How was rosh hashana in israel?

amother

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 6:16 pm

We were thinking of you and davening for all of you. Hoping it was peaceful. Any updates from israel to share?

amother

DarkGray

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 6:19 pm

amother OP wrote:

We were thinking of you and davening for all of you. Hoping it was peaceful. Any updates from israel to share?

Following! Was wondering the same!

NechaMom

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 6:37 pm

Same. Hard not to know what's going on for 3 days. Was definitely davening for a better year.

heidi ↓

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 6:44 pm

amother OP wrote:

We were thinking of you and davening for all of you. Hoping it was peaceful. Any updates from israel to share?

BH it was beautiful and peaceful, but very very difficult as we found out 20 minutes before candlelighting that my son's best friend was one of the soldiers murdered in Lebanon. Funeral is today. He was 21 years old. His father passed away several years. He has one brother. It is a huge tragedy.

chestnut ↓

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 6:49 pm

heidi wrote:

May Hashem avenge his blood!
It might have been his picture I saw at his father's grave, before going into Lebanon. His father was murdered by terrorists.Heartbreaking. may his family and your son have a nechama.

↑ heidi

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:58 pm

chestnut wrote:

No, that's a different boy.
Every single one is a whole life and a whole story and circles upon circles of devastated family and friends.

↑ chestnut

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 10:14 pm

heidi wrote:

No, that's a different boy.
Every single one is a whole life and a whole story and circles upon circles of devastated family and friends.

So true. Beyond devastating.

DrMom

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 10:19 pm

Hard not knowing what was going on for 3 full days. Lots of very loud airplanes. No alarms where I live but plenty up North.

amother

Blushpink

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 10:25 pm

Lots of sirens by us. One very scary one with so many booms.

mom24b

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 10:47 pm

amother Blushpink wrote:

Lots of sirens by us. One very scary one with so many booms.

What area do you live in?

amother

Tulip

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 11:01 pm

We also had many booms and sirens in the galil. And lots of air traffic.

Elfrida ↓

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 11:04 pm

No sirens, but we could constantly hear aeroplanes, and some boys were called up over chag.

It was a very hard three days to be disconnected, but almost equally hard to leave that haven and switch on the news after Shabbos.

I don't think I've ever gone into Rosh HaShana trembling to such a degree. If they wanted to increase our awareness of din, they went the right way about it.

JasmineDragon

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 11:07 pm

Everything was quiet by us the whole chag, which was lovely. We had sirens again this morning, which I wasn't expecting. Our area (near Hadera) has been quiet this whole war until now.

etky

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 11:59 pm

Thanks for asking.
In our area, just south of Jerusalem, it was outwardly peaceful and quiet other than constant airplanes overhead. Weather was gorgeous too.
But there was an undercurrent of tension and sadness.
Here are some vignettes:
Fathers and sons saying goodbye to their families over chag as they were called up. One day they're in shul - the next day they're already gone. Worry about family members already called up before chag. Special mi-shiberachs for those wounded over the past year. Someone in our community laminated the lists and cut them up into segments before chag so each person in shul got a slip of paper with a few names on it to daven for.
We recited extra tehillim at certain points in the davening as well as additional Avinu Malkeinus written to cover all aspects of the current situation (hostages, wounded soldiers, terror victims, soldiers in combat etc.). Memories of those who were with us last Rosh Hashana and are no longer here. Nervous anticipation of the week ahead with a focus on the upcoming first anniversary of October 7th.
Hearing distant booms that instantly threw you back to Simchat Torah when you heard those same booms in shul but couldn't possibly imagine what was actually going on down south.
People exchanging their experiences of how and where they sheltered on the night before erev chag during the Iranian attack. Some were on the roads, others in supermarkets etc. The lucky ones were home.
Wondering what lies ahead, how much longer this will go on and what further sacrifices we will be called upon to make.

↑ Elfrida

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 12:09 am

etky wrote:

We recited extra tehillim at certain points in the davening as well as additional Avinu Malkeinus written to cover all aspects of the current situation (hostages, wounded soldiers, terror victims, soldiers in combat etc.).

Coming out of shul, a friend commented that once we thought hostages and plagues were all in the past. Now we know that it all returns, just with modern variations.