may turn out to
be the most important: checking in on
neighbors and friends to see how they
are doing and if they need anything.
Being a good friend and a good neigh-
bor matter.
We have our political differences, but
at times like these, they become less
important. We can see how little they
matter, in comparison.
It hurts to hear even little children
ask, “Why do they want to kill us?”

Zevi Reinitz lives in Ramot in Jerusalem. He made
aliyah from Detroit with his family more than 20
years ago when he was an 11th grader at Akiva.
His wife also moved to Israel from the US, when,
after her year in seminary, she stayed in Israel.
They have six children.

Zevi Reinitz




PURELY COMMENTARY

We Are Praying
W

e live in Bar Yochai, which is
far away from both Gaza and
from the Hezbollah-related
events in the North. We have had no
sirens and were told once
to go to our safe rooms
(stayed for a half hour until
told we could go out).
We have two grandsons
in the IDF on active service
now — Alex and Ezra —
and three others in Israel
at the moment. We have
stocked up on basic supplies, and our

village has been mobilized. Many of our
neighbors have been called up to active
duty. The others with weapons have
formed up to systematically guard the
village.
We hear Israeli jets overhead frequent-
ly but no sirens. We have heard some
explosions and were told that these were
IDF retaliations in Lebanon for missiles,
mortars, launched by Hezbollah.
What happened is truly horrible and,
in a sense, much worse than the Yom
Kippur War. In that war, the enemy went
after military targets. This time, Hamas

attacked a music festival, small villages
and took over a hundred hostages —
mostly women and children, some of
whom were assaulted, raped, tortured.
This is true evil and must be
destroyed.
We’re praying for our soldiers, for
our civilians in harm’s way, for those
thousands (mostly civilians) who were
wounded.

Claude Schochet, who taught math at Wayne
State University fot many years, and lived in
Southfield, now lives in Bar Yochai in Israel.

Claude
Schochet