{"id":48693,"date":"2015-10-18T22:20:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T03:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=48693"},"modified":"2015-10-18T22:29:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T03:29:15","slug":"we-may-be-in-the-west-but-our-hearts-are-in-the-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/we-may-be-in-the-west-but-our-hearts-are-in-the-east\/","title":{"rendered":"We May Be in the West, But Our Hearts Are in the East"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Funeral_2_539_332_c1\"<\/a>Almost every time I interact with individuals who have close family living far away who are going through a difficult time, they say something along the lines of, \u201cIt is so hard to know they are suffering and to be so far away. I think about them all day and only wish I could be there to show support at this time.\u201d Feeling that way is a reflection of a healthy and close family. Conversely, not feeling that way may be a sign of dysfunction and an indication that the relationship needs work.<\/p>\n

Our brothers and sisters in Israel are going through an incredibly difficult time. The \u201crandom\u201d acts of terror throughout the country have left Israelis understandably terrorized, filled with angst, anxiety and constant worry.<\/p>\n

I have been struggling for the last few days trying to identify what we, the Diaspora Jewish community, can be doing and should be doing to help. Of course we must daven, and our advocacy for a strong US-Israel relationship remains critical, but what can we be doing in this acute situation to ease the pain and provide support for our family going through this horrific period?<\/p>\n

Rather than speculate or continue to wonder, I posed this question to members of my family who live in Israel. My sister-in-law Shayna, who lives in Alon Shvut (Gush Etzion) poignantly wrote back the following:<\/p>\n

Over the last week I have gotten various emails from family, friends, and students in the US reaching out to tell me that they are thinking of me and my family during this horrible and very difficult time in Israel.\u00a0It means a lot to me and to everyone here to know that we are being thought about. That other people are thinking about us and thinking about what it must be like to live here\u00a0right\u00a0now.\u00a0 No\u00a0one here wishes\u00a0that our loved ones would\u00a0truly understand what we are going through. But when someone writes and says that it is hard for them to just go about their normal life in America because they can\u2019t stop thinking about the changes in our day-to-day life here in Israel\u2013it means A LOT.\u00a0 It means that you really care.\u00a0 It means that you don\u2019t just sympathize but you empathize.\u00a0 It means that you\u00a0are really imagining the thoughts that are running though our minds round the clock and the little things that we just can\u2019t believe are part of day to day life right now.<\/p>\n

It means you might have realized that:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I drive to work with my doors locked, my windows\u00a0closed, my cell phone set on the number of themoked<\/em> (the local security command center) and my pepper spray next to me in the car.<\/p>\n

I sleep with a knife in my night table drawer.<\/p>\n

I had a conversation with my husband about what should happen with our kids, G-d forbid, G-d forbid\u2026 and then wrote it down in my file cabinet because we don\u2019t yet have a formal will. I thought I was crazy until I heard that lots of other people have done similar things.<\/p>\n

I was sent a short movie by MDA (Magen David Adom) about how to treat a stab wound.<\/p>\n

I watched a video on ynet (Yedidot Achronot) on how to defend yourself against someone stabbing you\u2026 and then sent it out to everyone I know.<\/p>\n

I was sent protocol from the yishuv about what to do if someone is trying to shoot at your car. (Brake suddenly so that the bullets don\u2019t hit and then do a quick U-turn.)<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t shopped at my typical supermarket in two weeks because I can\u2019t yet bring myself to enter a store where Palestinians shop freely.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to pick out my potatoes with one hand on my pepper spray.<\/p>\n

I thought twice and three times about whether I should let my third grader go on his class trip today.\u00a0 I watched him leave my house, gave him extra kisses and had extra kavana in my tefila but I don\u2019t want to raise him to be scared.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve wondered whether the various Israeli Arabs that we have\u00a0worked\u00a0with in different capacities over our time\u00a0here and had such nice relationships with are going to appear in the news any day. We thought they\u00a0were peaceful\u00a0until we saw that one of them had a whatsapp picture of the lightrail being stoned.<\/p>\n

I had to share with my son more than I would have because Nechemia Lavi was his classmate\u2019s uncle and the school let us know that the psychologist would be\u00a0meeting with the class.<\/p>\n

I have a sister who now has doubled her driving time to Yerushalayim, because the old route she took is more concerning.<\/p>\n

I just wish that I could stay in Alon Shvut all day.\u00a0 Ironically, the well-secured yishuvim are the safest place you can be right now.<\/p>\n

And yet if you also thought hard and you know me well you might have also realized that:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t regret our aliya decision for a second.<\/p>\n

I feel a zechut<\/em> to be living in the place where Jewish destiny plays out before our eyes.<\/p>\n

I know I am in the place where I am supposed to be.\u00a0 My kids know it too. They have not once asked to go back. They live with a fierce commitment to the values our ancestors lived and died for. They actually understand the Hebrew words they daven daily and thank us for bringing them here, the place they mention in tefila all the time.<\/p>\n

I have bitachon<\/em> that I am in G-d\u2019s hands.\u00a0 That He is in control.\u00a0 That if He wants something to happen or not happen, it doesn\u2019t matter where I am.\u00a0 That He knows what is best even if we don\u2019t always understand.<\/p>\n

I have emuna<\/em> that eventually things will improve. That this will also pass and that we will wake up to a brighter day.<\/p>\n

The people of Eretz Yisrael are strong.<\/p>\n

I smiled and then I cried today when I saw two teenage girls standing\u00a0in the middle of the big\u00a0traffic circle\u00a0at Tzomet Hagush\u2013 all alone\u2013 just swinging huge Israeli flags out there in the exposed open\u2013because they wanted to send a message.<\/p>\n

For many of us, it is our kids who keep us strong.\u00a0 Some of us have kids who are chayalim<\/em>\u2013who couldn\u2019t come\u00a0home for Shabbat when they were supposed to\u00a0because of the matzav<\/em> yet they go out and serve their country proudly and bravely and without complaint.<\/p>\n

I have younger kids but today I heard\u00a0one kid tell another\u00a0that we need to be working on our middot<\/em> so that Hashem looks upon us and all of Am Yisrael favorably.\u00a0 That gave me chizuk<\/em>.\u00a0 It made me feel a little stronger.\u00a0 It gave me something to do. Because there\u00a0is not much else we can do.<\/p>\n

So if you are thinking about us:<\/p>\n

Daven a little harder, learn a little extra,\u00a0be a little nicer, give a little more tzedaka, work on yourmiddot<\/em> a little\u2026.and let us hope that\u00a0Hashem\u00a0looks upon us favorably and says, \u201cEnough\u00a0is Enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you for thinking about us. It means a lot.<\/p>\n

Her answer is both simple and profound. What would you do if your loved one who was far away was God forbid going through a very hard time? You would check in on them as often as you could, remain apprised of their situation, and consistently let them know you were thinking of them.<\/p>\n

That is exactly what we need to be doing now as well. We cannot stop knife- and gun-wielding madmen. But even, or especially, from six thousand miles away, we can and must think about our family in Israel often each day and let them know we care as often as we can. Stay closely informed of what is happening in Israel, not because you are a news junkie, but because each update is about members of your family and you should be desperate to know what is going on with them. Reach out to friends and family just to check in. Let them know you are all thinking of them and that as long as their lives are disrupted, so is yours.<\/p>\n

As with our immediate family, we hope and pray that our extended family is only healthy, safe, and secure and that we only share good news.<\/p>\n

This was originally published on Rabbi Goldberg’s blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost every time I interact with individuals who have close family living far away who are going through a difficult time, they say something along the lines of, \u201cIt is so hard to know they are suffering and to be so far away. I think about them all day and only wish I could be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":733,"featured_media":48695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nWe May Be in the West, But Our Hearts Are in the East - 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\/inspiration\/we-may-be-in-the-west-but-our-hearts-are-in-the-east\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We May Be in the West, But Our Hearts Are in the East - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Almost every time I interact with individuals who have close family living far away who are going through a difficult time, they say something along the lines of, \u201cIt is so hard to know they are suffering and to be so far away. 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