When The Rockets Fall Near Nitzan

At one of my wife's blog here, Shifra Shomron relates her experiences at the compound of carvillas where those expelled, sorry, renovicted, from Gaza now live, Nitzan.

She's been a guest of mine previously.

These people are not protected and they had shipped in large sewer pipes!

Her lovely-written piece begins like this:

Out of the Frying Pan – Into the Fire
By Shifra Shomron

There was a siren. It was loud and alarming and we didn't know what to do – we had never heard a siren before and anyways, there was nowhere to run. You see, in Gush Katif we had always been warned after the mortars had fallen, not before though at least there our houses were solid cement and cinderblock. In fact, shortly before Disengagement, the Government had even finished reinforcing our ceilings and then we really felt safe in our house from mortars.

But that was then, and now as I heard the siren I did the only thing I could: I dived off my bed (it was nighttime and I was in pajamas) and onto the floor and covered my head with my hands. All the time there was one thought running through my head: 'this is absurd'. And then the siren stops its wailing, and after a few seconds I heard a muffled BOOM and realized that Ashkelon or Ashdod must have gotten hit...

Read it all, with pictures of those pipes.

P.S.

She has a book out, "Grains of Sand", which she wrote before she was 19 and here's her promo clip.

Buy a Book

Go here.

"Grains Of Sand: The Fall Of Neve Dekalim" puts a human face to the people of Gush Katif as it closely follows the story of a family from pre-Intifada until Disengagement. The reader is given a rare opportunity to look into the heart and soul of the Gush Katif residents. Most of the scenes in the book really happened and vividly reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people who lived there during those difficult times.

AVAILABLE NOW:

Grains Of Sand: The Fall Of Neve Dekalim
© 2007, ISBN 978-965-7344-19-4, soft cover, 188 pages

Eldad on Purim - Shifra Shomron's Rendering

The following essay was written by Dr. Israel Eldad and published in his "Sulam" magazine in the issue of Adar 5717, 1957 and was nicely translated by Shifra Shomron last year. Shifra, who is publishing her first book, a docu-fictional reminisce of her life in Gush Katif, lives at the present at the Nitzan Caravilla.

FOUR PURIM QUESTIONS

Masks

How does Purim in which we dress up, wear masks, play Purim games, differ from Pesach in which there are no costumes and no masks and no games? That Purim was all about dressing up, covering. Esther doesn't tell; dresses up to a Persian lady. And also when her heart was grieving she wore lovely royal garments and beautified herself in order to find favor in the king's eyes, and the fate of her nation depended in the perfection of her make-up and the comeliness of her blue eye shadow. And juxtaposed to her was Mordechai who was covered in sack and ashes as he prayed.
She was before a king; he was before the King of Kings.

And now to the feasts? From the beginning until the end - feasts. Here is the origin of the games. And so many secrets and sly diplomacy. Bigtan and Terash, Achashverosh and Haman, Mordechai and Esther, Esther and Achashverosh. Secrets and conspiracies. Not so in Pesach. There everything is revealed. From Moshe's being revealed as a Hebrew until G-d's revealing to Moshe at the burning bush. And the much revealed Exodus. And from the beginning until the end all is revealed and known and everything is deeply serious. Without games and feasts. There is no redemption in costumes. The redemption is visible.

"To Life"

How does drinking on Purim which is drinking "le chaim", differ from drinking on Pesach in which one does not say "to life"? Because that is the essence of Purim: the life was saved in the lottery, in fate. There was a decree to kill and the decree was canceled and the Jews of Persia and Media were left alive. On Pesach we drink four cups of redemption. In Purim there wasn't redemption at all and only the life, the life alone, the life in its nakedness was given to us. And hence the drinking "to life". And in Pesach we drink to redemption.

No Measurement versus Four

How does Purim in which no measurement was set for the amount of drinking, differ from Pesach in which four cups were set? Because Purim is a matter of a miracle, and the miracle is a thing without measurement, without law. In fact: the miracle is the breaking of law. But Pesach is a matter of redemption, and redemption has laws and doesn't have chances, it has necessity and doesn't have successes, hence it has rules, and even drinking rules. Because there is law to redemption.

Gifts

How does Purim in which we were commanded to give Mishloach Manot, differ from Pesach in which we were not commanded thus? Since on Purim we were given life as a gift. It's a matter of rescuing, and every rescue is a gift whether if from Heaven or from human hands. But redemption is not a matter of a gift. Redemption is a law.
Which we will take and we will receive not as a gift. As a law.