Life-affirming resilience of city just 15 seconds away from Hamas rockets

Mayor Alon Davidi, 48, a father of seven, told the JC what it was like to endure this constant threat.

“It’s part of our life,” he says. “Most of my children have been born through it, most of the people suffer from PTSD.

“If you were to ask any of Israel’s soldiers whether they have been under mortar attack, most will say no.

“But if you ask anyone from Sderot, or any of my kids... just in my neighbourhood, they fired two rockets three years running at the same house.”

He adds: “My kids can explain the feeling of someone wanting to kill you and the need to save yourself.”

Ephraim Rosenfeld is an animal therapist at the Sderot Resilience Centre, which is open to everyone who feels they are suffering from trauma. He says that’s most people in Sderot.

“Animals help children cope with fear by learning how animals themselves cope with fear and danger.

“We have a turtle here that is a great example of always living in a shelter, his shell. We tell the kids we don’t have to be scared to sleep in the shelter.

“We use cockroaches and snakes to show the kids how to find strength in scary situations, that’s part of the work here.

“Our resilience is our strength, finding the strength to calm down… that’s our resilience.”

Sderot is thriving, says the Mayor. “It’s a beautiful, strong community here. The government has just given us a grant to develop another 4,000 apartments. It is so amazing that so many people want to live here.

“You know that we had a high number of graduates that reached the top level of intelligence in the army, the prestigious Unit 8200, despite living under attack.” It’s even become an unlikely destination for visitors. “Tourists continue to come to support the local businesses,” he says. “Sderot is for everyone, rich, poor, religious, nonreligious with olim from all over the world. It’s special as we work together to be part of the mission.”

Rabbi Ari Katz is the director of Yeshiva Yeshivat Hesder Sderot, which, with 500 students, is according to him the largest yeshiva in Israel.

“We are in the process of building a midrasha for girls too, as well as opening up a hostel. Many of the students here stay and marry locals expanding the 30,000 ever-growing population.

“When rockets were fired on us last year during the war, the students stayed here and prayed. It was an incredible morale booster for the residents, knowing that we will not give in to terror.”

The rabbi wants the world to know that there is so much more to Sderot than the bomb shelters.

“There’s the brand-new museum of the founders Bet Hameyasdim, the lookout on to Gaza, the beautiful new Sderot Park of courage with lake, the famous menorah on the Yeshiva rooftop made from Kassam rockets that’s lit each year, so many amazing restaurants and a culinary tour and the Resilience centre is wonderful to see. The city is so beautiful and surrounded by nature.”

But it’s the town’s people who are the greatest asset, he says, drawing upon the biblical story of Joshua and the spies. “The citizens of Sderot are true heroes, I thought of it like this. When the spies came to the land they said we cannot conquer this land because the people are giants and scary. On the flip side – the Sderot people are the real giants of faith and resilience. And because of them, the rest of Israel is pretty safe.”

At the brand-new hi-tech emergency command centre, trained operators are focused 24/7 on the 400 CCTV cameras placed all over the city.

The head of the unit, Yaron, tells the JC that everything is coordinated – from the police to the army – from this command centre.

“We know from the minute a rocket is fired from Gaza, we know at this centre immediately whether it’s been intercepted by the Iron Dome or not, and if not, which area it will land in, then we get ready. We even know if someone is scared to walk their dog, or come back into the city, we send people out to help them.”

Everyone in Sderot has immediate access to a shelter, Yaron explains. “The minute a red alert goes off, the bomb shelters automatically open up all over the city.

“Once the danger is over, we send out teams manually to shut each one and check no one has been trapped in there.”

This is a city that defies the horror of those plotting to kill its residents. Instead, it leaves a life-affirming legacy even from a brief visit.

As Mayor Davidi says: “Sderot never leaves the heart, even when people leave the city, people still feel part of it.”