Where were you when you found out about October 7th attack

amother

OP ↓

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 3:53 pm

I figured it's the appropriate day for such a sad subject. Sad

Like today, the walls were breached that day!

I live in the US and didn't hear a boo on yom tov. I only found out shortly after. I was in my bedroom and my heart started beating so wildly in my chest. It was probably the most horrific tragedy I heard in my lifetime.

ETA I hope I can open a thread very soon with the title "Where were you when you found out Moshiach is here?"

amother

Coffee

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 3:59 pm

I was in my apartment in yerushalayim, DH and I woke up from sirens and we went to the hallway and our non frum neighbor told us what happened. DH still wanted to go to shul and I begged him not to, we ended up going together. We didnt understand the full severity of what happened until the next day

scruffy

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:01 pm

I was in Israel for Sukkos. My first time ever hearing the air raid siren. I was alone with my toddler in a park and had no idea what to do

I still feel my heart racing when I think about it

Last edited by scruffy on Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:02 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Bluebonnet

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:01 pm

Saw people trying to hide tears at Young Israel of cherry hill but thought that maybe they were emotional seeing all the beautiful dancing taking place.

Later that night I turned on my phone and read about it on the couch.

A terrible night

amother

Pansy

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:03 pm

In my dining room in the US.
We heard rumors all day from the non Jewish neighbors and custodians at shul but it didn't make sense, non of it made sense.
DH switched on his phone right after havdalah and was hit with what really happened. I remember sitting motionless in my chair for an hour after just trying to comprehend and process.

amother

Blonde

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:03 pm

I was at Shul, around 1pm when someone who was in the IDF began telling us that the entire South was being attacked with hundreds of terrorists, he said he saw videos on his IDF group chats and it was really horrible. He said he will probably be called up immediately after yuntiv, and he should eat and chill until then. He really laughed the whole thing off.

I wasn't sure if I should believe him as another guy said he is an attention seeker who exxagerates things.

We got back to my parents house, and DH who is in Hatzalah, his radio went off asking if anyone who has a car can drive down south. Something completely unprecedented, DH was considering going but I was starting to get nervous.

About half an hour later someone came on the radio and said it's urgent a mass casualty event and they need Everyone and anyone, anyone who has a car, motercylce, ambulance, anything needs to go down south immediately. As we don't have a car DH was seriously considering getting in an ambulance and going down. I got really hysterical, I just knew it was something bad and said I don't want him to go.

He didn't end up going, and immediately after shabbos we turned on our phones, and I remember just seeing the death toll rise every half an hour. Starting from 200-300, and we thought that was horrible. We had no idea how horrific it was.

amother

Acacia

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:04 pm

Was laying in bed before the night seudah on sukkos reading a book when my husband came home from shul. He told me that he heard in shul that women were raped in Israel and people were taken hostage. We both hoped and davened so hard that it wasn’t true until after sukkos when we turned our phones on 😭😭😭 Tearing up now just thinking of the horrific images and videos we saw.

I was in a daze of tears and horror for months afterwards. I couldn’t look at my kids without crying. I feel that way now again thinking about the hostages still in Gaza and the thousands of families that were destroyed on October 7.

amother

Currant

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:07 pm

I was home in the NY area and my parents were with us for Yom Tov. I have a brother who lives in Israel and he somehow ordered an Uber driver to come to our house to deliver the message that my brother and his family were all safe. At that point we hadn't heard anything about what was happening so the message scared us more than it calmed us down. As soon as Shemini Atzeres was over, I sent my kids to shul for Simchas Torah and my parents (who made aliyah and only keep one day of YT) were able to make havdalah for themselves and check their phones and figure out what was going on. They kept giving me updates and it was pretty shocking to hear about everything as it happened.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:08 pm

amother Acacia wrote:

Me too.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:08 pm

We were all home after a few sirens had gone off and were told not to go to shul as israel was at war. We difnt know what to believe. My husbsnd went to a neighbor who would have info. We heard things we couldnt even begin to believe were true.
The hlurs and minutes crawled until chag was over so that we could turn on the news and see what really happened.
Shock doesnt even half cut it. We were numb beyond belief.

amother

Trillium

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:18 pm

We were the only ones to not know anything until after Yom Tov. We had no idea anything was wrong until an hour after Yom Tov.

A little after Havdalah, I checked my Whatsapps and saw a concerned message to an Israeli classmate on my class chat. I then checked a news site to see what she was talking about. I went into a side room to cry so I wouldn't scare the kids.

I made a firm decision then not to read the news sites or look at pictures. I was afraid I would not handle it well. I only read Bruria Efune's summaries to know what's going on. Still, too many details seeped in over time.

amother

Canary

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:20 pm

A lady in Shul on simchas torah night told us her son called from ey and left a message (which she heard as he left it) that they’re fine. She was flipping out, why didn’t he say what happened at least?!)
And all simchas torah we were hearing rumors and stuff, and we kept saying it can’t be, it must not be accurate. but when yt was over and we heard the real numbers it was just shocking.

amother

Maple

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:23 pm

in shul someone casually said "the situation in israel is crazy". idk how she knew, I didnt ask question.
dh was very subdued and quiet but I didn't want to know and didnt ask.
not sure when I got the "full picture" but I bawled for months and still do at times.
it feels like a holocaust.

giftedmom

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:24 pm

Came home from shul late afternoon on the second day YT after hakafos. Like two hours before the zman. Was a horrible way to end a beautiful YT. The day before I had said yizkor and included everyone who died al kiddush hashem. Little did I know people were being slaughtered right then. I didn’t even understand the magnitude until days later when I read all the news reports and tried to stay away from pics and videos.

amother

Silver

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:27 pm

amother Trillium wrote:

We also didn’t know
I’m in a development in Lakewood and we had no idea
After y”t I turned on my phone and saw on class chat how is everyone in E”y doing but we didn’t know details right away. I remember just saying tehillim because we were all shook up

SYA

Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:31 pm

We were in shul and an announcement was made during hakofos for the kids to come up and lead tehillim (mipi olilim veyonkim yesadta oz). They lead the tehillim and 12 pesukim. Details weren’t said. We only heard there’s a war in Israel with many captives, many injured and killed RL.

Opening the phone after Simchas Torah was heartbreaking reading the news.