War update number 4
- Micha Strauss
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
To anyone who was never in a war situation it is very hard to understand it. And that is a good thing! Never be in a war infested zone! It is absolutely horrible and we have it good as far as wars go… we are in a place that has interceptors, air defense systems of the highest degree, bomb shelters to run to and an air force to deal with all this… we are the fortunate ones (if there ever was such a thing).
Those on all other sides of this war do not and are defenseless… it is heartbreaking.
Two days ago, we had an interceptor hit a ballistic missile right over our heads as we ran to the bomb shelter. It was an extremely loud boom that got everybody's attention. When we came back to the studio, we found stuff that fell off the walls from that boom. It was extremely loud. But, no damage!
We also had debris fall very near to where we live (2 miles away from out home) and just so you understand, when one says debris, one means a huge piece of ballistic missile and not some small metal parts… if one like those lands on our home, no more home, or studio for that matter.
To make things so much worst, as we were running to the bomb shelter at 1 AM, sitting there to wait out the attack in a safe place, our horrible government passed budget laws that are completely insane and out of contact with reality.
Truth be told, we have the worst government we had since this country started. These are the worst people to have ever been in power and as civilians living here with not much to do about it, we feel scared. These people might ruin this country and all it has established.
We sit in the bomb shelter looking at real state in sane places like Oregon or California to at least dream of a better future because here? It looks like all hope is lost. And dreaming is free…
Out there, in the real world it seems like we might be doing something to free Iran from a murderess regime but the truth is that what is happening here (I was cut off by sirens so starting again now, the next day) is just as worse.
Let me start over again today because last night was a real doozy. Many many missiles from Iran and much more rockets from Lebanon by Hezbollah to the north of Israel. It was a long and loud night.
As I was saying the other day, our government is tearing this country apart. It is the strangest of all strange situations. Since you do not live here and are only "informed" by the media you do not get the real deal. We have friends who are at the top of the military service and they are hands on in all this and what they say is frightening to say the least. I can not disclose here their words but I can say that things are not looking so good from here and that this fight might last longer than we can endure.
May they be wrong…
It is very hard to explain to you all out there how bad our government really is and what their true intentions are. it is a losing game if they get what they want and this country has no future.
None.
Our prime minster (or crime minister if truth be told) is a horrible man who will do anything to get out of jail where he belongs after all the corrupted deals he made over the many years he has been in power. he single handily destroyed this country and thanks to him, we are now where we are. If you follow the media or Trump's attempts to make him look good, you get the wrong picture. Sorry for being honest. Things are not as they appear out there…
him and his crew in government are tearing this county apart, dividing the people, stealing all the money, truly, these are the darkest times of this place since it was founded. So glad my parents are no longer living to see what this place has become.
But not all is dark and hopeless!
We have the Dharma to lean onto, to follow, to practice and we do this with no stopping. To sit in meditation each morning before we go to the studio and just rest in the nature of mind while loud booms are all around us is not practice for beginners, that is for sure! But it makes it all seem so much more real... We only stop our meditation session if the siren comes on because that means that something is heading our way for sure and we must take cover.
We had a friend explain this to us years ago after October 7th when we started to get rockets from Lebanon as Hezbollah joined the fight, that the system of interceptors is so precise, it calculates the ballistic trajectory of the rocket, where exactly it is going to hit and then sends out the interceptor to meet it midair, but as it does, when it hits the rocket/missile, that trajectory is still very much alive by the laws of nature and physics, only now scattered to many parts of debris so the calculations of the system rearranges in a blink of an eye by where those would hit and in those places the siren goes off. Instead of one local place, now there are many. So, he told us plain and simple: "if the siren goes off, something is heading YOUR way and you should run to shelter, no questions asked" and so, since then, we do.
I sometimes linger a little to take videos because this is just a sky light show of insanity and it must be captured to tell the tale of what is happening here.
These are indeed very dark times. No one knows how this will end (hopefully not by us all dying) and if peace will finally brake out in our little part of the world but I can tell you this much, I see much Jew hate going on out there and that makes me so sad. People are now finding it OK to be like the Nazis were back in the day and that is scary.
Very scary.
We have Iranian friends in Iran so we know what is going on there and to see the ignorance of people demonstrating in the streets of the US or Europe only shows me that these are led by lies of media trying to do the opposite of what is right. If these protesters ever get to live in Iran, Gaza and so forth, they would not be saying what they are saying now. And if they are now saying these things, it is pure antisemitism and plain old Jew hate.
Nothing else.
They are misinformed on what is really going on in these dark places on earth.
Now, I am not at all in any way with agreement with the government of Israel. I do not agree to such hate and violence but I am so very grateful for the army and power we have amassed over the years that saves me from missiles and rockets being fired at me and my loved ones.
But this also makes me very sad.
These are indeed dark times to be a Jew on earth.
Once I sat down to talk with one of my good friends who is a very respected Rabbi here in Israel and as the conversation went to the direction of religion of course and he looked at me with loving fire in his eyes and said while demonstrating with his hands in the following gesture (one hand raised at the top to his right and the other hand to the bottom on his left): "Godliness is pure love. It is like a sun shining on all, no matter who or what they are. It is all love and nothing more. Religion is fear". now this is coming from a very respected Rabbi! Can you imagine? Religion is fear based? He blew me away.
our friend the Sheik said the same thing to me in other words. "We are brothers, why do we hate each other so much? Why do we not learn to live in peace and love with one another?"
he was so upset after the October 7th massacre occurred… he was so disappointed by Hamas and their murderess rampage of rape murder and hate… he had tears in his eyes as we sat together after that horrible day… "these are not followers of the prophet; these are ignorant hateful humans who have hate in their hearts and are now setting us Muslims eons backwards in the eyes of the world."
Will this ignorance ever end? Will we ever live in peace? Will love ever prevail and set us free? such dark times…
But we are still here, we are here to hold the light on until we can no (booms again all over but no siren yet) longer do that and we will continue to craft prayer wheels of holy pure power of love and compassion to spread in all direction as they are spun, and thanks to you all out there who buy our craft we can continue to do what we do!
That is it for now, I already said too much… it was a long sleepless night and my mind is clouded by booms all around and not much sleep. may peace come swiftly to ALL!!!!
And if this is the last time I ever get to speak to you all out there, we love you all so much! Thank you for making our dream come true and for allowing us to be prayer wheel makers for so long! For without you all out there, we would not have this in our lives for so long… 18 years! Holy moly… 3207 prayer wheels made… unreal…
All thanks to you! (and to H.E. Garchen Rinpoche of course!)
Much love Micha (and Ayelet of course)
Stay safe and thanks for the updates.