Update from Israel

Everyone in my family is safe and accounted for,  thank God.

But we are not ‘okay’. And we most definitely are not fine.

I know that those of you who are in chutz l’aretz (outside of Israel) are just coming out of two days of yomtov and have a lot to catch up on.

I wish I could be your explainer, your perspective-giver. But I can’t. I really don’t have any insight or words of comfort to share right now.

I, like all of Israel, am in profound shock. Shocked that hundreds — thousands? — of terrorists can overrun our so-called “impenetrable” border. That they can kill more than 700 Israelis in a day of murderous rampage.

That they can rip dozens of innocent civilians from their homes — women, men, children (9 month old babies!)  and the elderly — and drag them into Gaza, parading them around to celebratory shouts.

That they can hold our towns and kibbutzim and police stations (for G-d sake!) in the south hostage for hours upon hours.

I feel like I have swallowed an enormous balloon filled with poison. And every breath I take punctures a tiny hole in that balloon, which is now leaking out all over my insides.

We are in a Zombie-like state: horrified, depressed, enraged, and frightened.

But most of all, we are determined.

Determined in the way one has to be when the only other option is annihilation.

Please pray for us. Please advocate for us to your friends and colleagues, in real life and on social media. Please lobby your members of Congress to stand strong with Israel.

Am Yisrael Chai