Happy Festival of Lights! Chag Urim Sameach!
Below is just one story of the many things that we do during troubling times and during peaceful times to bring light into the lives of Israelis from all walks of life. To support "BINA in the Neighborhood" and BINA's Jewishly-inspired social action and empowerment in Beer Sheva and across Israel, please click here.
This past Tuesday, November 20th, in the midst of Operation Pillar Of Defense, Ella Orian and the staff of "BINA in the Neighborhood" in Beer Sheva, took as bus-full of families from one of Beer Sheva's most impoverished neighborhoods to the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem for a break from the sirens and a day of fun. This is her story.
Our Trip from Beer Sheva to the Zoo By Ella Orian “BINA in the Neighborhood” Coordinator in Neighborhood Dalet in Beer Sheva
On Monday (Nov 19), Therese from the community center and I started making phone calls to families with young children in the neighborhood to plan a trip to the zoo. Through the phone calls we became even more aware of the profound fear that many of the residents were experiencing, as so many were afraid to step outside of their shelters, even when the sirens weren’t sounding.
There was a lot of interest from the families and very quickly we nearly filled two buses for the trip. However, while we were still making the phone calls there was a siren… and then another, and another. Parents started to call us back to cancel. For many parents the idea of getting out of the shelter and leaving the city was even more frightening and anxiety-producing than staying at home – despite the potential for escape and reprise for themselves and their kids.
At the end of the day we confirmed one bus, and hoped for a quiet night. The next morning was a “stormy” one, with two sirens already at seven in the morning. I was worried that more families would cancel, but I saw that my worries were naught when we met up in the neighborhood and everyone had arrived – and even a few stragglers came who wanted to join at the last minute. And they did.
I right away gave instructions on what to do in the event of a siren while waiting for the bus or while on the bus, which proved unfortunately relevant as we were called to the shelters when waiting for the bus, and then again upon our departure.
We were finally on our way, a bus-full of excited kids – and parents. We made it to the zoo and there we met thousands of others who had come from all over the south: from Ofakim, Netivot, Ashdod, and more. There were even a few surprise family and friend reunions. We divided up to go see the elephants and monkeys and tigers (oh my!) and met up together for lunch.
At 1:45 in the afternoon, while we were all enjoying our sandwiches, a siren suddenly sounded in the zoo. We were all shocked and surprised, and by the looks on their faces, you could see quickly how severely the siren affected the visitors from the south. Thousands ran to the “secure spaces” and you could feel the tension in the air. Many parents wanted us to leave early and return to Beer Sheva right away, but to my pleasant not-so-surprise, the kids wanted to stay and managed to convince their parents as well. We decided to stay and to try not to let the one siren end our day at the zoo. And I’m so glad that’s exactly what we did. It was a pure pleasure just to watch the families sitting on the grass, enjoying the sun, and seeing the kids run around looking at all the animals, which many of them had never seen before.
We left the zoo as planned, late in the afternoon, tired yet satisfied. And I’m glad to say that our ride home was a quiet one.
|