The week of Sukkot 5784 was spectacular in Yerushalayim, with tens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of holiday events. Hashanah Rabah learning programs attracted thousands and many stayed up all night learning Torah. The city was back and tourism was thriving as in the days before the pandemic.  

The Simhat Torah crowds were out at night singing and dancing in the streets with rounds of Hafakot before gathering for the Yom Tov meals.

As the sun rose, that world came to an end. 

The streets were too quiet. It sounded like Yom Kippur morning outside with no traffic, and no cars speeding by in the empty Shabbat morning holiday streets as usual. 

At 8:15 a.m. a missile warning siren blared for a startling wake-up call. It was good timing to get up and get to shul. Sadly we have had rockets aimed at Yerushalayim from Gaza before, so the siren sound was not new. Then there was another a few minutes later. After each warning siren stopped the booms of Iron Dome interception could be heard. 

However, it was an ambulance that went by that was more unsettling. They change the emergency sirens to one that sounds like those of vehicles heard in old World War II movies. The change is so people will not run for cover as with the missile warning sound for every ambulance racing by.

I walked to shul, stopping a couple of times to get close to a wall when more sirens sounded. Being Shabbat and Yom Tov, of course, we did not have the radio on. It was only when I got to shul that I saw no one inside and was confused. Then the guard said, "Go home. It's a war." 

There were nine siren warnings on Shabbat/Simhat Torah followed by explosion sounds of various strengths.  A few minyanim went on in bomb shelters, however, regular shuls were told by the Home Front Command to put away the Sifrei Chodesh and send everyone home for shelter and safety. Family members stayed home and did not come for lunch.

One young woman was crying after finding out her brother was wounded and in a hospital. Only later after havdalah did we learn some of the extent of the horrific events in southern Israel. The number of murdered, injured, and kidnapped by Hamas is mind-boggling. It is still a developing story and one that has reawakened Shoah trauma for too many.

Already on Shabbat/Simhat Torah phones were turned on as reserve soldiers were called up in record numbers. A neighbor across the street on Shabbat afternoon was dressed in his IDF uniform and putting a backpack into his car ready to go to his unit.

Weddings have been postponed or drastically cut down to the numbers allowed to attend. Rabbis as well as the young men ready to get married this week were called up on reserve duty. On Sunday night, our family had a simple home Bat Mitzvah party instead of the planned shul event with many friends. 

To add to the gloomy mood as reports of Hamas barbarism became known on Monday in Yerushalayim, the weather was cloudy and dark with some cold rain. People stayed in not knowing what unthinkable thing could happen next. The faces of murdered young people, families, and friends were shared on social media as they became known. 

However, on both Sunday and Monday, blood donors stood in line at the special Teddy Stadium collection in Yerushalayim for 5 hours. Their cars filled the parking lot before the opening time to donate blood. Since the war's outbreak, the blood services division of MDA has amassed over 13,000 blood units from generous donors. These blood units and components have been distributed to all Israeli hospitals for the treatment of the injured.

Writing this toward the end of Day 4, there were no new sirens in Yerushalayim on Tuesday. However, schools are not in session along with the rest of the country and are locked. Many teachers have been called up for reserve duty and others have reached out to their students online. Protecting children is an Israeli priority. How to have instruction online without a cyber interruption as with some past "Zoom bombings" is a consideration. United Hatazlah had its donation system cyber-attacked as did the Jerusalem Post online.

The drilling and banging building sounds usually heard in Yerushalayim are missing as construction has stopped. 

But today cafes were opening, store shelves filling with fresh produce and canned food.  Traffic and learning drivers were out again, along with street cleaners. In some places cleaning up after Sukkot was not a priority this year. Volunteers of all ages were in multiple locations preparing food for soldiers or those in need in the South. At OneFamily volunteers baked, and prepared packages to help, others brought donations and even answered the phones. Marc Belzberg noted that OneFamily had more people to help in these last two days than in the past 22 years since they started helping victims of terror.

In Yerushalayim, businesses that were closed all last week for Sukkot were back again, with fresh baked goods for customers. 

However, in northern Israel, the IDF reports 15 rockets were launched from Lebanon, 4 intercepted by Iron Dome, and the rest landed in open areas. The army responded with artillery fire after the rocket attacks. Deterring Hezbollah in Lebanon from joining the Iron Swords/Simhat Torah War initiated by Hamas from Gaza is important. The South is still under attack. Red Alert sirens sounded at around 6 p.m. in the Ashkelon area, resulting in a 54-year-old woman needing emergency attention and being taken to Barzilai Hospital. 

Tonight by 8:15 p.m. Magen David Adom teams provided medical assistance to 20 victims of rocket strikes in the South, with 2 fatalities, 1 seriously injured, and 1 moderately injured from shrapnel in the Western Negev communities and Ashkelon. Sixteen others sustained minor injuries while heading to protected areas.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops on the Gaza border: "I have released all the restraints, we have [regained] control of the area, and we are moving to a full offense. Hamas wanted a change in Gaza, it will change 180 degrees from what it thought. They will regret this moment, and Gaza will never return to what it was."

The IDF named another 32 soldiers killed during fighting with Palestinian terrorists since Saturday, mostly on the border with the Gaza Strip. The names bring the toll of slain soldiers to 156. As the numbers go higher, the sadistic stories of Hamas brutality are revealed, and military experts agree Israel must deliver a decisive blow against Hamas, more than just a deterrent but end their brutal regime in Gaza. 

Ofir Gendelman, a former spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister to the Arab world, now with the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy stated, “This reminds everyone of ISIS, and it sends a clear message in the Arab world of what Hamas is. This will translate and has translated to unprecedented support of Israel that we are seeing in social media by young and older people, even in countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel – Saudi Arabia, even Kuwait, and naturally the Emirates and Morocco," 

Meanwhile, in Yerushalayim and all of Israel, 

we are deeply saddened to share the deaths of

fallen lone soldiers:

Noam Rottenberg z"l,

Nathanel Avraham Shalom Young z"l,

Valentine Genesia z"l,

Binyamin Lev z"l,

Amir Fisher z"l

HY"D