Remember Kassams? Remember Sderot? Well, yesterday SEVEN Kassam rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza and one of them hit someone's house.
You remember Gaza. You remember how the Jewish state removed every trace of Jewish life from there in August 2005 and then gave the entire Jew-free Gaza strip to the Palestinian Arabs - as a gift - in exchange for nothing. As a "good will gesture," part of an imaginary "peace process."
In response, however counter-intuitive it may seem, the Arabs proceeded to turn Gaza into a terrorist stronghold from which to attack the gift-giving Jews. Thus it is that a few months ago, a house belonging to members of the Timasit family was struck by a rocket attack, seriously wounding one of the occupants. And then yesterday, the home of another branch of the same family was also hit.
The Qassam rocket penetrated the roof of the Timasit family home, damaging the house. When the Mr. Timasit heard the Qassam warning siren, he ordered his family to enter the bomb shelter in the home. The family members were evacuated to the Hosen Center, which specializes in treating shock victims.A second rocket fired in the same barrage struck near the town. A Qassam rocket fired Thursday afternoon hit an open area in the Sderot. Later, another four Qassam rockets were fired at the town, striking in open areas near a Western Negev kibbutz. Those attacks caused no injuries or damage.
See also the Israeli Ministry of Education's plan for the school year in Sderot:
(IsraelNN.com) The Ministry of Education has decided to enable the children of Sderot to study in safety by conducting all classes in the schools' bomb shelters.
Next thing you know, the Ministry of Transportation will devise and build a subway system, enabling the children to travel "in safety" from the bomb shelters in their homes to their bomb shelter schools. It seems only Arabs have the right to not only the land, but the fresh air and sunshine on the surface of the land as well.
Israelis had better study up if they want to be "safe" in the future. A good place to start might be this Enchanted Learning webpage featuring printouts of Underground and Burrowing Animals.
Some animals live underground for all or much of the time. Living underground has many advantages, including protection from some predators, from extreme temperatures (both hot and cold), and from overly dry climates.Many animals also hunt for food underground, like tubers, roots, other plant material, worms, grubs, insects, insect eggs and larvae.
Some animals, like moles and earthworms spend their entire lives underground. Others, like the prairie dog, spend some time below ground and some time above ground. Some animals spend a portion of their life cycle underground (for example, some insect larvae).
Fossorial means relating to burrowing or living underground. Fossorial animals are adapted to living underground. Aardvarks, armadillos, and moles are fossorial animals.
Jewish Children in Sderot, Israel
Since the government of Israel gives its land to its enemies and neglects its obligation to protect Israeli children, projects are springing up all over to "help" them "cope." One such program is Havens of Calm, provided by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, or JDC.
Since early 2002, the children of the Southern development town Sderot and Gaza border communities have been living in the daily shadow of terror, with thousands of Kassam rockets being fired from the Gaza strip. Since Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, the monthly average of Kassam rockets landing in the region has risen to 80. Living in a traumatic environment where rocket shelling is a constant and real threat have made fear and anxiety a part of every day life. The children of Sderot have experienced a large number of direct hits to homes, schools and streets in their town..... The "Havens of Calm" model aims to provide both immediate and long term responses, with the ultimate goal being: the development of resilience in the face of terror and crisis situations. Havens of Calm affords schools with a physical environment and accompanying necessary resources with which to create a nurturing atmosphere of emotional safety protection and comfort within the confines of the elementary schools.
Miri is a "Havens of Calm" "Case Study"
Miri, twelve and a half years old, needed assistance for the anxiety and feelings of helplessness that she experienced each time the “Red Siren” sounded – the warning of an incoming Kassam missile. Miri experienced difficulty concentrating and sleeping, she was afraid of being left alone at home, and was even scared to go from the living room to her bedroom. She also had acute startle reactions to sudden noises.When her behavior was noticed in school, Miri was brought to the Haven of Calm to speak with the school counselor. Discussions with Miri revealed that she had witnessed an incoming Kassam missile that killed one child and injured another. Miri described the very difficult scenes she had witnessed while they waited for the ambulances to arrive.
The work with Miri utilized guided imagery, relaxation, controlled breathing and cognitive techniques such as replacing troublesome thoughts with positive, empowering thoughts. For example, “When I hear the siren that tells me I have time to protect myself.” The Haven of Calm enabled Miri to develop various ways to deal with fear in order to control it, including her well-developed sense of humor. Now as Miri plays the siren sound on her computer and cellular phone and jokes about it with her friends and family she feels like she controls the siren and not the other way round.
Miri still receives assistance in the Haven of Calm, but feels much more relaxed and in control. She’s returned to normal functioning in school. When she hears the “Red Siren” warn of incoming Kassams, she no longer overreacts but knows how to calm herself and her family. In addition, she can stay home alone and freely moves from room to room in her house.
We could have used programs like this for Jewish children in the Holocaust, no? They could have used some "guided imagery" to "develop resilience" while people Nazis were trying to kill them.
Relax... breathe... you have time to protect yourself.... You are in control....
/Not.
I'm sorry, maybe this is very nice and maybe the parents in Sderot appreciate it, but I think it's a bunch of horse sh*t. Miri and her parents are NOT in control, and that's the whole problem. To my way of thinking, the answer is not to seek fleeting comfort by conjuring up imaginary control, but to actually take control and be comforted by that reality.
Granted, I am not in Sderot, but using unguided imagery, I imagine being a parent in Sderot and I further imagine that rather than have my life and my case studies children's lives cut short - or reduced to that of an aardvark - I would prefer that the Israeli military utterly defeat the terrorists trying to kill me from land that I gave to them.
But then I linger under what must be a misapprehension, that we obtained a Jewish state in order to enjoy safe haven, so that our children could walk freely in the fresh air and sunshine of Gd's good earth, with their Jewish heads held high
... not as case studies in trauma support, cowering underground with their faces on the floor and their heads in their hands.
This is a shondeh, a disgrace.
.... Abuse occurs in a community that tolerates it. While the aggressor is the immediate perpetrator, the community cannot shirk its culpability if it allows abuse to occur and continue.We tend to look for causes of things, and indeed a match may be the cause of a fire. But fires cannot burn in the absence of oxygen, and if the supply of oxygen is cut off, as when we douse a fire with water, the flame is extinguished.
While a community is not the cause of abuse, it may be likened to the "oxygen" when it allows the abuse to continue.
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UPDATE: Blogger Begs
Dear my Jewish family,I don't believe that it is bomb shelters that will protect the future of Jewish life as much as it is our [highly-touted yet utlimately ignored] Jewish values... Pikuach Nefesh, the preservation of life... Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Lazeh, All Jews are responsible for one another... Do Not Stand Idly By the blood of your neighbor.
We needn't reinvent the wheel in a square shape. We have the blueprints and instruction manual for building a Jewish state based on Jewish values. If we do not listen to our own Gd-given sources of wisdom, we will not last.
And last we must... don't you think?
with love and affection,
Yael
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