40 | OCTOBER 3 • 2024 J N W hile much of the world’s attention is focused on Israel’s response to the thousands of missiles fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon, some 67,500 of Israel’s 100,000-plus internally displaced citizens are evacuees from 28 communities along the Lebanese border, according to news reports. Some have defied orders to evacuate, yet other communities just a few miles south are fully populated and function- ing mostly normally. “There are some people who have left, but no one was evacuated, ” said Sim Zacks, a former Southfield resident who lives in Ma’alot. “We’re on the second mountain range from the border, about 7 kilome- ters or about a 15-minute drive, ” he said. Claude Schochet of Yishuv Bar Yocha said, “There’s been no evacu- ation, not in this area, Merom Galil, and not a lot has happened here, as compared to 29 little vil- lages in the central part of the upper Galilee, some around (but not includ- ing) Tzfat (Safed) and some further west, like Bar Yochai, which is near the village of Meron and the kever (tomb) of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Those villages have pretty much been destroyed. ” EVERYDAY LIFE NEAR THE BORDER What is not normal about life for Schochet, Zacks and their neighbors? “Currently, there are no schools since Sunday [Sept. 22], everywhere north of Haifa, ” Zacks said. Chaim Linden, who lives in Chisnim in the southeastern part of the Golan Heights, said, “My wife, Chava, teaches kin- dergarten in a nearby vil- lage, so she’s been home all week. ” According to Zacks, “ At the moment, no gatherings — social events — are allowed, and we’re told to stay close to bomb shelters. The supermarket and mall are open, but you always want to know where the shelter is and be with- in range of it. ” On Sunday, Sept. 22, Israel’s Homefront Command raised the “alert level” along the Lebanese border and in Haifa, Tiveria (Tiberius), the Golan and Tzfat to Level 3, which calls for canceling all agricultural work in the area. Schools are closed until further notice, and workplaces can remain open where a protected space is no more than one minute away from staff. Indoor gatherings are limited to 10 people and 100 in the open. Schochet’s village was able to hear Hezbollah missiles landing in nearby Kadita. “This past Shabbat, there was a siren. Motzei (after) Shabbat, we found out that a house was hit in Kadita, and fires have occurred in the forests around us, ” he said. PARTNERSHIP2GETHER REGION Further south in Migdal HaEmek, Nof Haglil and Jezreel Valley in Detroit’s Partnership2Gether region, “We were targeted three times early Sunday morning, Sept. 22, and we went into safe rooms, ” said Einat Adir-Sapir of Detroit’s Partnership2Gether field staff. “We could hear the ‘boom’ and waited for the ‘all-clear’ to leave shelter. ” Linden, 37, notes that Chisnim is not too far south from Katzrin, also in the Golan Heights, which has been hit by shells from Lebanon. “But in our area, we’re not getting many attacks from the north, but from the east in Iraq. ” He recalls, “ At the beginning of the war, we had quite a lot of sirens. During the first few weeks, we shel- tered regularly for at least an hour each time. People didn’t know what was going on, what was happening, what to do. ” To the west in the central Galilee, Schochet, a visiting professor of math- ematics at the Technion University in Haifa and retired from Wayne State University, noted, “We’ve had about 20 sirens since Oct. 7 in our community. We do hear sirens around us, proba- bly because the missiles go over other villages on their way to their destina- tions, ” he said. “We do hear a lot of booms, missiles, interceptors and artillery. You feel them sometimes. You feel the windows shake. In fact, one time today [Sunday, Sept. 22], the boom was so strong, and there wasn’t a siren, but I went into the mamad (bomb shelter), ” he added. LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY “You never know what’s going on. That’s what causes all the tension, ” Zacks said. “ All around us, there are sirens reg- ularly. But Ma’alot itself has been very lucky this time. Perhaps, they don’t find us a strategic target. But we hear Israelis still living near the northern border are diligent about being close to bomb shelters and stocking up on supplies. Rockets’ Red Glare NATHANIEL WARSHAY CONTRIBUTING WRITER ERETZ PHOTO BY CHAIM GOLDBERG/FLASH90 LEFT: A giant Israeli flag covers the hole left by a rocket that terrorists from Lebanon fired at Kiryat Bialik, Israel, on Sept. 22, 2024. Chaim Linden with his daughters Rinanah and Geula Claude Schochet Einat Adir-Sapir Sim Zacks