{"id":30271,"date":"2012-11-26T04:31:53","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T04:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=30271"},"modified":"2012-11-26T04:32:15","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T04:32:15","slug":"the-miklat-bag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/the-miklat-bag\/","title":{"rendered":"The Miklat<\/em> Bag"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rina Weinberg<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a child, I remember my father telling me about Rav Chaim Tzvi Katz.\u00a0\u00a0Rav Katz, a Rebbe at Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland Ohio, was notorious for the packed suitcase he kept under his bed in anticipation of <\/em>Moshiach\u2019s–the Messiah’s–arrival.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last Friday afternoon I received a phone-call from a close family friend who lives here in Eretz Yisrael. I say \u201chere,\u201d because my husband Dovid and I, along with our nine-month-old daughter, Noa, made aliyah\u00a0<\/em>(immigrated to Israel)\u00a0this past summer from Woodmere, New York to the holy city of Yerushalayim<\/em>. She was calling to make sure that \u201cthe new olim\u00a0<\/em>(those who made aliyah<\/em>)\u201d were OK and weren\u2019t overly panicked about \u201ctheir first time.\u201d She was referring to the weeklong military operation underway in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

I assured her that while the current state of affairs was certainly nerve-wracking, we were nonetheless doing fine. \u201cAfter all,\u201d I said, \u201cwe are in Yerushalayim<\/em>, far from the centers of action near the Southern border of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, I felt the need to ask her if she had any advice regarding additional safety measures that we should take before Shabbos.\u00a0\u00a0Amongst other things, she suggested that we keep our radio on the silent channel (a station reserved for broadcasts in the event of an emergency over Shabbos), and that we pack a bag of essentials for the unlikely event that we would have to go into the miklat<\/em>, our safe room, over Shabbos.<\/p>\n

After hanging up the phone, we dutifully purchased a radio, tuned into the silent channel and I, skeptically, began packing a miklat<\/em> bag which I situated next to the front door of our apartment.<\/p>\n

A few minutes after 5 p.m., the eerie wail of air raid sirens rang out over Yerushalayim<\/em>, and broke that silent serenity that comes only once a week after you light Shabbos candles. Our daughter in hand, I grabbed the miklat<\/em> bag and a siddur, and ran to the shelter.<\/p>\n

Luckily, our miklat<\/em> is literally adjacent to our apartment so that within seconds, I was safely inside.\u00a0\u00a0Shortly thereafter, I was joined by my neighbor and her three children who seemed relatively calm.\u00a0\u00a0For the next minute (and, yes, it was only a minute, if even that), I stood in the back of the shelter with Noa in my arms in a state of total uncertainty.<\/p>\n

When the former silence reigned again, my husband Dovid (who had returned from shul<\/em>, synagogue, to check on us) assured me that it was safe to come out.\u00a0\u00a0I stepped back into the front hall of our apartment and, incredulously holding up the bag which hung from my arm, I pronounced, \u201cThis is our miklat<\/em> bag.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Without hesitation Dovid smiled and said, \u201cWhere is our Moshiach\u00a0<\/em>(Messiah) bag?\u201d<\/p>\n

A sigh escaped my mouth as I began to say, \u201cI know, you\u2019re right; if I have a bag packed for the miklat<\/em> then I should have one packed for Moshiach<\/em>,\u201d but I quickly interrupted myself, \u201cWe live in Israel, why do I need to pack a bag for Moshiach<\/em>? We are here already!\u201d He smirked and replied, \u201cYou\u2019re right, I guess we don\u2019t need a Moshiach<\/em> bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there is undeniable discomfort in having to pack a miklat<\/em> bag full of diapers and formula for your nine-month-old daughter, the events of this past week have offered tremendous perspective regarding what it means to be a member of Am Yisrael<\/em>, the nation of Israel, in Eretz Yisrael<\/em>, the land of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0We continue to hope and daven that the next siren we hear will be that of the shofar, ushering in the final redemption and arrival of Moshiach.<\/p>\n

But until then, I derive much comfort in knowing that when that siren sounds, I won\u2019t need to pack a bag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I pronounced, \u201cThis is our miklat bag.\u201d Without hesitation Dovid smiled and said, \u201cWhere is our Moshiach (Messiah) bag?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":730,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[99],"class_list":["post-30271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel","tag-gaza-strike"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Miklat Bag - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/the-miklat-bag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Miklat Bag - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I pronounced, \u201cThis is our miklat bag.\u201d Without hesitation Dovid smiled and said, \u201cWhere is our Moshiach (Messiah) bag?\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/the-miklat-bag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-26T04:31:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-26T04:32:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/the-miklat-bag\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/the-miklat-bag\/\",\"name\":\"The Miklat Bag - 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