Life on the Southern Front

The journey to our moshav near Ashqelon from work in Tel Aviv includes a one hour train ride. I always carry my notebook PC with me to work on the train. Tonight my thoughts are about my family who have been subjected to the threats of explosions around them all day.

The bomb shelters on the moshav are too few and too far for most residents to run to. One must have faith in the Almighty who has brought us through many wars in our home land.

Our small children are always sleeping by the time I arrive home from work. I am barely home and I hear two rockets strike in the vicinity. My wife tells me that it has been like this all day.

We made aliyah from South Africa to live in our homeland with our own. It takes time to make a home and life, especially when you have no family or friends in the country. We have met some very caring Sabras who have been a great help, may HaShem bless them.

The problem with the rockets is not limited to the threats of a strike but the inconvenience caused. Sunday morning at Ashqelon railway station the sirens kept sounding and we were told to get off the train and go underground each time. Israel Railways does not want a train hit by a rocket with passengers in it. If we just had enough time to board the train and start moving out then there would be no returning. Next they announce that there will be no train from Ashqelon and everyone starts making calls with their mobile phones. Then they announce that the train is leaving immediately and we must board now. Well by now we had a lot of practice boarding and we all knew the way.

By the time I arrived at Tel Aviv University station there were no direct buses to my destination and it was too late in the day to hitchhike with someone working in the same office park. The result was that I arrived at work in the afternoon; this was after getting up at 06:30 for work. Currently high tech companies are looking for employees or contractors who are not very efficient to get rid of and save the company money.

I don’t regret making aliyah and I will never return to South Africa, except to go on a safari in a nature reserve. A moshav is a great place for small children, especially if there are horses. My wife and I are both riders. (The boom of another rocket, sirens sounding and another rocket striking.)

Yisrael Ivri