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 

