Just the Beginning
On October 7, 2023, I woke in my home in Boulder, Colorado. I was in the middle of renovating my house in entirety, so I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the upstairs that had no electricity at all. I called my father as I usually do in the morning and he said that a war broke out in Israel. Confidence surged in me and I said, “The IDF will take care of that, it should be over in hours.” My father’s silence dragged on, as he was reviewing the news on his computer. “I don’t think it’s that simple this time.” I started calling my friends and family in Israel and they were telling me about the reports of rape and murder happening, especially at the music festival. “They were just going there to dance and have fun!” one friend yelled into the phone. They were in a constant state of panic, one referred to as psychological warfare, as they didn’t know how far the terrorists had infiltrated into Israel, so they didn’t even want to leave their houses, even going to the grocery store caused them fear thinking a terrorist might be lurking ready to kill. The schools were shut down, as well, it was worse than Covid, as everyone holed themselves up their housing, in fear. Bombs flew out of Gaza daily and Israelis were suffering.
Over the next week, I fell into a depression, crying a lot. I felt guilty going to a massage I had booked a week earlier and cried throughout, saying that it didn’t seem fair that I was in a massage and there were hostages getting raped in the tunnels of Gaza. I went to see my functional medicine doctor and he looked at my swollen face (from crying) and said that my serotonin must be off. He tested me on two products and found that R-Lipoic Acid was the very thing I needed. A day after I got on that, the depression waned dramatically and I remembered that I was indeed an acupuncturist, trained in trauma and could fly out and help the Israelis. Knowing that I could go there and volunteer eased the feeling of helplessness and gave me power.
I contacted the director of Acupuncturists without Borders (I had taken their training ages ago) and told her I was going to Israel to volunteer. Does she have a connection there that can help me in my goal? The director said, “Do you know I’m Jewish?” no… “Do you know my husband is a rabbi?” no… “Did you know that I met my husband in Israel?” no… She connected me to the Israeli AWB director (Keren) who simply said to contact her as soon as I arrived in Israel. I booked my flight for December, which meant I had to really focus on my renovation so that I could get there and have my house up and running and not worry about anything back home. I flew to Israel and messaged Keren at AWB the day I landed. Let the adventures begin!
