JUF: NEWS, Israel
(click here for the ful story on the JUF website)
The Situation, By HANNAH SCHLACTER
We’re in the eye of the hurricane.
The Brazil-Germany World Cup game is playing in
the background. The licked-clean ice cream dishes lie in the sink. The little ones are slowly falling asleep together in the family room under the Lightning McQueen and Barbie comforter blankets. The long, thick hair has been braided. Teeth have been brushed. Facebook messages sent and status updated.
But no one will be sleeping tonight.
Yesterday evening was the first siren. I was sitting outside on the patio, surrounded by my Israeli and American peers. A guitar’s strings and notes filled the air along with the faint smells of hookah. Peace had overcome us—not naiveté. And then came the siren faintly blaring. All 20 of us swiftly rushed inside the house, squeezed inside the laundry room, clutching my Israeli friend’s hand, trying to ease my breathing back to normal. I just wasn’t expecting it. Not then—not in that moment.
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