Part of my job at Sderot Media Center involves a lot of translating. Because I am a native English speaker, and most of the staff is Israeli at the center, the translating is generally reserved for me.
This means that I do a lot of work outside Sderot as well. Because I am still a college student, finishing my third year of university and (hopefully receiving my degree at the end of the year!) I can be found around the college campus or in a local café translating an article or news flash on my faithful laptop.
I just got a call from Meital Ohayon, Sderot Media Center’s staff, who has asked to translate an article she has written about the Cohen family, whose home was hit this past weekend by a Qassam rocket.
Currently in front of me, alongside my laptop, is Milton’s Paradise Lost. I have an exam tomorrow which I am desperately trying to study for, as it is the last exam of the semester. However…the studying stops when I get the call.
Which brings me to what I am doing now…
I am sitting as safe as can be, here in central Israel, away from any rocket fire, as I read the miraculous story of the Cohen family–Sophie and Eli and their kids.
But I still feel the shivers as I read how the rocket directly hit the bedroom of their 16 year old, Nitzan who was sleeping at the time.
So ironic…I type in safety, in relative peace and quiet, while Nitzan, and his family are currently enduring hell.
His younger brothers and sisters usually use his room as the bombshelter, whenever the siren goes off. Because Nitzan had locked the door the night previously, his family couldn’t get in and found another room when the siren sounded.
Somehow miraculously, Nitzan was not injured and was able to climb out of the wreckage alive.
Why must this 16 year old live in the western Negev live this life of fear and terror, worrying not about video games and school, but about his own life?
Who can actually answer this question?
Not the waiter, who has kindly brought me more (free!) coffee. And not Mr. Milton author of Paradise Lost.
It is a question to be answered by those who are in power to do something to stop this rocket terror and to help the residents of Sderot.
In the meantime, let us hope and pray that Nitzan’s family will be able to return to their home soon and resume a life of normalcy as quickly as possible.
