A rather weird day and very emotional.
Christmas Present
Willie and I spoke today and it feels like we've been in a perpetual cultural shock for the last 15 years. We kept moving apartments and cities for the first 4 years. Once we settled in this address, we kept praying for peace on the border with Lebanon and this prayer increased to include all of Israel, the IDF and the Aliyah. We thought we settled into a routine of volunteering almost daily and praying with our prayer warriors each month; but, now the war broke.
We have never walked this path before. And the war added to our need to adjust in areas that we know nothing about.
Today, Willie went to the hospital to volunteer and I went downtown to the office. I had a meeting with a group of other volunteers. The army closed roads in the North of the country. People arrived at the meeting from Acco in the south and places that in fact were evacuated in the North. Nahariya with 3km space northern of us is somewhat considered today – the Northern Border.
Did I confuse you? That's how it feels to me. Sorry.
Horfish is a Druze village. A volunteer from there arrived and explained that they chose not to evacuate. Various reasons. Some reasoned that no place could house them all, most other cities such as Nahariya or Tiberias were full of evacuees already. That made sense, Israel has now more than 200,00 evacuees without homes to go back to. Refugees in their own country.
Another reason that made their decision to stay in their village is a religious one. The Druz believe that they are the protectors of the land they live on. To protect their land, they have to stay on it. So they stayed.
The decision to close the roads closer to the North border came as a result of the army protecting the civilians from Anti-tank missiles sent by Hezbollah and Iran on the IDF. Our friends arrived at the meeting today on other, less known, roads from all over the north, finding ways to make sure they continue to volunteer during the war.
The dedication and love of the country and the focus on volunteering efforts by the entire nation, floor me. I've never seen nor heard of such a united front by any group of people. Praise God for the Israelis.
Feelings, thou, are in a state of a see-saw.
I have been angry, sad, loving, praising God, thankful, angry again... any other feeling I did not express? They are there... but one which is hardest to deal with is – confusion.
It is Christmas today, we live in the country where Yeshua was born but there is no Christmas celebration. This year even for those who have celebrated in the past, even for tourism's sake they don't have Christmas. I saw some pictures from Jerusalem that some churches celebrated, but it was indoors and very quiet.
The politicians started to talk about voting for a new government a few days ago, which confused the rest of us. People felt that we were in the middle of a war, we had to go back to normal life first and we didn't have the budget for campaigning. This government has 3 more years to go. This morning, President Herzog told the Knesset to pipe down and stop political campaigns so as not to let the enemy see our disagreements and cause more open doors for the enemy to attack. We lost more IDF and citizens and some of our hostages were found dead.
Yes, the only way I can explain the confusion is a continual cultural shock. But the people around me are showing similar emotions and are confused as well. I think the longer-than-expected war has got all of us into an emotional see-saw.
Meanwhile, the popular strong brewed coffee roasted and ground in Lud by Ilit has changed its name from "Turkish coffee" to slogans such as "Am Israel Chai", 'We have no other country" and "Victorious generation" and went free of charge by millions of pouches to the soldiers so they can stay awake and focus on their action. That must have been the soldiers' Christmas Presents.
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