It's A Crazy World

Following our trip to Australia we made a brief visit to the UK to see the family and then brought Mum back with us for a winter break and to meet Liel. The sun shone and we had a lovely two and a half weeks of quality time together.

With Mum due to fly home on Sunday 1st March, accompanied by Malcolm, we were looking forward to our last Shabbat together until our trip to England for Pesach (Passover). There had been much talk in the press about a potential war with Iran, but, as Trump had extended the deadline for talks, and the next talks were set for the Wednesday after, we were confident that Mum would get home ok. 8am on Saturday morning the sirens went off. Although we don't usually use our phones on Shabbat we immediately checked them. This was a warning to say America and Israel had launched attacks on Iran. We were to stay indoors until further notice. The country was at war, all public gatherings were banned and only essential shops would open on Sunday. Again! The airspace was closed with no idea when it would open again.

Monday evening was Purim, where we read the Megillah (story) of Esther to celebrate avoiding being murdered by the Persians in the 5th century BCE. Irony of ironies. It is celebrated widely across Israel by religious and secular alike with fancy dress at school for days before and parties both in the evening and after the megillah readings the next day. Because of the security situation everything went online - shades of covid. We were due to go to the Kanterovitz, Gila's in-laws for their annual Purim megillah reading and barbeque so Chaim read the megillah for all the family on Zoom and then we barbequed at home. The women's megillah reading which I was due to host went online from someone's security room and the synagogue hosted a limited number of people in the shul bomb shelter. Having Eliya with us helped us generate a Purim atmosphere as he was already disappointed not to be dressing up for nursery it was important to make it as celebratory as possible for him. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to keep a four year old happy.

Since the last conflict, the warning system has been refined so we now get an alert that there might be a siren shortly in our area. This at least gives you time to gather whatever you might want and go to the toilet - once the siren goes you have 90 seconds to get to the shelter - however it's a particularly horrible sound to be woken up by in the middle of the night. Our shelter is in the basement of our house and is stocked with emergency provisions and supplies but also a bed, so Gila and the children slept there so at least they were less disturbed. Eliya and Liel always slept through us trooping into the room in the middle of the night and even Gila did occasionally.

Mum was fantastic. We know from our own experience of being caught out of Israel in the last Iran war, how difficult it is not knowing when you will get home, even if you are perfectly happy where you are. Add to that the disruption of sirens going off day and night and being restricted to staying at home but she was determined to make the best of the situation As well as maximising her time sitting in the sun, she enjoyed building her relationships with Eliya and Liel. Initially rescue flights were only for those Israelis caught abroad but after a week they started flights to return non Israelis to their home country. Mum was offered a flight leaving at 7am after 8 days. Only 75 people allowed per flight and we were only allowed to arrive at the airport two hours before hand. I was able to take her in and stay with her until the assistance we had booked came to collect her. Fortunately, there were no sirens whilst she was in the airport or on the plane and after a great journey she was at her book club in the afternoon and planning her next trip to Israel, in June, later that evening!

There are many obvious issues regarding being at war. Amongst them :-

• The general disruption of daily life, having always to be within 90 seconds of a bomb shelter which significantly reduces ones activity,

• The disturbed nights, whether it’s for a warning or an actual siren itself. At least we are lucky enough to have a shelter in our home and don’t have to go to a public shelter.

• Eliya didn't have nursery for the six weeks before the Pesach holidays.

In the shelter at The Piano, our local shopping centre, and Ikea.

However, one of the less obvious issues, but one that is very mentally taxing, is the uncertainty. What might happen next, will things get worse and of course when and how will it end. We were supposed to be travelling, with Gila and family, to England for Pesach, having not been all together for a year, and for the arrival of Samuel and Sophie's first baby. Many friends had family members coming out or were coming to Israel for Pesach to be with their family. With significantly reduced flights it’s been a waiting game to see whether flights would be going ahead or not. Our flights on Sunday 29th March were not cancelled until Tuesday 24th and I remained hopeful until the Monday when the government announced that airlines would be restricted to 50 people per flight and only one flight would leave an hour. At one point we had these flights, a back up on 9th April for all of us via Zurich, an Air Cyprus flight for Malcolm, and myself to Larnica, which was cancelled within 24 hours of booking it and flights for Malcolm and myself from Sharm el Sheik on the 9th! These were our 'last resort' flights to get back for the baby. We did not relish the long drive down to Eilat with the risk of rocket fire, nor did we fancy the drive within Egypt. Every morning Malcolm went on to all the Israeli airlines websites to see if there were any new flights and, with two weeks to go, a new flight miraculously appeared and we were able to get 5 seats to Athens on 5th April, half way through Pesach. Now we just had to wait to see if the flight would go ahead!

We were joined for Seder by Linda and Arthur Finke who had not been able to get to England to be with their children, and Gila and Co. Unusually small for us and a bit subdued as we were sure there would be a siren at some point. In the end there was one an hour before seder and one after so it wasn't too bad. For the flights we packed and prepared our provisions with enough matzah and supplies to cover delays and compulsively checked the departure board to see if Israirs' other flights were taking off. We checked in on Saturday evening and no new international incidents had arisen over night so we bit our nails all day Sunday waiting for our late departure. The airport was as surreal as during covid. We were checked-in in the arrivals hall as it is nearer to the shelters in the airport, and after security and passport control, we waited in the central departure area until called to the gate. And then we waited again. We were due to take off at 11.30 pm but there was a problem, a wheel on the plane needed to be changed! An hour later we were told they were still fixing it. I couldn't believe that we were going to fall at the last hurdle and not even because of the war. I was sure that they were going to cancel the flight but at 1.30 am they started boarding. Indescribable relief. Two hours later we were in Athens and by midday we were at the flat in Borehamwood. There were emotional reunions between Ben and Gila's families who not only have not seen each other for a year but had not yet met each others babies.

As you can see we have enjoyed lots of family time and then this week our family increased by one more with the safe arrival of Daisy Jade, Samuel and Sophie's first baby. With all the bad news at the moment it is so nice to be able to share good news. Bringing a new baby home is just the best.