昨晚是我第二次在炸弹庇护所拥抱我的孩子。
The first time was on November 12th, 2019. That day, I heard a塞壬表明火箭在2018年刚搬到了以色列的途中，我刚刚搬到了以色列。我从学校早早拿起我的孩子，我把它们带到了朋友家的戏剧日期。我不确定协议或礼仪是什么situation like this。
我们将孩子们置于“Mamad”，安全的房间，玩游戏和观看Netflix。Mamads是现代以色列公寓的夹具;这些强化的空间有厚厚的墙壁和地板，气密钢门以及窗户上的额外金属封闭物。当它不是一个骚乱的时候，这样的妈妈经常用作额外的卧室或办公室。（相比之下，较旧的建筑物通常都有公共炸弹避难所，而其他人则必须与楼梯间等临时空间做成。）
然后，我的孩子不知道他们周围发生了什么 - 他们太忙了。他们没有听到铁圆顶拦截拦截和摧毁进入火箭的爆炸。他们只是兴奋到了day off school。
As for myself, I wasn’t sure how to feel or act, so I just played it cool. After a couple of hours, I decided it was time to go home. I remember feeling terrified but I didn’t want my children to know. On the walk home, I noticed how life seemed pretty normal — people were getting their hair and nails done, drinking coffee, and simply living. The contrast between what I saw and how I felt was stark, yet it was also comforting.
Last night是不同的。这一次，我的孩子们更老了（第二级和四年级代表！）并准备好了。就在上周，有一个练习警报器，一个钻头，为整个城市修正，包括在我的孩子的学校。很难没有和他们在一起。与我是老师的时候，我记得和前学生一起练习消防训练的方式 - 或者射手钻后来在我的职业生涯 - 我的孩子正在为正在发射的火箭造成的迫在眉睫的威胁准备。
On the one hand, I was hopeful that the preparations would not be necessary, the same way you prepare for any type of unsafe situation and hope for the best. But today, in retrospect, I am very grateful to have been more prepared and for my kids to have been prepared, too.
作为在美国长大的人，在以色列中感觉非常不同，因为可怕的新闻休息，而不是在电视上观看或阅读它。它实际不同听到警报器警告我们寻求庇护，声音是可怕和多层的，因为我们也听到了警报器of neighboring cities. It is different, and scary, to actually感觉your home shaking throughout the night and morning, as Iron Dome did its best to intercept the hundreds of rockets.
My familymoved to Israel有很多原因，但这不是其中之一。我不希望这种暴力成为以色列的现实;我想要和平。我希望人们互相妥协和价值。简单地说，我会喜欢正常。
我很欣赏我的孩子如何在以色列中练习犹太教，而不会与主流社会不同。更重要的是，我们故意选择了一个在犹太惯例中拥抱多样性的社区。虽然作为美国移民，但在以色列中有随意的不便 - 难以理解的官僚机构，而不是speaking the language, and the absence of Amazon Prime — ultimately, these are no big deal because they are just that: inconveniences.
我对以色列的结果非常有希望recent election- 我们几乎landed a rather diverse government coalition. Things may be difficult now, on many fronts, but I am hopeful that we can move to calmer days soon, when everyone in the region can sleep through the night, put food on the table, and have the will, want, and ability to live in peace.
Last night, as it happens, my孩子们熬夜了past bedtime. Normally I’d find this frustrating, but last night I was grateful because they were still awake when the sirens began. I opened the door to the kids’ room, and fortunately they were already climbing out of their beds. Though the thoughts in my head were racing — w这是瞄准火箭的火箭？我们在Mamad有多长时间？- 我试图看起来很平静。
Our city and our school had sent out advice on how to interact with your children when under attack: remain calm, focus on them, allow them to express themselves, and use physical affection to安慰他们。他们准备了我们 - 并继续为我们的身体和情感提供支持ios下载beplay福利。At first, my kids were nervous that we were not quick enough getting to the mamad. (In Modiin, we are lucky in that we usually have approximately 90 seconds to get to shelter; some people in Israel’s south have 15 seconds or less.) Once the door to our mamad was fully shut — and the extra metal panels on our windows were closed — my younger son turned to me and said, “Mommy. My heart is beating so fast.” I followed the instructions that had been sent earlier: I made eye contact. I said, “Come let me hug you. Let me feel your heartbeat.” It worked — he quickly calmed down. Honestly, the interaction lasted less than a minute, but it was intense.
我们一起愚弄了我的iPhone - 我认为这是我们保持冷静的最简单方法。不幸的是，互联网并没有真正工作 - 我们毕竟在炸弹庇护所中闲逛。相反，我们谈过，我希望我们的喋喋不休会淹没在空中爆炸的火箭队的声音。在我的脑海里，我倒数了几分钟，因为我们被建议在警报声的声音留下至少10分钟。这些都是全国各地放大的同一个提醒人士大屠杀幸存者和有关的Yom HaShoah。It is the same siren we all hear a week after that forYom HaZikaron, to remember the soldiers who have fallen for the state of Israel.
大约20分钟后，孩子们在妈妈里面的双床床上拥抱，并在那天晚上第二次，我把它们塞进去。My younger son looked relieved. “I didn’t want to have to worry about waking up,” he said. “I’m glad we are sleeping here.”
I was glad, too, because at 3 a.m. this morning, the sirens began again. I went to the mamad and hugged my boys; they asked if I could rub their backs. One fell asleep again almost immediately. Once again we could hear Iron Dome. I prayed silently that it would be successful, as the number and pace of rockets was unprecedented.
现在是8点。in Israel as I type this. I am bleary-eyed and nervous, and I keep second guessing every noise I hear. Is that rumble of a garbage truck? Or is it Iron Dome? Is that a siren in aneighboring city? Or is it an ambulance or the noise of my kids watching TV?
今天没有人入学。全部以色列学生— despite the country having basically achieved herd immunity regarding Covid — will be learning在缩放。They will be discussing the situation as a class, and we will process that discussion afterwards as a family. In terms of what happens next, I don’t really know. But I am hoping for the best.
Header image by Anadolu Agency/Contributor/Getty Images
