Each week when I think it can’t get any more life-changing and dramatic, it does.

This has its consequences. Last week I “lost” two days. My husband woke me up Friday morning asking if we needed to buy challot for Shabbat, and I answered: “Why would we, since it’s Wednesday?”

Honestly, those days went into a sinkhole of memory created by all my usual activities being canceled and being stuck in the house near a shelter so that one day runs seamlessly into the next, until sunrises and sunsets pass almost unnoticed, and the hours of the day are unutilized.

But in that vacuum of activity, big changes are happening inside all Israelis. As we read in this week’s Bible portion, the Hebrew spies returned with reports that weakened the will of the people to oppose their enemies, saying, among other things that the inhabitants of the land were giants, and “we were like grasshoppers to them and to each other.”

Many times in facing the threat of the evil Iranian Islamic empire, many Jews in Israel have felt like that. Our just war against Iran, the magnificent work of the IDF and our brave, young pilots have changed that narrative. Despite the cowardly missile attacks by Iran against our hospitals, a building at the Weizmann Institute where decades of life-saving medical research have been erased, apartment buildings, and retirement homes, no Israeli feels like a “grasshopper” anymore. There is great pride, and great courage among the Israeli people. After each missile attack, as we emerge from our shelters miraculously unharmed despite total destruction all around us, we urge our military and our government to fight on. As our Prime Minister said: “We started this war digging bodies out of the ground with our bare hands, and ended it beside the greatest military force in the world using the most advanced military equipment.”

The decisive step of our dear, brave, and faithful friend in the White House, Donald Trump, in removing this threat from the world as well as coming to Israel’s aid, gave all of us renewed hope, deepening our determination to continue this battle until Iran can no longer threaten us, or anyone else.

Abu Ali summarizes:

“Trump’s America has proven that it is not afraid to strike when necessary, in contrast to the restrained and defensive/logistical policy adopted by Western countries (including the Biden administration) in recent years.

1. This is an important boost to America’s deterrence power.

2. This is a very significant boost to Israel’s deterrence power.

Trump’s America doesn’t just talk. It acts – something many assumed would not happen. Another central point is this: from now on, there is a precedent – the United States has directly struck Iran, alongside Israel. The next strike, if needed, will already be much easier.”

In the meantime, our soldiers continue to attack Iranian rocket launchers and military facilities, as well as nuclear scientists who are targeted in their beds.

Reports analyzing the Fordow attack says the bombs were aimed at the centrifuges enriching uranium. Iran says that it had moved its enriched uranium from Fordo two days before the strike and it is now in another facility. Indeed, we have seen photos of lines of trucks outside the facility days earlier. Unfortunately, these were dump trucks, open on top, used to drop material in front of the entrances to block an Israeli commando attack. Besides, why would Iran take this material out of THE MOST FORTIFIED SITE in Iran and put it somewhere else? Like, under Khamenei’s bed? You can’t transfer enriched uranium in Tupperware without fear of setting off a nuclear reaction or leaking radiation.

But I understand their frustration. It is estimated that over the years Iran has spent a half trillion dollars on their nuclear program and arming their proxies, all of which has now gone up in smoke. They are as foolish as they are stupid and cruel. True savages.

And while we are on the subject of “stupid,” Israelis report receiving phone calls with recorded messages from Iran prior to missile launches which tell them the “Zionist regime is lying to you and sounding sirens just to scare you.” The purpose? To convince Israelis not to go into their shelters in order to maximize death among Israeli civilians. I guess it really bothers them that our shelters are saving our lives and there is not a damn thing they can do about it. Savages.

This morning, 20-30 Iranian missiles were launched against us, and another ten just as rescuers were reaching the affected areas. No one was killed. Two were injured seriously, and the rest had light injuries.

If you see the impact sites, this is truly miraculous. They look exactly like parts of Gaza. But unlike the Gazans, whose leaders spent their budget on useless terror tunnels, we built strong shelters that save our people’s lives, because unlike our enemies, who have stated that for them “life begins at death” (no, not kidding, that’s what they say, which is why they are so dangerous to themselves and the rest of the world) while to us, life begins at birth, and preserving life is sacred. The ritual after each sojourn in our shelters is to touch base with the extended family everywhere, to make sure wherever the missiles landed, they weren’t nearby.

Israel has returned another three hostages murdered on Oct. 7 whose bodies were kidnapped to Gaza (tell me, who does that? Kidnap dead bodies? Savages.) From Abu Ali: “In a special operation carried out by the ISA and the IDF, the bodies of the hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano, and Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson were recovered from the Gaza Strip Saturday.

“Ofra Keidar, a member of Kibbutz Be’eri, was brutally murdered and abducted from the kibbutz on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists. Ofra, who was 71 at the time of her death, was a mother of three and the wife of Shmuel Keidar, who was also murdered by Hamas terrorists in their home in Be’eri.

“Yonatan Samerano was brutally murdered and abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists, including a UNRWA employee, after fleeing the Nova music festival. Yonatan was 21 years old at the time of his death.

“Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson, a tank commander in the Oz (77) Battalion, engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of October 7 and fell in combat. He was then abducted by Hamas terrorists. Shay was 19 years old when he fell.”

I’d like to end with a spiritual message I actually heard on Facebook (or was it Instagram?). I ask pardon from the author for not remembering their name. This is what it said: “I was reading the Bible and came across a passage about how God purifies his people the way a silversmith purifies silver. I didn’t understand what that meant, so I asked a silversmith if I could spend some time with him to see him work. I saw how he held the silver over the highest flame in the most intense heat, watching over it very, very carefully. Just a moment too long, would destroy it, he said. ‘How do you know when the material is fully purified?’ I asked him. And he answered: ‘When I can see my face in it.’ ”

This will be over when God sees His face in us.

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