My country is on fire, and I am mourning - The Jewish Chronicle

My country is on fire. In its cities and across the nature reserves, from the walls of Jerusalem to the fields of wheat. It is burning. Fire from within and fire from without. And I am mourning. I am mourning the realisation that instead of being closer to coexistence, we are farther than ever. Who would have expected violent riots in Ramle - where Arabs and Jews live together? And who would expect to see a Jewish school burned, holy books strewn across the floor in Israel 2021? Those who sit thousands of miles away with intense interests to stop US military aid to Israel use every opportunity to vilify us, to spread one-sided stories and even lies. Because it helps their agenda. And I try to respond, with a fuller story. With some larger background and context. But what is a few hundred likes to thousands of Retweets? Slurs of ZioNazi don't even phase me anymore. Yesterday, in heels and a dress, I went into the safe room as sirens wailed across the city. BOOMS in the sky brought the Iron Dome's interceptions to us. One rocket landed not far from the wedding we were meant to go to. We went in the end, and no one told the bride why she was being rushed inside (she thought the groom was passing by). We watched her get married overlooking the hills of Jerusalem and we sang, "Again will be heard in the cities of Judah and the crossroads of Jerusalem, the voice of joy, the voice of happiness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride," that prophecy from Jeremiah that promised our return to Zion. And we sang, "If I forget you O Jerusalem let my right hand forget its cunning", as in every Jewish wedding. For so long, we have longed to return. And yet while we are here it is not just the sound of joy and happiness we hear. We have no psalm to tell us how to fix this and no prophecy that promises we will. We are back. But we are not all right. Our cities are burning and we must take responsibility. We must resolve the issues we can and have the resolve to do what we must with those we cannot. I do not have all the answers. I only know that we must find them soon. I do not think we can go on this way for much longer.