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A Personal Account of S'derot


Many times in our lives, an opportunity presents itself that we know, in our kishkes (gut), that we must not let pass. On Monday, February 25, I was given the opportunity to visit the Israeli town of S'derot with the Israel Committee of the Jewish Agency for Israel. My first thought was "count me in", which was immediately followed by "What should I tell my husband, Michael?" Fortunately, Michael is incredibly supportive and gave me his blessing, which was nice, considering I had already decided I was going.

As you probably know, S'derot is a city of approximately 20,000 people, located near Israel's western border, near the Gaza strip. This city has been under daily (yes, daily) missile attack by Hamas in Gaza and I knew that our dollars, allocated through the Israel Emergency Campaign, have provided much needed support to the people there. This is why I felt compelled to see the situation for myself.

When we arrived at the community center, we could see the "safe rooms" that were added to the existing building from the parking lot. They looked like concrete boxes sticking out from the building. When we were safely inside, we were instructed on what we should do if there was a "Tzeva Adom" (red alert), meaning if the alarm was sounding that there was an incoming missile.

Sure enough, as we were sitting in a circle introducing ourselves while kids were arriving for their after school activities, the first alarm of the day sounded. We quickly and calmly moved to the safe rooms. Many thoughts rushed through my head….Will we hear the explosion when the Kassam lands? Will everyone get inside in time? Would anyone be harmed, G-d forbid? Being in there felt somewhat familiar to when my family and I were huddled in our closet during Hurricane Andrew, but this was completely different.

Soon enough, the emergency passed and we went back to our circle and started to regroup and eat our lunch. This is what Israeli's do. They don't dwell, they move on, which is not a typical Bobbie personality trait. Minutes later, it happened again and, this time, you could sense a very different feeling in that room. The first time, there was a perverted sense of excitement in the air. The kids were taking photos with us as if we were someplace else, and they were pretty calm as we took in this new experience. The second time, they were very jumpy, very distracted and were misbehaving. Nobody minded or was the slightest bit upset. After all, this is their reality day in and day out. By the third time in a total of about 40 minutes, I, like everyone else, was feeling very stressed. Being in that room again, we could all feel the tension, the insecurity, the vulnerability and, like the child one woman had her arms around, I think we all needed a hug.

When we got back on the bus, I slowly began to process the information we had learned and what we had just experienced. Someone spoke of one young mother who was driving her two young children to school one day, both safely belted into their car seats just as I had done for many years when my kids were small. And then the alarm sounded. She knew she did not have sufficient time to get both of her kids out of the car seats and to safety in the precious seconds she had. No one should ever have to choose which child should be left behind.

Many of my friends that are not involved in Jewish community think I'm crazy to travel to Israel. And even some of my Israeli friends thought I was crazy to visit what is, in no uncertain terms, a war zone. But nonetheless, I felt compelled to do so. If California were being bombarded daily by crude missiles from Mexico, how long would our Government permit it? How would the world respond if we took the necessary steps to protect our citizens? I can't think of a single place on the planet, other than maybe in Africa (and unfortunately we all know how much the world cares about the devastating situation among the Darfur refugees) where this would be tolerated one day, much less than for five years.

You have to realize that S'derot is in Israel proper. It is not contested occupied territory in anyway. Of the remaining 20,000 citizens of S'derot, most are financially unable to leave. Their homes are nearly worthless, their businesses barely staying afloat. So they stay and they deal. I don't know about you, but I don't think they should have to.

But there is one bright side to this hellish situation. For the past few weeks, Israelis, by the thousands, have been driving to S'derot on Friday mornings to do their Shabbat shopping. None of these people have to be in S'derot--they can do their shopping anywhere. But they go because they want to show their support, and remind the residents of S'derot that they are not alone. This is something else that Israelis do.

I'm sure you feel, as I do, a tremendous sense of sadness for the ongoing suffering of the residents of S'derot. But we should feel, in equal measure, a tremendous sense of pride for the life-altering assistance we are helping to provide these amazing people who are "holding down the fort" on behalf of all Israel, and all Jews throughout the world. Am Yisroel Chai!!

Respectfully submitted,

Bobbie Higer NWP JDC Liaison



Found at http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=170655