"H

ow will we know when it’s all clear so we can leave?” Tzipi asked.

“The all-clear siren sounds on just one note” her father explained. “It’s not like the up and down of the warning siren.”

“Some people left their radios on from before Shabbos” Benny said. “Why didn’t we do that?”

Tzipi shook her head. “That would be terrible! We couldn’t adjust the volume on Shabbos so we’d have to listen to secular music and talk shows in Hebrew all day just in case there might be an air raid.”

“But people need to know what’s happening” Benny defended his suggestion. “Radio programs are broken by the words ‘nachash tzefa’ before we actually hear the siren outside and it broadcasts ‘sharev kaved” before the all-clear siren blows. Don’t you think it’s important to know where the missiles fell and what kind of warheads they carried?”

“Benny has good points” Gedalya agreed. “In fact the government announced that they’re opening a special channel that doesn’t broadcast anything except the siren for missile attacks. At all other times it’s completely silent. People can leave it on all night beside their beds and on Shabbos too.”

“Where’s the transistor radio you bought when the war began? Did you put it on the silent channel?” Benny asked.

“No I didn’t. I forgot all about it until after it was already Shabbos. I think it’s been 20 minutes since the explosions we heard so the all-clear siren will be soon even without a radio.”

“Can we go out and see if there was any damage?” Moishe asked his parents when the sealed room was finally opened.

Mendy shook his head. “There might be fragments of the missile you can’t see in the dark” he told his sons. “I want you to stay home tonight.”

“We can look from our balcony” Benny suggested.

They all crowded out on the porch and stared at the police cars ambulances and fire trucks gathered at the top of the street. A roof had collapsed right beside the yeshivah!

“A missile landed here onWolfson Street!” Naftali exclaimed. He was excited but the grownups were dismayed.

After a while the ambulances drove away empty. “Baruch Hashem no one was badly hurt” Mendel said with relief. “So far this is a war of miracles!”