Maybe this is what Israeli resilience actually looks like

If you want to understand Israelis, you have to understand one thing: we are stubbornly committed to life.

The situation we are in is absurd.

There are literal ballistic missiles flying over our heads, shrapnel falling on houses, roads, open fields…

…and still my 12-year-old just asked me if he can play football tonight.

“They just brought new shelters,” he promised me.

Pesach is only a few weeks away, and the supermarkets are packed. War or no war, people still need to make Seder.

My mom called me today and said, “Let’s make a new Pesach plan. Should we discuss the menu?”

I was sitting in the bomb shelter. She had just run home after getting a missile warning in Jerusalem.

“Great idea,” I told her. “Let’s make a Google Doc.”

We still have to eat, right?

My kids are doing Zoom school. My kitchen island fills up with meals and homework and then gets cleaned off again. Parents are juggling work and kids at home. The whole country is having Covid-war flashbacks.

And people are still buying the Az Nashir Haggadot. Hundreds just this past week. Leaving their homes to pick them up, because why shouldn’t we bring new insights to our Seder tables this year?

That’s the thing about Israelis.

We don’t just think about survival.

We build survival into our schedules, and then we keep living.

In between sirens, I’ve been sitting outside in the sun, feeling the early spring warmth.

Birds chirping.

Warplanes thundering overhead.

Missile interceptions in the distance.

It’s the strangest thing.

Maybe this is what Israeli resilience actually looks like.

It's not fearlessness. It's not positivity all the time.

It's just a million small decisions, every day, to keep living anyway.