Tzfat update - end of week 3

Hard to sleep tonight (OK it's now last night already). Don't know
why, it's been quiet and calm for more than 2 days in Tzfat. No
rockets. More people out on the street, some places open, the bank
and post office, people catching up on some business. Can we finally
relax a little or is it just a calm before another storm? Yesterday
afternoon at 2 the police were driving around with bullhorns on
telling people to go back to the shelters and safe rooms. Do they
know something? Heard the rumble and drone of aircraft overhead all
night, increasing toward morning. Couldn't sleep. Thought about
watching something on the computer. All I had was episodes of the TV
show "24". Could make-believe terrorists take my mind off the real
terrorists? No. I hear the "ding" on the computer. The following
mail just arrived from Missy Stein, Rebbetzin of he Har Zion Synagogue
in Philadelphia, who led an enthusiastic group of women to Israel,
first stop Tzfat where we hosted them.

Begin forwarded message:

<excerpt><bold><color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>From:
</color></bold>missystein@aol.com

<bold><color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>Date: </color></bold>August
2, 2006 05:32:18 IDT

<bold><color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>Subject: </color>3
Paratroopers Dead

</bold>

As many of you may know by now, three Israeli paratroopers died today
in the war against the terrorists of Hezbollah in Lebanon. What you
probably don't know is that this has affected everyone here at Camp
Ramah in the Poconos deeply. One of the young men who was killed was a
former camper and counselor here at Ramah. As a matter of fact he was
here on visiting day with his twin sister who was on staff last year.
He was on leave and returned to go back directly into the fighting.
His name is Michael Levin and his parents live in the Philadelphia
area. He made aliyah on his own and joined the army.

Today at exactly 11:00 am camp time (12:00 EST) the entire camp
gathered to say the brachot for our Israeli soldiers both who are
fighting and who have been kidnapped and join in a moment of silence.
Many of you may have been doing the same as this tfilah was said
simultaneously world wide. I couldn't help but have tears streaming
down my face. The irony of course is that at that moment we had no
idea what had happened to Michael Levin.

So as this war hits home for us here at Camp Ramah, let's all remember
that we must do our part for the memories of these young soldiers and
tell our colleagues at work, our repairmen who come into our homes,
people we overhear having conversations in passing, the truth of this
devastating war that these terrorists have begun and how once again
we've been forced to literally fight for our lives in Israel.

Send money, pray for the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and
most of all help to tell the truth for all of our sakes.

Missy

</excerpt>

This mail hits me like a ton of bricks. Again it's the connections
in this country, so easily tapped, that run so deep and yet can be so
tragic. It is ironic as I sit in Tzfat that this almost random
encounter with a group from Philly (via the sister of a friend) has
now personalized the losses and suffering in the situation.

And now suddenly, whoops, the first siren in 2 days just went off.
And it is only the start. Over the next few hours siren after siren,
and the missiles are falling. Mostly hearing muffled thuds, but I
feel the impact of some, and at the end of about the 3rd or 4th siren
a whistle directly overhead. Guess I was getting a little blase
about my "quiet retreat" in Tzfat. I go out a few minutes later and
find a neighbor who happened to be on the street nearby when one of
them came down, not far from him but fortunately on the other side of
a building. He instinctively threw himself down on the ground and the
rocket crashed luckily in the street without causing significant
damage except to the road.

I thought there wasn't going to be much fresh to write about from the
last few days and i was going to tell the story of Hanita and Mahmoud
at the garage from last week -- guess it will wait until the next lull.

These notes are now accessible as a blog at
http://tzfatblog.blogspot.com. I'm just coming up to speed with blogs
so all I can do is just point you to it for now. If anyone can tell
me how you can easily get notified when a blog gets updated please let
me know. If you want off the email list also just let me know.

If you are interested in donating to the Tzfat Community Support Fund
to help individuals impacted by the situation, use the following link:

http://www.golemproductions.com/tzfat-donate.html

All the best,

Moshe Tov