As I sit in my office, which
also happens to be our safe room in our Kfar Saba apartment, I wonder
how am I ever going to focus on the fact that my new book – Stork's
Landing – will be hitting bookstore shelves in less than two
weeks' time. I should be excited, but the existential question of the
hour is far more pressing for me as an Israeli citizen.
Just this morning, as my
husband and I sat down to breakfast, we were treated to two siren
alerts. Nine hours later we “enjoyed” a bookend effect as we sat
down to dinner. Lodged behind a heavy metal door, checking the
minute-by-minute news on the internet, my mind wandered to the video
that went viral two days ago, in which one Israeli pilot signaled
another to pass over a target because children were clearly visible.
I was struck by our humanity, a compassion clearly missing on the
other side. Then it hit me. This is the connection with Stork's
Landing. A touching nature tale set in Israel, it highlights the
Jewish bent to reach out and care for the wounded through a focus on
the Jewish value of kindness to animals.
It's a gentle story,
beginning with the fact that Kibbutz fish farmers must place nets
over their fishponds in order to shield their fish from ravenous
birds flying above. To an extent, these nets are to the fish as what
the Iron Dome is to our population. They are there to protect and
preserve. Sure enough when a hungry stork comes in for a landing it
gets caught in the net, breaks its wing to the serious extent that it
cannot be operated on, yet the kibbutz members don't put it to sleep.
They nurture and shelter it, providing a secure surrounding. A true
parallel to the Palestinians being treated in Israeli hospitals, even
during these worn, torn times. A fact rarely covered in the world
press.
So while we hover in what I
smilingly call our “War Room,” I am now focusing on the fact that
Stork's Landing is a Jewish everyman's tale and how lucky all
Jews are to have the State of Israel. We live by the same book, we
perpetuate the same values, and we will make sure we remain a safe
haven for all Jews. In the meantime, come early autumn may only
storks, not missiles, land on our shores.
