Sirens in the Night – Iran Attacks Israel
The Fellowship | April 19, 2024
Last week, I heard on the news that Iran was threatening to attack Israel, but I didn’t really believe it. Maybe I didn’t believe it because we have already been through so much in this country, or maybe because I know that Iran is behind all the other terrorist organizations we are facing and the idea of Iran attacking Israel directly was just too big for me to digest.
Despite this, a short time before I went to bed on Saturday, April 13, I heard the news telling me that the Iranian attack had begun. Missiles were on their way toward Israel, and according to the report would take a few hours to reach us.
At that moment, I felt the same sense of unreality I felt on October 7 when I learned what had happened that terrible day. Well, I thought, if it takes the missiles a few hours to get to our airspace, we should be able to shoot them down before they get close. At least I hoped so. I did not want to think of the alternative.
Despite hearing this ominous news, I got in bed and fell asleep about midnight, hoping against all odds that I would sleep until the morning and discover it had all been a hoax. Even as I was getting into bed, I could hear Israeli planes flying above, a sign that we were preparing for an attack.
About 1:30 AM I woke up to the sound of three explosions – then the siren began wailing loudly. After being pulled out of sleep by loud booms and a shrieking siren, I was shaking. I don’t have a safe room, as my house was built almost 40 years ago, before the building laws requiring safe rooms to be built.
There is a public shelter a half block away, but I couldn’t be sure I would get there fast enough, so I ran to the most inner part of my house, away from any windows – my laundry room. On Saturday night I sat on a little plastic stool, the same stool my grandchildren use to reach the sink when they visit. I prayed for my own safety, the safety of my family, friends, and neighbors, and for all the people of Israel.
I waited about ten minutes as we had been instructed. I didn’t have my watch on and had left my cell phone in the dining room, so I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed. When I got up, I went to get my cell phone and the messages started. My son who lives on the other side of Efrat with his wife and children wrote, “Mom, are you okay?” He said that, unbelievably, his three children did not even wake up. I answered, “Yes, I’m okay, but shaken.”
After reading the news updates on my phone and trying to understand the situation, I decided to again attempt to get some sleep. It was after two in the morning, after all. Then my next-door neighbor called me. “Just checking to make sure you’re okay,” she said. I have been living alone for the past four years since my husband passed away and I feel blessed to have good neighbors who are also friends and think of checking in with me at times like this. We ended up talking on the phone for a while, even laughing about something that happened years ago – we have been neighbors for a long time.
When I went back to bed, I could not fall asleep. Lying awake for hours, I finally dropped off for a little while. In the morning, I woke to the song of the birds singing in my garden. Could it be just a regular pre-Passover spring day? When I turned on the news, I discovered that although Iran shot hundreds of missiles and drones at us, only one little Bedouin girl was hurt from shrapnel. One too many, I have to say. But it is a miracle that no one else was hurt and there was only slight damage at an air force base. A miracle.
Despite my tiredness after hardly sleeping the night before, I went to a wedding last night. A young couple stood under the huppa (wedding canopy) and joined their fates together. A new beginning. These are hard times, and they may very well get harder before they get easier. But even Iran can never destroy Jewish life in the land of Israel. We stand strong, and our roots are deep.
Miriam Lock
April 15, 2024