Preparing for Shabbat

This morning was pretty uneventful, a siren, a lot artillery fire and too much TV.
In addition there were Shabbat phone calls to friends and the usual excuses from the municipality that despite the fact that I had been told I only needed to sign up once and I had in fact signed up on Tuesday and on Thursday I wouldn’t be eligible for a Shabbat food delivery because I hadn’t signed up on Wednesday.
Activity kits for the children had been handed out in the shelters. What about children stuck in security rooms who couldn’t get to the central shelters? “Oh…”

During the afternoon the wailing of the sirens became more frequent each time followed by a loud bang. The news reports make no mention of Shlomi but auditory evidence and the inevitable gossip of a small town informs me otherwise.
I try to take a shower all afternoon but every time I get ready the siren goes off again. The children have given up on TV and are playing in the security room with my son’s train track. He is bored with a level track so lays in across my daughter’s recumbent body - to create hills. She has nothing better to do so she finds it amusing.

About 4pm the sirens start wailing yet again and there is an almighty crack overhead. Everything shuts down – the blast must have taken out a transformer so we have no electricity.
In the security room the windows are closed for safety and with no ventilator it is too hot even to read. I play a game of rummicub with the children between answering phone calls.
I warn my father that the cordless isn’t working due to lack of electricity and my mobile battery is almost out if juice. He also doesn’t have electricity and says we might have to eat cold food – cooked but cold. My father-in-law phones to say my husband is worried because I’m not answering. I try calling my husband but his phone is off to conserve energy. After a few minutes my husband calls me to assure me he is OK and to wish me Shabbat Shalom. I call back to my in-laws to wish them Shabbat Shalom. It seems my father-in-law has something important to say but my phone is fading and while he is momentarily distracted by my mother in law sending her love my phone dies. Back to the silence and rummicub with my children.

After more than an hour the electricity came back and we have finally managed to shower.

Shabbat Shalom

ES