What the ceasefire teaches about the heart and soul of Israeli identity.

Life goes on in Israel, ceasefire or not. We hear sirens, head to the miklat (bomb shelter) or mamad (apartment safe room), hear bombs bursting in the air, wait for the “event has ended” signal, exit, resume our meals, take a shower. Ceasefire; we do the same things, minus the inconvenience of sirens interrupting our routines or missiles landing in our neighborhoods, on our homes, apartment buildings, streets. We suffer less death and destruction. Still, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers are in Lebanon, Gaza, and G-d knows where else.

I’ve lived in Israel for a little over nine months now and am just beginning to crack the code to what it means to be an Israeli. But experiencing 128 incoming missile alerts in five weeks– many in the middle of the night–running down three and a half flights of stairs to my building’s miklat or the nearest public shelter, seeing missiles streak across the sky, hearing their booms, and feeling my apartment building rattle have been a crash course in Israeli identity. Still, my experience pales in comparison to those who have been going through this since October 7 or to those who lived through the Intifadas, the Yom Kippur War, the 1967 War. Next to those Israelis, I’ve got much to learn. So I listen to conversations around me, talk to people at the Shabbat table, cafes, grocery store lines, and compare what I hear to my own thoughts. Ceasefire? There is an array of feelings out there, and as I discovered, a unified force that defines who we are:

Relief—Thank G-d     

Thank G-d. Now Gan will start up, and I can get the kids out of my house. I have to work. (The answer to my question, “What do you think of the ceasefire?” posed to a working mother at Carmei Gat playground, as others looked on and nodded in agreement)

I’m frustrated. We need to get the job done. Let’s just get it over with. (Two women in a Jerusalem café, their laptops open, talking to each other)

I’ll go through it again if it means getting rid of Iran. (A friend declared at the Shabbat table)

Catching........

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