"Sunday Morning Comin' Down"
When it's several hundred Hezbollah rockets and not the classic country tune, and the loud buzzing is from incoming exploding drones and not our bees...
And how were YOUR Sunday morning services? My MIRs walkie-talkie and phone rocket alert app were doing such a synchronized jig throughout Bet-Knesset synagogue early this morning that I had to get up and go outside to not bother the other worshippers. Not that it matters—the booms and jets are still ongoing.
(Update - 17:30 Aug 25, 2024: Hezbollah intended to hit the central IDF Kirya base in downtown Tel Aviv, and/or the Mossad headquarters to the north at Herzliya in a massive barrage, according to The JPost and other reliable media sources.
It has been released for publication that an Israeli navy soldier was killed at sea on his patrol boat by an exploding UAV fired out of Lebanon that struck the vessel in the early hours of the morning:
”Sgt. David Moshe Ben Shitrit, 21-year-old First Sergeant from Geva Binyamin, was killed Sunday morning when shrapnel from an interceptor missile struck his Israel Navy Dvora-class fast patrol boat near the coast of Nahariya,” the IDF said in a statement. May his memory be as a blessing.
More details are tacked on near the bottom of the essay, including comments later in the day by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu 👇
I use my phone as a Siddur prayer book at daily services at our village synagogue; I managed to catch an astoundingly timely and ironic screenshot of the split-screen (see photo):
Top half: Psalm 20: 1-9 (via Chabad):
"1 For the conductor, a song of David.
2 May the Lord answer you on a day of distress; may the name of the God of Jacob fortify you.
3 May He send your aid from His sanctuary, and may He support you from Zion.
4 May He remember all your meal offerings and may He accept your fat burnt offerings forever.
5 May He give you as your heart [desires], and may He fulfill all your counsel.
6 Let us sing praises for your salvation, and let us assemble in the name of our God; may the Lord fulfill all your requests.
7 Now I know that the Lord saved His anointed; He answered him from His holy heavens; with the mighty acts of salvation from His right hand.
8 These trust in chariots and these in horses, but we-we mention the name of the Lord our God.
9 They kneel and fall, but we rise and gain strength.
10 O Lord, save [us]; may the King answer us on the day we call.”
Bottom half: map of incoming rockets and explosive UAVs...
On the one hand, that Psalm takes on sack-of-hammers - level meaning and heartstopping profundity when you hear the booms and jets outside of the synagogue. On the other hand, that incessant walkie-talkie chatter and phone app ringing off the hook does tend to test your spiritual focus: you wonder how your son and daughter-in-law and young grandkids, daughter, and friends across the area are enduring the volleys of Iranian steel rain explicitly meant to kill them.
Meanwhile, it was pretty hectic elsewhere, too:
Working on intel that Hezbollah was planning to fire long-range rockets at Tel Aviv at 05:00, the IDF, a short time earlier, began a preemptive strike against launchers across a wide swath of Southern Lebanon.
#FAFO in action, courtesy of the Israeli Air Force:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a brief statement:
At about 05:45 the Iranian-backed terror group fired some 200 rockets and exploding drones at civilians and what they claimed were military targets, from the Golan in the east to the outskirts of Haifa and Acco. EMS services said one woman in the latter city was wounded by falling debris from an aerial impact by an Iron Dome rocket with an incoming munition.
(Trigger alert: beekeeping/war metaphors incoming - don’t say I didn’t warn ya’ - DB):
Wife and fellow beekeeper, Miri, and I run a small artisanal honey and related products firm, Neshikha. We harvested and extracted honey from these hives several weeks ago, and are offering it as “Iron Dome” honey; it’s available for order here - but stocks are extremely limited. The name comes from the fact that we harvested the frames of comb, literally, under intense Hezbollah rocket fire. That story and video is here.
Wasps, which feed on honeybees, are prevalent at this stage of the summer, and we place entrance reducers along the slot that are just large enough to let the bees pass through - but too small for the wasps. There's, of course, a metaphor here:
(Narrator: “Cue obvious Jason Statham movie reference”)
“I’m a Beekeeper. I protect the hive. Sometimes I use fire to smoke out hornets”.
Jason - here’s an illustration of your metaphor, via the IDF. Don’t thank me - I’m a giver. Thank them: An Iron Dome Tamir interceptor shredding through an incoming drone.
Before.
During.
After.
Ben-Gurion Airport was briefly closed to incoming and outgoing flights but has reopened as of this post.
The Home Front Command, along with local municipalities and regional councils have recommended that residents limit outdoor activities, and suggest staying close to protected areas. Public events have been canceled and gatherings of over 30 people have been forbidden.
But, going on the assumption that those restrictions don't include 100k honeybees, wife and beekeeper Miri and I set off to our nearby field hives to feed and tend to our “girls” (worker bees, and the queen, of course, are all female) - war or no war. It's nearing the end of summer, so there's little or nothing flowering, and we bring them bananas and watermelon to feed and drink from:
17:30 Update:
*Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Start of the Government Meeting: "Nasrallah in Beirut and Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north."*
"What happened today is not the end of the story. Early this morning, Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones.
We directed the IDF to carry out an intense pre-emptive attack to remove the threat.
The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, all of which were designed to attack our citizens and our forces in the Galilee.
Also, the IDF intercepted all of the drones that Hezbollah launched at a strategic target in the center of the country.
We are striking Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows.
Three weeks ago, we eliminated its Chief-of-Staff and today we thwarted its attack plan.
Nasrallah in Beirut and Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north, and returning our residents securely to their homes.
And I reiterate – this is not the end of the story."
Oh, and about that song which titles this essay; I like this version:
”Sunday Morning Coming Down” - Kris Kristofferson cover:
”Well I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head, that didn't hurt and the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad so I had one more for dessert then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt and I shaved (washed) my face and combed my hair and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day
”I'd smoked so much the night before, my mouth was like an ashtray I'd been licking (I'd smoked my brain the night before on cigarettes and songs that I've been pickin') but I lit my first and watched a small kid cussin' at a can that he was kicking then I crossed the empty street and caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin' chicken, and it took me back to somethin' that I'd lost somehow somewhere along the way
”On the Sunday morning sidewalks wishing Lord that I was stoned 'cause there's something in a Sunday that makes a body feel alone and there's nothin' short of dyin' half as lonesome as the sound on the sleepin' city sidewalks Sunday mornin' comin' down
”In the park I saw a daddy with a laughing little girl who he was swingin' and I stopped beside a Sunday school and listened to the song that they were singin' then I headed back for home and somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin' and it echoed through the canyons like the disappearing dreams of yesterday. Sunday Morning coming down.”
This post will be updated as events dictate-DB
Thanks for a great update for those of us not living in Israel. Pics, vids, and commentary are so helpful in setting context. The timing of the Psalm reading is remarkable, but no accident. Glad the 'girls' and 'Her Royal Highness' and their humans are all safe (I often call my bees 'the girls'). As I watched/listened to "Tzeva Adom" on the app last night (my time) you and the bees were in my prayers.
Numbers 6:24-26.