| Yesterday morning the war began. There is a system of sirens and phone applications here that warn you if missiles are incoming. We started hearing alarms occasionally yesterday morning before we left for the synagogue. Services were interrupted a couple of times by sirens, and we were all down in the shelter in the basement of the building for much of the Torah reading. The alarms continued off and on all yesterday afternoon and evening and into this morning, but they seem to be less frequent now. We sometimes just go down to the bottom of the building stairwell, but usually we go to a nearby shelter. Jerusalem is very safe because the Iranians don’t aim for it, and also because of the very effective missile defenses they have here. We do not feel we are in real danger. Still, it seems right to take things seriously. We hope that this will all be over soon, but there is really no way to know! In other news: Last week we went up to Zikhron Ya’akov to spend the sabbath with our friends Peter and Aviva, who have a house there. It’s a beautiful place, and they have a delightful community. Then the yeshiva where I am studying here in Jerusalem went on a field trip to the synagogue and museum of the Karaites, which is in the Old City. The Karaites are a very old and divergent Jewish sect which rejects the rabbinic teachings which are the foundation of other forms of the religion. Their history and way of life seem very interesting. Then on Friday, just before all this started, we went on a bus excursion down to the Negev, where the wildflowers are in bloom. It had been raining there recently, and rained more during our visit, so everything was lush and beautiful. |
| Created on 1 March 2026, updated on 7 March 2026 by Samuel Ethan Fox |