Update (Day 904) Swords of Iron-Lion’s Roar “National Near Death Experiences”
Friends, we are living in miraculous times.
Missiles are hitting this country from all sides—from the Houthis in Yemen, the IRGC in Iran, and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. And yet, we’re surviving. This country is surviving—thriving.
I feel like a walking miracle.
I’ve been fighting for 905 consecutive days—gunfights, mortar fire, even now. They use cluster munitions that explode above ground and scatter fragments. One detonated just 30 meters from me. I won’t go into all the details, but it’s staggering.
There’s a well-known prayer here in Israel that I recently prayed over friends in the hospital. It speaks of God as a redeemer who bestows goodness. And I feel that deeply. I don’t deserve to survive when others have died or been injured. Yet I’m here. So I say, “Thank you, God.”
I told my friend, “You’re alive for a reason. We all are.”
We bury those who have fallen and honor them.
Sergeant Aviad Volansky fell recently. Across the country, there have been hits—Tel Aviv struck by a drone, the north under constant threat. Kiryat Shmona, Metula, Manara—we must protect the northern border.
This cannot continue. No country can accept this. We will not allow terrorists to keep attacking our people. We are advancing, working to remove these threats across the north. Strikes have targeted rocket launchers, weapons depots, and military sites. Many have fled; many more have been displaced.
There have been direct hits on civilian areas—injuring innocent people, including a bus driver in serious condition and an elderly person wounded by shrapnel. These weapons are designed to harm civilians. It’s horrific.
Four weeks. Four weeks since the sirens began, since Operation Roaring Lion. Four weeks of living in and out of bomb shelters.
People ask how I stay encouraged. I say: I trust in the God of Israel.
Psalm 138 says, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me… Your right hand will save me… Your mercy endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands.”
That’s me and you, friends, He’s watching out for us this Shabbat.
