It’s a beautiful Friday afternoon. The sun is shining and there is a gentle wind blowing the leaves on the trees as they sparkle in the warming sunlight. The spring flowers are blooming and the birds are singing! The only disturbance in this idyllic picture is the sound of “fire fighting” planes flying overhead. Who could imagine that just two days ago, this scene was totally the opposite. The day started with a sharav which is a weather event in which hot winds blow in from the desert filled with a high quantity of dust and sand that makes visibility low and a danger to health if you go outside. The winds were blowing furiously, it was hot and dry and in the midst of the storm, fires broke out.
I live in a moshav that is surrounded by forest in the Judean Hills and twice in one week, we were evacuated because fires were raging out of control. Between the two separate fires, the largest in Israel’s history, at least 5000 acres of forest were burnt. Thankfully, there were no injuries and both times, no homes were lost. It was a miracle.
Read the whole newsletter here …