{"id":62438,"date":"2019-11-13T23:04:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T04:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=62438"},"modified":"2019-11-14T19:00:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T00:00:35","slug":"62438","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel: The Week That Was"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday morning I woke up and got ready for work as usual. I kissed my kids goodbye for the day and left my house around 7:00 AM. Only on the way to work did I hear on the news that half of my country did not have a typical morning. Tens of thousands of people woke up to sirens throughout the night and early morning hours. Schools were closed for about half the country. Hundreds of business were closed. Many roads were closed. Train lines were not running. <\/p>\n

By the time I arrived at work, an hour later, my phone was full of messages about the security situation or matzav <\/em>in Hebrew, as we call it. My kids\u2019 schools all sent messages telling the parents not to worry as they were prepared in case of an emergency. My three-year-old\u2019s teacher sent a message that they practiced going into the mamad<\/em> (secure room). <\/p>\n

Having grown up in Chicago, I thought to myself, \u201cI\u2019m used to fire drills and tornado drills, so why not rocket siren drills?\u201d I think it\u2019s the extent that our security situation has pervaded our everyday lives, the realization that such young kids have to practice drills entering bomb shelters. <\/p>\n

After knowing that my own family was safe, I now turned towards my \u201cOU family.\u201d What many people don\u2019t know is that the Orthodox Union (OU) in Israel operates 20 youth centers for at-risk Israeli youth in peripheral communities throughout the country. We have hundreds of OU staff \u201cin the trenches\u201d working to strengthen youth in the communities of Sderot, Ofakim, Dimona, Holon as well as many other cities affected this week.<\/p>\n

Local municipalities partner with us, a requirement for opening an OU Youth Center, providing a physical space for each center\u2019s operation. It happens to be that most municipalities offer us abandoned bomb shelters which we turn into an experiential educational space to work with \u201cour youth.\u201d Shelters are locked throughout the year, yet we have access to them for our programs. When they are needed for security purposes, such as during this recent crisis, they are unlocked and opened for the public, something which our staff spent the morning preparing. <\/p>\n

Rocket attacks not only threaten the physical wellbeing of our children, they also compound our youth\u2019s ongoing trauma and ability to work through it. During an attack our Youth Centers suspend their programming in order to protect our youth\u2019s physical welfare. Youth are robbed of the only means to work on expressing themselves and overcoming their trauma. Not only are they home from school all day, worried about the possibility of an impending attack, but they cannot attend the very program that provides them with the tools to deal with their fears, anxiety and trauma.<\/p>\n

While closed, however, our Youth Center advisors work relentlessly to maintain constant contact with the youth in their care to guide them through the crisis. The OU Israel Youth Centers\u2019 whatsapp groups buzzes and buzzes with our staff offering to help each other and provide resources to their colleagues in <\/p>\n

cities that are most affected. Stories of our advisors reaching out to our youth and checking in on them are all too inspiring as they provide an outlet for youth to express the fears they do not want to \u201cburden\u201d their parents with, acting as true heroes as they put on a brave face so their own parents won\u2019t worry.
\nDespite the craziness, the fear, and the uncertainty, there is an unwavering feeling that there is nowhere else we would rather be. One message and realization that comes through from our crisis is that we are all united, \u201cKol Yisrael Arevim Zeh\u2019 Le\u2019 Zeh<\/em>\u201d (all of Israel is responsible for each other). It is through our Jewish unity and concern for one another that that we find the continued strength to go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning not only to the ringing of our alarm clocks, but to the screaming sound of our sirens as well.<\/p>\n

Visit ouisrael.org\/donate<\/a> to give an expression of your solidarity and enable us to continue to provide OU Israel\u2019s youth with the strength to brave the current crisis and see the light of a brighter, calmer day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Laya Bejell is development officer for OU Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday morning I woke up and got ready for work as usual. I kissed my kids goodbye for the day and left my house around 7:00 AM. Only on the way to work did I hear on the news that half of my country did not have a typical morning. Tens of thousands of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133794,"featured_media":60850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"\nIsrael: The Week That Was - 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\/62438\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel: The Week That Was - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Tuesday morning I woke up and got ready for work as usual. I kissed my kids goodbye for the day and left my house around 7:00 AM. Only on the way to work did I hear on the news that half of my country did not have a typical morning. Tens of thousands of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-14T04:04:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-15T00:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laya Bejell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laya Bejell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/\",\"name\":\"Israel: The Week That Was - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-14T04:04:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-15T00:00:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/3b6fc2787d179472e2380a2c70d37562\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png\",\"width\":360,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/3b6fc2787d179472e2380a2c70d37562\",\"name\":\"Laya Bejell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cbb3c3e718d12a2a6dd6a02e3814d918ef7bb085daf1fa984a39230c1edeca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cbb3c3e718d12a2a6dd6a02e3814d918ef7bb085daf1fa984a39230c1edeca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laya Bejell\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/layabejell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israel: The Week That Was - OU Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israel: The Week That Was - OU Life","og_description":"On Tuesday morning I woke up and got ready for work as usual. I kissed my kids goodbye for the day and left my house around 7:00 AM. Only on the way to work did I hear on the news that half of my country did not have a typical morning. Tens of thousands of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2019-11-14T04:04:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-15T00:00:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Laya Bejell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laya Bejell","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/","name":"Israel: The Week That Was - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png","datePublished":"2019-11-14T04:04:21+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-15T00:00:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/3b6fc2787d179472e2380a2c70d37562"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/62438\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png","width":360,"height":200},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/3b6fc2787d179472e2380a2c70d37562","name":"Laya Bejell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cbb3c3e718d12a2a6dd6a02e3814d918ef7bb085daf1fa984a39230c1edeca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62cbb3c3e718d12a2a6dd6a02e3814d918ef7bb085daf1fa984a39230c1edeca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laya Bejell"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/layabejell\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62438"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62452,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62438\/revisions\/62452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}