Finding Shelter at Hartman

Yesterday I walked to the the Shalom Hartman to meet with one of my teachers, Dr. Tal Becker, to talk with him about coming to our congregation as a Scholar-in-Residence next year. Not more than 50 ft from the Institute's gate the azaka (siren alert) went off. There was a father walking walking with his son on the street. They panicked, not knowing where to run. I called and waved to them and they ran into the Machon with me and down into the Beit Midrash's miklat (bomb shelter). The shelter was filled with Machon staff and participants in the Institute's of Hillel Campus Fellows program. Above our heads we heard explosions and counted, one . . . two . . . three .  . . They sounded like they were just yards above us. After waiting about 10 minutes we emerged onto hartman's quad known as Osher Plaza to find other Machon staff, teachers, and administrators, including Rabbi Donniel Hartman, who pointed out to us the trails of the Iron Dome missiles that had intercepted the Grad missiles fired by Hamas. They looked like silky wisps of cotton set against a clear blue sky.

I checked my cell phone and there was both a text and a voice mail message from Eric Gurvis. Both saying: "Are you ok?!"  When I returned to our apartment I learned that I had actually faired better than Eric and our other flat mate, David Thomas. When they tried to enter the "miklat" (really a mere storage room) in our building the door was locked. They waited out the tzeva adom in the stairwell.

Today, Rabbi Gurvis and another friend, Rabbi Howard Jaffe, and I shopped for Shabbat provisions in Mahane Yehuda. The Shuk was far less crowded than it had been the week before. We then drove over to Kenyon Malha (Jerusalem's largest mall located across the street from The Teddy (Beitar Yerushalayim's soccer stadium). The mall was crowed, but less bustling than usual. It's quite clear that Jerusalemites are being cautious about venturing out as Hamas continues to fire missiles indiscriminately at major population centers.

Rabbi Gurvis and I had planned to spend Shabbat attending Friday night serves at Beit Tefillah Israeli, the creative and innovative Kabbalat Shabbat service designed for and attended primarily by Tel Aviv's "secular" residents. It is held at the Namal (Tel Aviv's renovated port) with the Mediterranean and the setting sun as it's backdrop. This week's service was supposed to be a special 10th year anniversary celebration. But because of the threat of missile attacks the celebration has been cancelled and the service will be held indoors. We also had hoped to visit with Dr. Rachel Korazim and her husband at their Yaffo home, but we had to cancel. So tonight We so this Shabbat we will remain in Jerusalem. I will either attend services tonight at Kehillat Tzion, a new, creative and innovative Masorti congregation in Baka, or I will daven at Shira Hadashah, the egalitarian, Orthodox minyan in the German Colony established by Tova Hartman.

My hope and prayer is that this Shabbat will bring some modicum of peace for the State of Israel and for its people. As I write these words, my app called, "Red Alert Israel" is going off again notifying me that two more rockets were just fired at Moatza Ezorit Shaar HaNegev. I will stay hope and prayer nonetheless.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Rabbi Jacob Herber

The Longest One Minute of My Life

Just a few minutes ago my friend, Rabbi Eric Gurvis, and I were walking to our apartment after an evening program at Hartman when we heard the tzeva adom (red alert) siren go off. We were across the street from the Jerusalem Theatre several blocks away from our apartment building. With only 1 minute to find shelter (in locations like Sederot and Ashkelon the timeframe is 15 seconds) we sought refuge under a few trees and behind a wall. Ironically that one minute felt like an eternity. We decided to make our way home when we heard an explosion in the sky, the sound of an Iron Dome missile intercepting the Hamas fired Ketusha or Grad missile. We continued to walk quickly not knowing if more missiles were inbound. When we reached our apartment building we found other residents emerging from the miklat (bomb shelter) in the lobby. They asked us in Hebrew if we had heard the siren and the explosion and if the alert was over. We told them they could return to their apartments. Watching the news we are learning that missiles were fired at Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Jerusalem. I am very grateful for the Iron Dome system which the United States supplied to Israel, and to AIPAC which has played a crucial role in lobbying Congress for the funding of this life saving defense system.