Strange Sounds in The Night

Friday Night, Lail Shabbat, after we had finished eating, suddenly a piercing wail filled the air. It was an emergency alarm. I locked the doors and then all the easy to access windows. My husband pooh poohed it, insisting that it was just an "electrical problem."

Then the siren wailed again.

The street was quiet. If something was going on, we'd hear noises.

Friday nights have been chosen by Arab terrorists to attack innocent Jews. They've snuck into homes through open doors and windows and murdered, maimed, terrorized and scarred Jews, young and old.

Again the siren wailed.

Should we turn on the phone to check for messages? No, the house felt safe. It was Shabbat.

The siren wailed wailed loudly. This was no "electrical problem."

I didn't want to turn on the phone. If there was bad news, it could wait.

We used to have a beeper that gave security announcements without our having to touch it, but since nowadays everyone has phones, the beeper is passe. I sure missed that beeper. I refused to turn on my phone.

My husband went to sleep. I couldn't imagine sleeping. I was at high alert. It would take more than an "all clear" siren to get my body to fall asleep.

Yet again, the siren pierced Shabbat's silence, like a terrorist in the frenzy of murder.

If the sound of the siren is unbearable in the living room, then there's no way I could attempt to sleep in our bedroom, which is much closer to the siren's loudspeaker.

Our street was silent. No soldiers rushing around, nor ambulances providing first aid to injured.

If something has happened in Shiloh, it didn't happen in my neighborhood.

Siren, stop your screeching. I can't take it anymore.

No doubt my blood pressure is sky high.

Gd willing the sirens are just to tell us to stay indoors, because of a suspected incursion. This happens periodically in Jewish villages. Today's security is high tech, which can detect movement on the borders, even when there aren't any fences. Many times it's no more than a patrolling soldier taking a discrete "leak." But until it's known for sure what triggered the alarm, we must stay put. It's already past bedtime, so I have no plans to leave.

Again a siren...

And now I see lights rotating like at a disco from army vehicles in the street. They must be looking for terrorists, or just missing kids...

Our kids are grown up and don't live at home.

I'm tired. Can I risk falling asleep? What if the sirens resume?

I finally get myself ready for bed, but end up reading on the couch.  And then I dozed off.

Did someone just call me? I'm up again.

I try to sleep in bed. Again I doze off, but I thought I heard knocking. I'm up again. But I'm silent.

Back to the couch, and then back to bed.

Finally asleep...

My husband tries to wake me up to go to synagogue.

"No," I tell him. "I need to finally sleep. You go, and when you find out what had happened at night, come home and tell me."

Later on my husband returned with a report:

"Suspected incursion."

Nobody found. No injuries or damage reported, Baruch Hashem, Thank Gd.

Later I went to the synagogue. A young neighbor said that she had to turn on her phone and call the parents of children who were in her house when the sirens had began. Instructions are that nobody is to go outside during security alerts. She, in turn, got calls from other parents who had her children.

Thank Gd we only lost sleep, not lives.

Shavua Tov

Have a Wonderful Week

S'firat Ha'Omer, Counting of the Omer Tip

There's a long-running mitzvah that begins every year the second night of Passover, S'firat Ha'Omer, Counting of the Omer. We begin to count up to the Shavuot, Giving of the Torah. It's sort of like a "countdown," but we count up until 49, yes, seven weeks.

I must admit that this mitzvah was one of the hardest for me to succeed in accomplishing. It took me decades to manage to count every single night until I made it to forty-nine, 49. I'd usually forget pretty early on. It started getting easier when I got a cellphone and was set up with a reminder service. Nowadays there are lots of email and cellphone apps and services you can sign up for. And they usually automatically consider you signed up each year without having to sign up again. But even that wasn't perfect, since my phone and computer are off on Friday Night, the Eve of the Sabbath plus the last night of Passover.

Then, finally, I came up with a homemade low-tech solution. I started posting a sign on the closet just across from where I sit while my husband is in shul, synagogue on Friday night. This helps me remember, thank Gd. I already have the sign up and waiting for this coming Thursday and Friday nights, the last night of Pesach and Leil Shabbat. Gd willing I will notice it on time to make the blessings.