From Joy to Terror: A Postcard from Jerusalem
A brief column I wrote immediately after Shabbat for Bari Weiss' "The Press Press," which you can access through the link below.
We gathered outside the local community center at 7:00 this morning to celebrate the last day of the High Holiday season. It’s a little known holiday called Shemini Atzeret, when we pray for rain, thank God for our bounty, and dance with Torah scrolls.
The air had a touch of Jerusalem’s fall chill, so we were, perhaps, singing with a bit more gusto than you might expect. That was when we heard the faint booms in the distance. One and then two.
People begin to look at each other, wondering, “What is that?”
We told ourselves it was nothing. Maybe Iron Dome shot down a rocket or two—that happens here not infrequently.
But then a series of explosions, still very far away. “Must be construction,” someone whispered to me.
But it was Shabbat, and there’s no construction in Israel on Shabbat. And he knew that.
Then: the air raid alarm.
…. continues on The Free Press.
This column, excerpted briefly above, was written and published last night, a few hours after Shabbat ended, on The Free Press, Bari Weiss’ phenomenally popular Substack.
You can read the full version here:
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