I almost didn’t post an update today, but just in case anyone is reading, I decided to post one despite the way I feel. I woke up with a fever today, which is disturbing. I hope that it’s just a minor cold and not something else (something else being cancer relapse, as persistent low grade fever is one of the symptoms I need to look out for). For now I’m just monitoring the situation and hoping that it’s nothing.
I took some paracetamol and went to the local farmer’s market, to support the five farmer stalls that came there. More than half the farmers there are from the south and so didn’t come. One of them is a flower grower, and he lost one of his workers and a member of his kibbutz, a 17 year old boy who was murdered by Hamas as he went surfing with his friend on Saturday morning. The smily boy, Tal Keren, was there every week, waking at 3:00AM to help load flowers to the truck and then sell them every Friday in the market. The mind reels that he won’t ever be there again.
The rest of the farmers are either trying to salvage and save their fields that were burned and bombed, or currently drafted to the army as reservists. They all lost members of their kibbutz or village in an attack that has so far claimed 1,300 victims, 257 of which were soldiers, the rest civilians. Babies, children, teenagers, grandparents, men and women murdered for being Israeli. And no, not all of them were Jewish. Scores of Bedoin were killed in the rocket attacks on Saturday. A muslim doctor tried to attend to the wounded, was shot and captured by Hamas as he was treating one of their own, and had to be rescued by the army, one of a handful of hostages that were saved.
The few farmers that made it, made it despite knowing that they wouldn’t be turning out a profit today. The market was deserted, with more sellers than buyers there. But people wanted to talk, to get out of the house, to get some semblance of normalcy.
We went to say hi to friends in Jaffa on the way home. The flea market was deserted. Normally a place where Israeli Jews and Arabs live together relatively peacefully, now it was a ghost town.
Friday is the busiest day there, and all the shops and stalls were closed:
More things were open during the Covid lockdowns than are open now. Basically only the local pharmacy was open, and one bakery opened for a few hours, serving a handful of locals.
Many of the shop owners live in the area, and they had a communal breakfast together. Joining them were three police bomb disposal experts, in heavy demand these days. They’re working non-stop and this short coffee break was a welcome change for them.
As my fever hasn’t gone away and my hands are shaking, there’s no Inktober today. I tried to sleep the fever off, but then we had a rocket siren, and I had to rush with everyone to the shelter. The two young kids with us were anxious to get back to their apartments, so we all helped distract them as we waited the requisite 10 minutes inside the shelter — an eon to four and and five year olds.
Many of my friends and colleagues have left Tel Aviv to seek shelter in less targeted places. One of them has a partner who’s a nurse, and was left to run alone to the shelter with a 6 week old baby and a hysterical dog. The couple moved to their parents in a more northern city the next day. I can’t blame them.
For now I’m here, and I’m hoping for better days ahead.
Shabat Shalom.
Writing at Large 
akapulko2020
I hope you feel better soon 💖
(Almost) no rockets where I live, but my parents’ building in one of the more targeted areas sustained a direct hit, and as days go by, the realization of the miracle that they are alive, is downing on me.
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Sam Knutson
I hope you feel well soon perhaps a small side effect of your recent COVID booster. Mary Anne and I both got ours recently (Moderna) and this one caused both of us a sore arm and a little malaise for a few days itchy skin on her arm for her. Stay safe!
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Ulrike
I wish you a speedy recovery and hope that you can stay safe. It is scary just watching the media and I can’t imagine dealing with the danger of rocket attacks.
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Travis
I’ve been reading all your posts since this started. I hope you stay safe and your fever is just a cold.
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Matthew Webb
Nofar,
Don’t worry about no one reading your posts! I look forward to reading all your posts. Your posts about your battle with cancer were an autobiography of a strong person, accepting but battling the disease.
Wishing you a speedy recovery and that you stay safe.
Shabat Shalom.
Matthew
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Dan
Hey ! I do read your daily emails even more now than before. I am sorry for tour situation and i hope there will be a quick resolution
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miatagrrl
I think of you every day, Nofar, and really appreciate your updates, even though I’m sure it must be hard to write them. Maybe your fever is a reaction to your COVID vax — I always feel like I have the flu for a day and even 2 days after every COVID shot I’ve gotten. I hope so. Please take care.
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Pentastic Prose
I check your site daily so yes, your posts are read.
It is awkward to know what to write as you have issues from both sides, your cancer and the terrorist attacks slaughtering innocent people. I hope all these issues are resolved as soon as possible. My partner had her vax and has felt dizzy and uncoordinated for a few weeks now, she had a flu jab at the same time so perhaps it was the combination of both that did it.
Shalom, and we pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
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Pentastic Prose
I too check your blog almost daily so, thank you for continuing to update us.
We pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
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Caroline
Hope you get better soon and that the fever is only a side-effect of the vaccination or a mild cold. I, too, read your posts daily as they provide a much better picture of what’s going on than the news, which focus on the original attacks and on how the army responds but not on what life is like right now inside Israel. But I hope you never feel obliged to post if you’re not feeling well. I also think of you daily (I’m sure most of your readers do) and hope things are not too bad on your side. It must be a nightmare to live through. It’s probably incredibly naive but every morning I read the news I hope to read that the bombing has stopped (or at least eased). This, too, will pass, it has to! Wishing you a lot of strength and resilience! (I wished I could send you some via teleportation 😉
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Catsandcoffee
I am definitely a Reader of your Blog and this is exactly what I was looking for since you are sharing your life from the inside. Have you considered going somewhere safer until the War is over? Also, how far is the Shelter from your house? What is it like?
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KP
Truly heartbreaking to hear and see the pain and heartache that war causes for millions. I hope you can find comfort like I have with the following passage….Isaiah 14:7 The whole earth now rests, free of disturbance. People cry out for joy.) That passage gives hope and assurance that the unrest that is taking place in Gaza, Ukraine, all over the world will soon end.
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