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Bruria Efune has been covering the Gaza War from her home in Beersheva
By: Bruria Efune
Since the end of Simchat Torah, Bruria Efune has been covering the war for Chabad.org from her home in Beersheva, Israel. The following are a series of daily diary entries she’s been making to share with family and friends. Today, she, her husband and their children packed their van up with supplies for Israel Defense Forces soldiers and are making the three-hour drive down to Eilat, where they will be helping Rabbi Mendi and Chana Klein serve thousands of troops on eight IDF bases in the area. The family plans to sleep in a tent.
October 11
My husband, kids and I will be heading to a huge army base near Eilat where reserve soldiers are training before heading to battle.
The commanders told the local Chabad Rabbi and Rebbetzin that they urgently need unscented wipes, towels, energy bars, socks, underwear and undershirt tzitzit. There are no towels or wipes left in Eilat.
So many soldiers are asking for tzitzit that the country’s supply has been completely depleted! Young yeshivah kids together with retirees are preparing and tying new tzitzit. As soon as enough are ready, we will go.
If you’re in Beersheva and would like to send treats, towels or wipes for the soldiers, please drop off at our house.
October 10
Usually, we take bomb shelter selfies. We dance and laugh through the sirens to keep calm.
That doesn’t feel right this time. To be honest, running to the bomb shelters seems so trivial now. Just a thing we do while thinking about all the loved ones who were brutally murdered or are being held captive by barbarians in Gaza.
Here in Beersheva, the supermarket shelves are emptying. A store worker explained to my husband that most of the produce usually comes fresh from the farms in the kibbutzim near Gaza, but those are gone. The farmers and workers were either killed or kidnapped, or barely escaped with their lives and are in the hospital or far away from their homes trying to regain sanity. No one knows when or if they will ever go back.
Most of the staff from grocery stores and warehouses are on reserve duty, so even when products arrive, there’s barely anyone to load the shelves. In some small communities, children volunteer.
The Home Front Command instructed us all to stock up on water bottles; they say we need enough to last each person for three days. We should also have cash, fully charged portable batteries, flashlights, shelf-stable food and emergency bags packed.
Not everyone feels safe driving to the store, so friends take lists for each other.
The sky is loud. There’s a constant stream of military jets and helicopters above. Explosions are heard in the distance, and the windows rattle. Ambulance sirens fill in for the unusual lack of traffic noise.
We’re a small country of only 9 million, with many young children. So when 360,000 reservists report to the frontlines, that means most families are left with just one parent at home; usually, the mother who is left to keep the kids calm and safe while she herself doesn’t feel so at all. In some homes, both parents were called up, and so the kids are with their grandparents.
The army needed volunteers to help identify, dig graves and bury the 1,200 dead. Many Haredim who hadn’t been enlisted in the army showed up for the depressing task. They also don ZAKA and Hatzalah uniforms, volunteering with rescuing bodies and providing first aid treatment on-site of tragedies.
Everyone wants to help in some way. People are cooking, shopping, delivering, donating blood, fundraising, doing whatever they can for the soldiers, injured civilians and their families, and people trapped at home in Sderot, Ashkelon and Ofakim.
Soldiers on the front lines share videos of their preparations, many in an effort to cheer up and encourage everyone back at home. Some of these soldiers are survivors of the music festival massacre, and just hours after losing so many of their friends, they’re standing in uniform ready to fight back. Most soldiers lost at least one friend or relative; some their own parents, siblings or even child.
They’re fired up. In video messages, soldiers share that they’ll stop at nothing but guaranteeing the full security of Israel. It’s become clear that the moral thing to do right now might leave Gaza as a pile of rubble. Hamas uncovered all of their ugly truths, and with it, erased any pity or hopes for peace left in our soldier’s hearts.
In the army, it doesn’t matter if your politics lean right or left; if you’re Shabbat observant or not. No one cares how much money you have in your bank or where your parents were born. Everyone works side-by-side and sleeps on the same dirt floor. The truth is, that’s the attitude across almost all of Israel now.
When they’re after your bodies, suddenly you realize that your souls are all the same.
We won’t ever recover from the loss of over 1,000 precious Israeli souls, but we will rebuild together. We will give our children a safe future, and we will remember that we are one nation, one people. When one of us bleeds, we all bleed.
I hope that G‑d sees the unity that’s overtaken our people. I hope that’s what stands out, and because of that, He protects us all and grants our soldiers a complete victory, bringing the day where we only have peace and can be proud Jews without any fear or worry.
October 9
If you’re still trying to understand what is happening in Israel, this summary is for you.
First of all: It’s incomprehensible. Whatever you saw in the news, it’s 10 times worse. We’re talking about barbaric bloodshed devoid of all humanity.
1000+ people murdered
2,000+ injured
100+ kidnapped
4,000+ rockets fired onto civilian communities
All within 36 nightmarish hours.
The mood is shock. Those who are able to, cry.
Israel is a tiny country; 600 people means that everyone is connected to at least one person who was killed.
Our social media is flooded with photos of loved ones shared by relatives who are desperately hoping to find them alive, intermingled with announcements of death of beautiful innocent humans who were filled with life just moments before.
People who were not called to reserve duty, have a child, sibling or close friend heading towards the frontlines.
Saturday morning was a special Jewish holiday called “Simchat Torah.” Observant and traditional Jews had been up the night before dancing with the Torah in the synagogue.
At the same time, a huge peace festival took place in the Re’im forest near Israel’s border with Gaza. Thousands of young people camped out in tents.
Everyone’s guard was down.
Early Saturday morning, hundreds of armed and bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists from Gaza infiltrated Israel, by land, sea and air. They spread between 22 Israeli civilian communities and began their murderous rampage.
In some kibbutz communities, they went door to door murdering entire families and taking hostages into their trucks. Survivors share horror stories of hiding in the dark with their small children for 10 or more hours while hearing terrorists shooting and searching their home.
In cities like Sderot, Ofakim and Netivot, groups of terrorists roamed the streets and killed anyone in their path. In Ofakim, they held a family hostage in their home; in Sderot, they took over a police building.
The youths in the Re’im forest had nothing but tents and trees to hide between. The terrorists rained bullets on them and left hundreds of beautiful young people dead.
Among the kidnapped are babies, mothers and grandmothers. The terrorists released horrific videos of their treatment of the hostages and spread them throughout Gaza.
Gun battles between the IDF and terrorists in civilian communities continued into Sunday morning, some still ongoing as of Sunday afternoon.
At the same time, on Saturday morning, when we were supposed to be celebrating Simchat Torah with friends and family, Hamas rained thousands of rockets on civilian communities. These rockets destroyed homes, playgrounds and even hit the Ashkelon hospital where many patients are being taken to.
Hundreds of thousands of people, especially babies and children, were trapped in their bomb shelters all day. Many don’t even have bomb shelters and sit under their tables or staircase, praying for the best.
Those of us who are “only” getting rockets feel lucky. Even survivor’s guilt.
