By Elisabeth Hinze
I’ve never heard an air-raid siren before.
On Tuesday night at about 22:00 the air-raid siren started wailing here in Jerusalem. I’ve never heard an air-raid siren in my life. But there’s just no mistaking the sound. You know what it’s for. It’s an odd feeling really. What with everything going on, I knew it might happen. Half expected it could. And I didn’t. Because when I heard the sound, it came as a complete surprise.
For a second or two the shock gets you. What to do? Where to go? Then instinct takes over. Put on shoes, grab phone, call Bella the basset hound. Who is epically excited about the unexpected walk this late at night. On our way down Bella and I stop at the couple’s flat below us. They have three little ones. I grab the oldest. Her tiny face is terrified. For the first time I realise that I might be terrified too.
It’s an odd little procession flopping down on the bomb shelter’s floor – three adults in their pyjamas, three children, an ecstatic dog and two cats who didn’t want to miss any of the action. Seconds later there are four dull thuds. I fight the urge to giggle hysterically past the lump in my throat. Where did they fall? On what? I have never, in all my life, heard rockets explode. It’s surreal. I mean, where I come from we have grown kind of used to violence happening all around us. But this is something different. Something that is supposed to happen only in movies.
The rules are as follows: hear air-raid siren, proceed to bomb shelter. Wait there for 15 minutes. If another siren sounds, stay put. If not, resume daily life. Because really, what else can you do?
After about ten minutes in the shelter I hear the street musicians in the square outside our house playing again. The train rumbles past our front door. Life as per usual. Indeed, what else can you do? We wait the mandatory 15 minutes and then go back up. I let Bella the basset hound crawl into bed with me.
I dream that I’m at a type of summer camp – many of the friends I’ve met here in Israel are with me. There are open spaces, a forest, sunshine, a camp fire at night. On the first morning of the camp I see three Boeing airplanes circling above, dropping thousands of rockets right on top of us. But it’s like we are under an invisible dome covering. The rockets veer off to the left and right, exploding right at the edges of our camp site. I wake up remembering the words of Psalm 91:4, “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.”
Please continue to pray for the people of Israel. But please also pray for the people in Gaza – for God to touch their hearts and open their eyes.
You can pray in real time as missiles are fired on Israel by downloading the ‘Red Alert’ or ‘צבע אדום‘ app from Google Play. Or <HERE> for iTunes
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