Notes From the Trenches

Well, not exactly. Modiin is still siren-free, though with rockets hitting near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, I wonder how long that will last. (When you live in a country the size of New Jersey, and all your neighbors hate you, are you ever really far from the line of fire?)

So although our immediate lives continue—schools, businesses and shops are business as usual—our lives as Israeli citizens are not. The country is at war—or more technically, at Operation Pillar of Defense—and everyone is affected.

First, some important terms you Need to Know, just in case you don’t already:

1. Pillar of Defense. This operation, or “mivtza,” is called Operation Pillar of Defense. In Hebrew, it is “Amud Annan,” or Pillar of Cloud. The name comes directly from the book of Exodus. When the Israelites were fleeing the Egyptians, God sent divine protection in the form of a cloud. It stood between the Israelites and the Egyptian army. Rashi, the most famous biblical commentator, expands on this, explaining that as the Egyptians shot arrows, the cloud caught them. A fitting title, then, to an operation that is aimed at halting rocket fire and protecting the Israeli citizens. The original Iron Dome, which brings us to …
2. Iron Dome. The Iron Dome, or “kippat habarzel” is Israel’s air defense system. It defends the country against short-range rockets and mortar shells. The Iron Dome has so far intercepted more than 200 rockets fired from Gaza. (The Iron Dome is activated only when the rocket is targeted toward a populated area; rockets that will land in an open area are ignored.)
3. Surgical airstrikes. Every article I read (and I read lots of them) mentions the “surgical airstrikes” used by the Israeli Air Force. This refers to the extreme precision with which the IAF targets Hamas’ military infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. The IAF meticulously gathers intelligence about where the military targets are and uses advanced weapons technology to hit their targets precisely, with minimal collateral damage and civilian casualties. (No small feat, considering that Hamas hides their weapon depots near or in schools, hospitals and residential areas.)
4. Reservists. So far, no ground invasion, but the military has called up tens of thousands of reservists, in preparation, just in case. This means that fathers, brothers and sons are leaving their families and places of work to report for duty. (An email from my children’s school regarding the head of the afternoon program: “Please do not call Rav Ayal with any questions regarding the Talmud Torah program. He received his ‘tsav-8’ [order to report] and will not be in school until further notice.”)

For me, I’m finding it hard to get any work done. With Operation POD entering day five, I have been glued to my Internet-enabled devices. I’m following the war on Twitter, Facebook as well as constantly refreshing the live blog provided by the IDF.

I’m feeling very veteran these days, as this is the second operation we’ve experienced since making aliyah. (Operation Cast Lead, in the winter of 2008, was our first). But this time I’m better prepared. I’ve got my safe room stashed with water, snacks and diapers, and I am never far from my beloved social media sites. I am following this war 24/7.

Did you know there were rockets in Tel Aviv? someone asked me last week. Of course, @IDFSpokesperson just tweeted that. There is not a siren, intercepted rocket or piece of Hamas propaganda that I haven’t read about. (I’ve been debating whether to follow @AlQassam, “The official web site of Al Qassam Brigades in Palestine” on Twitter—know what the enemy is saying and all—but I’m afraid it will just make me nauseous.)

On Shabbat, there was eerie calm as I was forced to surrender my laptop and iPhone for 25 hours. We did not keep our radio on, tuned to the Silent Wave station (which broadcast only sirens, with the announcement of which city it was broadcast for). So I was war-news free for an entire day. But the minute Shabbat ended, instead of racing to clean up, I ran for my phone and scrolled through the latest news. I read about a siren in Jerusalem, of all places, which fell minutes after Shabbat had started. I checked for updates throughout the evening; when I woke up in the middle of the night, instead of turning over and going back to sleep, I checked, once again, to see if there were any new developments.

I don’t know whether it is better or worse to be constantly bombarded by the stream of information (or rather, bombard myself). But this is the reality: I gotta know what’s going on. And while for some people, too much information is panic-inducing, for me, it’s calming. Knowledge is power—reading articles, posts and tweets makes me feel in control, though I know I’m not. It combats my feeling of helplessness—I can’t do much, but darn it if I’m not going to read all about it! It feels like a good friend has been hospitalized, and I can’t keep from calling every five minutes to check in.

So I’ll be here, refreshing my day away.

And you? How are you following developments in Israel? Any fellow information junkies out there? Or do you think there’s such a thing as too much information?