People are talking about war. Just today when I went to the laundry,
a man wearing a kippah stopped me on the street. He asked me something
in Hebrew and I said, "English." He switched to English and asked me
where I was from and wanted to start a conversation. I wanted a
conversation, too. Unfortunately, his English was very bad and I could
only understand a word or two of what he was saying.
He seemed to
be proselytizing about Hebron being the burial place of our fathers. He
also seemed to be talking about war, but I couldn't make the connection
between war and a burial place. So I excused myself and continued on
with the chore of taking laundry to the laundromat lady.
And it is
a chore. It is a very long walk, which I enjoy. But the suitcase I'm
dragging full of dirty clothes is heavy. Hot weather makes the suitcase
even heavier. When I get home, I have to pull the suitcase full of
clean clothes up three flights of stairs. Once in the apartment, all I
can do is lay listlessly on the floor for about an hour.
I've read
that people are readying bomb shelters, and maybe that's true, although
I have no idea how one readies a bomb shelter. I took a walk the other
evening and saw that in a nearby apartment building the lights were on
in the basement which I presumed to be the bomb shelter. As far as the
bomb shelter goes in our building, it is locked and the entrance is
blocked by scrap wood and furniture. The old couple in Unit 4 safeguard
the key.
In response to a potential threat from Syria, the
article also stated that gas mask sales are going through the roof.
Even though the other day I saw a man carrying half a dozen boxes of gas
masks; I doubt the veracity of the report. Israeli citizens don't have
to purchase a gas mask, they can pick one up for free at the post
office. So why would anyone buy a gas mask they can pick up for free?
Another
time, I saw a man bring home a grocery cart full of bottled water. It
took me a few moment to process that he was probably stocking up on
water...just in case. Not a bad idea. David and I talk about stocking
up on food and water, but haven't done so, although I am keeping a large
toilet paper supply handy...just in case.
For most Israelis,
impending doom is business as usual, and they are cavalier about the
whole thing. The guy who owns the shwarma place where we go for lunch
all the time was talking about war.
"It's going to start after the New
Year," he said as casually as talking about the start of football season.
"Israel is going to attack Iran?"
He seemed absolutely certain it will happen, and didn't have too many concerns about it.
"What if the United States, doesn't want or can't help Israel?"
"We can do this without the US."
"What if Russia and China get involved?"
"They
won't, they have their own problems. Syria and Iran mean nothing to
them except to buy their weapons, so they welcome war."
Then he stared at me, "But you, you've never been through this before. You should go back to America for a month or two."
I
know an Israeli woman who invites me over for coffee every once in
awhile. She is very old and shriveled and has completely lost her
boobs. Just by looking at her, you can tell she is very tough and
strong. She smokes like a chimney, but seems to be in good health, and
climbs about 100 steps back and forth to her apartment every day.
She
was born in Palestine before Israel became a nation. She helped build
Israel and speaks Arabic, Hebrew, German, Yiddish, English and a teensy
bit of French. I actually may speak more French than she does, but
that's not saying much.
Her husband was in the Israeli navy and
died about 20 years ago. He was in a shipwreck in the Bermuda
triangle. I couldn't exactly understand what he was doing in Bermuda
rather than the Mediterranean; but according to the woman a huge storm
literally tore the ship in half.
I asked her about upcoming war.
She sized me up as a spoiled American who has never seen adversity. In
response to my question, she shrugged.
What could she say? You live in Israel, this is what it is.
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