Today was a “down” day, meaning it was not as much a day of touring as it was a day of “being” in Israel. My hosts, Micah’s former Executive Director Celia Lerch and her husband, Aaron, and two kids, Archer and Shoshana, live in a lovely home in Herzliya. Herzliya sits on the Mediterranean about 30 minutes north of Tel Aviv. After a reasonable night of sleep, I headed out for a morning run along the water. The town was peaceful and there were plenty of folks walking, running, surfing, doing yoga, and drinking coffee up and down the coastline.
It would be easy to forget this is wartime. Except that the images of kidnapped hostages are visible in many places and lots of Israelis wear the “bring them home” dog tag around their neck or a yellow pin on their jacket. When we think of the war, our thoughts most often turn south to Gaza, where the assault of October 7 took place. However, the north is currently the region from which Israelis are largely displaced and where most of the causalities are taking place. Just last month, over 80 members of the IDF died in service in the north, and Israeli citizens are advised not to travel north even to Caesarea or Haifa.
As I ran along the coast, I wondered what my plan would be should I hear a siren. As it turns out, if you are driving in a car when the sirens sound, you are supposed to pull over and get out of the car and on the ground and cover your head. Same if you are walking on the street NOT near a restaurant, shop or home that might have a shelter. Lie on the ground and cover your head. This is to protect the head from shrapnel.
In Israel, it’s not uncommon to move from the serious to the mundane and back again, like a monkey mind that bounces from thought to thought, so too with this blog as I try to adjust to the jet lag and digest all that I experience. That’s my explanation for moving from “what to do if there is a rocket attack” to “I may have had the best hummus of my life today.” Truly. I think what makes Israeli hummus so amazing is the amount and quality of tahini that’s used. I imagine that not all American brands even use tahini and if they do, not very much. It’s really the key ingredient. I am seriously considering bringing hummus back in my suitcase but, as you might imagine, the potential of leakage is concerning. Stay tuned on that one.
I decided to take an afternoon nap because as it turns out, in my 6th decade of life, adjusting to an 8 hour time change takes a bit of time, and I was tired today. Just as I started to drift off, Hezbollah decided it was ripe time to send rockets in our direction. The sirens began, but they were not actually hitting in our direct neighborhood so while we could hear them, we weren't required to move into the shelter. See the attached picture for the various locations of rocket drops all surrounding Herzliya. None of this is new to Israelis. I went on with my nap and Israel went on with her day.
Before dinner, we headed to the local grocery... a mercolet which is an Israeli version of an AM/PM, and just around the corner from where Celia and Aaron live. We bought provisions for dinner-- fresh hummus, pita, haloumi to pan sear with drizzled honey and sesame, labneh, sumac and zatar for seasoning, fresh vegetables which render our vegetables stateside quite shameful, I must say. If you know, you know. And as I was checking out, the store clerk asked if I was from America. When I answered, "yes", he continued: "Trump is bad for America, bad for the Jews, bad for the world." I truly did not encourage him to continue, but he did regardless: "Trump sold Israeli secrets to the Russians who funneled them to the Iranians who used them against Israel in the October 7th attacks." I just stared, mouth open. This... I had not heard before. It sounded like a most crazy conspiracy theory, but as I have talked to several other locals, apparently this is believed (by some) to be true. Again, fascinating that the Israeli public seems as divided about our newly elected president as the American public. And I continue to take it all in...
