[etni] [FWD: Notes from Netivot]
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- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:27:57 -0700
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Subject: Notes from Netivot
From: Esther Revivo <estherrv@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Finally, an ETAI conference in MY end of the woods. But aw shucks, the
Pikud Oref told us to stay indoors and I try to listen to them. And aw,
double shucks: here we go again before another bagrut season not knowing
what will be or not be with our pupils. (Is it my imagination, or am I
starting to sound like a certain Barry from another oft-targeted area of
the country? :) Sorry for the satire, Mr. Shakespeare, but this is no
laughing matter. What the pupils and staff close to the Gaza Strip have
put up with for the past years is beyond belief.
We in the area are prepared to sleep in secure locations or move out to
friends/ relatives until the untenable situation of non-stop rocketing
ceases. Not a single resident of the areas closest to the rockets has
remained unscathed mentally. I HATE when the media says, "No damage
done," when thank G-d nobody is physically injured. They should teach
all the reporters to say, "Nobody was physically injured." Other
teachers from schools like Sapir much closer and therefore more often
rocketed will doubtless agree when I claim that not a single pupil
living in that area for years has been anything but intensely affected
by this situation. (i.e. Someone I knew committed suicide in the IDF as
he was unable to withstand the stress involved.)
LET ME VERY CLEARLY SAY THAT I AM SORRY FOR INNOCENTS Of THE WORLD WHO
ARE WHAT IS CRASSLY TERMED "COLLATERAL DAMAGE!" Now, with that
clarified, I will continue:
Thankfully, as my rakezet told me today via the phone, "Lucky you! You
knew just when to go on early pension and teach only 9th and 10th
graders-- no need for the Literature hishtalmut when the Irgun agrees to
it; no bagrut worries .... "The latter is inaccurate, since my rakezet
who took over my senior class has obviously needed my help as I know the
girls inside out, having taught them for four years and all are **sigh**
signed up to do the winter bagrut. Well, I don't envy Ms. Judy Steiner
and all the dear folks who make decisions about hakalot for people in
our area. How the heck can anyone do a matkonet when not at school? So,
it's time to hunker down like a hibernating bear for the duration.
Yesterday on Shabbat we in Netivot finally witnessed what my dear pupils
from Sederot at Ulpanat Tzvia Sedot Negev have been going through for
years already. The joyous calm of Shabbat repeatedly pierced by sirens
blaring and the BOOOOM of rockets, decimating the beautiful atmosphere
of the day. My eldest daughter who lives not far from Beit El remarked
as evening fell, "... now will you stop worrying about us? We are safer
than you!"
Safe? Who is safe? Only through the unending loving kindness of our
Creator are we still alive, many of us unaware of the thousands of
miracles He has wrought in the past, and G-d willing continue to do for
us in future. Who knows how many terrorists we strolled past on the
street; saw on the bus or bus stop who possessed a bomb that didn't go
off or was captured before detonation?
I am sorry I don't recall the name of the general (a former head of our
pikud tzafon) who spoke on the radio last week. He said more or less, "I
am willing to eat dry bread and olives for a few years! The he** with
what the world says! I wish this government would let the IDF go into
Gaza and do everything it takes to end this untenable situation despite
anything the world throws our way."
AMEN! Let us all pray for a swift ending to this ongoing saga and hope
that a "normal" life will be returned to residents of the Western Negev
as soon as possible.
Esther Revivo
Ulpanat Tzvia Sedot Negev
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