The New Wartime Normal
Yesterday morning I ran into an old friend named Esther. She and her husband attended our wedding 28 years ago, and over the years we’ve shared a few simchas and Shabbat meals. It’s been around a year since I last saw her.
We chatted about our kids of course, how old is her oldest now? And our youngest? I remember his bris! I remember when she was born!
And then she said, “You heard that our son, Yosef Chaim, was injured in Gaza?”
“Whaaat?! No…”
“He was injured and in the hospital for 2 weeks. His commander, who was with him, was killed. But B”H Yosef Chaim’s home now. He’s waiting for surgery to reconstruct his teeth, they were all knocked out. But other than that he’s OK, B”H.”
When I got home I looked at my list of injured soldiers and found him there, Yosef Chaim ben Esther. I remember him as a baby in his mother’s arms, Esther smiling down at him while her husband made kiddush.
***
Before pilates class I usually chat with Liora, whose daughter is in 8th grade with my daughter, and we commiserate about our daughters’ ongoing search for the perfect high school.
While discussing their latest open house (her daughter wasn’t impressed, my daughter thought it was “cute”) Liora took out her phone and showed me photos of snow. Lots and lots of snow.
“My husband took these…”
I’m embarrassed to admit that my first instinct was that her husband was on a trip abroad. A work trip to northern Italy perhaps?
“He’s been serving on Mt. Hermon for the last 2 months. It’s freezing cold. They only have water in these huge metal containers, imagine the showers!”
For months I’ve been working out with Liora and making small talk about high schools. Meanwhile, she’s been on her own while her husband’s been under Hezbollah fire while guarding the Syrian/Lebanese border.
***
At home after pilates my daughter approached me with a grave expression, “Eema, you know my friend Hanan who we’re davening for? He has some kind of fungal infection, and is in critical condition. The situation is really, really bad.”
So we said a chapter of Tehillim for Chanan Chai ben Natalia Tali. I read another chapter and pledged to do a good deed in his merit, and my daughter took some time to clearly visualize Chanan and his long-time girlfriend smiling under their chuppah a year from now.
***
On the one hand, life in Israel nowadays can feel business as usual. But for Esther. Leora. Chanan. And Esther’s son and Leora’s husband and Chanan’s family and girlfriend, the new wartime normal is anything but normal. Just scratch the surface of a normal day and see war seeping through, see war bleeding through, everywhere you turn.
Yes.