"יורד מזמינות"

I'm having a new experience now. Most of my friends have already had this sometime during the war, but not me. Yossi's phone is disconnected until further notice.

Generally in war you want to keep your phone off so it can't be tracked. When the army first went into Gaza all the soldiers left their phones back in Israel and got them back when they came out. But since Yossi never left Israel he's had his phone the whole time - like at the beginning he was on the Lebanese border, so sometimes he didn't have reception, but most of the time I could reach him. Sometimes he was offline for a few hours at a time because they had some mission or activity, but it usually lasted less than a day. Then we he was in Gaza in the summer the IDF already had a proper base there so soldiers could keep their phones.

Now, for the first time, he's offline. It's been three days and it seems like it'll be at least a few more days, possibly weeks. For lots of my friends this was the experience at the beginning of the war. It must have been awful. In a weird way I'm ok with it - it's like it's out of my hands. No news is good news, I guess? What sucks is that the kids can't call him, and I know that for Lavi it's been really hard.

Then this morning I got a message from Yossi's friend from miluim, saying that he saw him and he looks good, and gave me a message from Yossi that he's doing ok and he loves me. Along with a picture - and he really does look good! And so now I'm not sure how I feel? Like, it's good to get a message, makes me feel like people care, and it's a relief to get good news. But now it's like, well how long will it be before I hear from him again?

Abba's Phone

Yossi has been offline since yesterday. I knew it was coming but I didn't explain it to the kids. Anyway today I took Lavi to pick up a package that Yossi ordered a while ago, and Lavi says, "Imma we should buy electricity for Abba!"

Me: What do you mean?

Lavi: We should buy him electricity so he can charge his phone at night and have battery in the morning.

I might have said "that's a really good idea!" But all I was thinking was how fucked up it is that my husband is away at war and the kids can't call him.

Dear Malcolm Gladwell

So Malcolm Gladwell has a podcast about Americans who have received the national medal of honor, and he tells war stories of bravery. And at the end of each episode he asks that if the listeners know a veteran they should send stories of bravery (and if you don't know a veteran you can send a story of a time bravery was contagious in your life). So I have lots of stories to tell.

Dear Malcolm,

I'm Alina, 34 years old, Israel. I've really been enjoying your podcast "Medal of Honor: stories of courage." As you probably know, my country has been at war for a year. It's discouraging and all-consuming, and listening to your podcast helps me keep a sense proportion because it's a reminder that all wars eventually end. It also makes me wonder what stories you'll tell about this war when you talk about it in twenty years. What will be the famous stories? Which stories will become movies? What events will become the 'untold' stories?

I'm writing because I know a veteran - my grandfather, Jack Halpert (who we called Zaidy) - who was an American Marine and fought in Japan in WWII. He passed away in 2003. He fought on Iwo Jima and had lots of war stories but I've only heard some of them. Anyway I have a story my grandmother told me from after the war: after Zaidy came home, he would meet up with his army buddies every so often - they became very close, as comrades do. Once he was at a bar with one of them (my grandmother couldn't remember his name, just the everyone called him "Junior"). The place was packed but they managed to get a seat at the bar, and at some point a man tapped Zaidy on the shoulder - the man couldn't reach the bar because the place was so busy so he handed Zaidy some cash and asked if Zaidy could please order him a beer, which he did of course. It happened to be a black man, and Junior was horrified that Zaidy would buy a beer for a black man. Junior left the bar and Zaidy never saw him again.

I don't know if that's a story of courage, but it's a story of humanity and it makes me proud to be the granddaughter of a man who saw all people as equal.

I was interested in the conversation with Meredith, which you added at the end of the season. It's interesting that you talk about war stories like something old and distant, but the truth is that people are people and the stories that happened then could easily happen now. Once many years ago I was fortunate to get invited to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Tel Aviv (every November the US Marines celebrate the establishment of the Marine Corps and have parties all over the world wherever Marines are stationed. I was in the IDF at the time serving in the foreign relations unit so I got an invite, it was pretty exciting). At the event an officer1 talked about twice in recent history when Americans went running to the recruitment offices - Pearl Harbor and 9/11. I'm sure if you asked any American before 9/11 if today, in 2001, seventeen-year-olds would be willing and able to go to war, they would laugh and say something about "today's spoiled kids." But those spoiled kids went, because people do crazy things when they meet crazy circumstances. And if the US suffered another attack today in 2024, people would go.

I've been thinking a lot about the concept of courage this past year, because wars produce thousands of courageous moments. And still, people are people. I have many family members, friends, and neighbors in various combat units but I don't see them as heroes. I see them as devoted fathers and husbands who come home and immediately take the kids out to the park. Vulnerable people just like all of us.

As always, thank you for your fascinating insights,

Alina