The distance between a quiet street in America and a bomb shelter in Israel feels small. Since the escalation of Operation Lion’s Roar, the global community has been living in what Dr. Boaz Shalgi, NATAL’s Chief Psychologist describes as “rolling trauma.” This is continuous, cumulative exposure to traumatic events, which differs from traditional post-traumatic stress disorder caused by a singular event. Whether one is running to a safe room in Tel Aviv or checking a phone with a heavy heart in New York or London, the stress and anxiety are shared.

The questions being asked by Jews in Israel and around the world include: How do we deal with the fear for our loved ones? How do we handle the burnout? And how do we keep going when the “routine” is just another emergency?

The Ground Reality: Beyond the Headlines

Since Operation Lion’s Roar intensified, NATAL’s response has been immediate. The organization’s helpline calls have doubled, reaching not just those in the South, but populations in Tel Aviv and the North who are facing direct ballistic threats. There is a strength that lies in an ability to pivot from routine to emergency quickly, deploying “boots on the ground” to hotels in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Modi’in where thousands of evacuees are housed.

Natalia Peretz, a NATAL Facilitator and Supervisor for the Community Resilience Outreach Unit, speaking from her home in Israel with her safe room only a few feet away, shared what it’s like to live through the operation. She described the work in these hotels as “acute intervention” and “psychological first aid.” 

She shared a striking insight into the “cool down” effect often seen in trauma survivors. One woman she met in a Jerusalem hotel appeared fine the day a missile hit her neighborhood, only to wake up the next morning with her body “hurting all over.” This physical fatigue is compounded by what Peretz calls “time disorientation.” In high-stress environments, the brain enters survival mode, focusing solely on the immediate present. People genuinely struggle to remember what day it is or how much time has passed since the last siren.

The Global Emotional Toll and “Catastrophic Time Travel”

The stress of Operation Lion’s Roar is not contained within Israel’s borders. For the Diaspora, the weight of the conflict manifests as a different but equally heavy burden. A recent webinar, “Coping in Times of Crisis,” that took place on March 10th, included attendees from across the U.S. who shared a sense of “survivor guilt” that comes with living in a quiet neighborhood while family members are in harm’s way.

One mother, speaking from New Jersey, described the agony of waiting for “I’m okay” texts from her daughter in Israel. Peretz addressed this by identifying a common psychological trap: “catastrophic time travel.” This is when the mind jumps to the worst possible future scenario, leaving the present moment behind. For those abroad, this often leads to “extra scrolling”—the compulsive need to stay glued to Telegram or news feeds, which only serves to keep the nervous system in a state of constant, shallow alarm.

Peretz’s advice to the global community was to give fear a “very respectful role.” Fear is the body’s attempt to protect what it loves. The goal is not to eliminate the fear, but to keep it from “running the show.”

Practical Tools for Coping

In times of crisis, the objective is “adaptive functioning,” staying stable enough to handle the tasks of the day. Peretz offered several concrete tools that are being used on the ground and can be applied by anyone, anywhere:

Create Containment Windows: Information overload is a driver of anxiety. Peretz suggests scheduling specific times to check the news, perhaps fifteen minutes in the morning and evening, to build a “psychological container” around the worry.

Grounding over Calming: Telling someone to “calm down” during a war is often ineffective because the brain knows the situation isn’t safe. Instead, use grounding. Name five objects in the room you haven’t noticed today. This forces the “thinking brain” to re-engage, pulling the mind out of the “emotional brain” (the amygdala).

Find “Islands of Certainty”: When the big picture is chaotic, focus on minute choices. Deciding what to eat for dinner or which specific task to finish in the next three hours provides the system with a much-needed sense of agency.

Narrative Work: For those who have experienced an event directly, Peretz emphasized the importance of telling the story with a beginning, middle, and end. Research shows that structuring the memory in this way helps the brain store it correctly, lowering the chance of flashbacks later.

The Importance of Collective Hope

As Operation Lion’s Roar continues, the mission remains to ensure that no one, neither the veteran, the evacuee, nor the family member abroad, is left to process this trauma alone. The work being done now is the bridge to the “day after.” By shifting from emergency to routine and back again, NATAL and its global partners are building a network of relational resilience.

We are not going through “fun stuff,” as I’ve said. But by recognizing the shared nature of this trauma and utilizing the tools of psychological first aid, the community can maintain the strength needed to support one another.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)