Berkshire County and Jerusalem — On Saturday, February 28, the United States Military, under the direction of President Donald J. Trump, launched Operation Epic Fury in coordination with with American allies including Israel to target Iranian military infrastructure.
In a press release issued by The White House, the administration called the operation “a bold and necessary exercise of American strength.” The administration claims:
[The operation is] a precise, overwhelming military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, destroy its ballistic missile arsenal, degrade its proxy terror networks, and cripple its naval forces. This operation, executed in partnership with regional allies, follows exhaustive diplomatic efforts and comes after 47 years of Iranian aggression — including attacks on U.S. citizens, sponsorship of global terrorism, and brutal oppression of its own people.
The operation has caused disruptions to air travel for several countries in the Middle East, including Israel. As a result of these disruptions, Rabbi Deborah Zecher, who is rabbi emerita for Hevreh of Southern Berkshire in Great Barrington, is currently stranded in Jerusalem.
Zecher is a resident of Lenox, but wrote via email that she and her husband “live most of the year in New York City where [she] have embraced a new career, post-rabbinate, as a cabaret singer.” She previously served as Hevreh’s rabbi and leader of music from 1992 to 2014.
Zecher told The Berkshire Edge that in February she went to Greece with a group of rabbis and cantors to learn about the Greek Jewish community. She then travelled to Israel on February 24 to visit her son Adam Ross, a graduate of Lenox Memorial Middle and High School who immigrated to Israel in 2010.
“I had four glorious days with my son, daughter-in-law, and their three wonderful children, my grandchildren,” Zecher told The Edge. “Last Friday [February 27], it was suggested to me that I might want to leave earlier than my scheduled departure of March 1 because of the ‘chatter’ about possible scenarios in the region.”
Zecher purchased tickets for a flight on February 27. “I would not ordinarily fly on Shabbat (Saturday) but these were extenuating circumstances,” she explained. “ I had very mixed feelings about my early departure but was assured by many friends here that it was the right thing to do.”
Zecher wrote that she arrived at the airport very early, “so early that the check-in counters were not yet open.” “That turned out to be fortuitous since I had not checked my baggage and didn’t later have to worry about retrieving it,” she wrote. “A little after 8 a.m., the siren sounded at the airport and we were told to move quickly toward the protected areas, aka the bomb shelters. We all left our luggage and made our way down many flights of stairs to a protected area. After the all-clear, we ascended all those stairs, retrieved our luggage, and got in line to check in.”
Fifteen minutes later, Zecher and all those gathered at the airport for flights were told that Operation Epic Fury had started. “All flights were cancelled for the foreseeable future, and the airport closed immediately,” she recounted. “Even the people who didn’t have family or home to return to were calm and quiet as they considered their options. There was no hysteria or panic even during the siren.”
Zecher eventually found a taxi cab that took her back to her son’s apartment in Jerusalem. “[It was] fortunate that there was a lack of sirens during that time,” she wrote. “If there had been an alarm, we would have had to stop and seek shelter, so that was amazing luck. I got to my son’s apartment, and since then, we have been back and forth between their apartment and the bomb shelter in the basement of their building. This has happened about 25 times since I returned to Jerusalem.”
Zecher wrote her family has an app on their smartphones called Home Front Command to alert them before an attack. “When an attack on Israel seems imminent, we usually get an alert that tells us to be ready to move quickly to a secured location,” she wrote. “Then, when the attack is about to happen or has happened, there is a siren heard outside and on the phone that gives us 90 seconds to get to the bomb shelter. It is very loud and insistent. We remain there until we get another notification that it is safe to leave the shelter.”
Zecher wrote that all public gatherings, including schools, holiday celebrations, and theater performances, have been cancelled throughout Israel. “Some essential services such as supermarkets and even some shops are open, but generally, most things are closed and people are staying close to home to be near a shelter,” she explained. “This is a small country where there are very few degrees of separation, so every casualty, every person wounded is known to others, so there is a true sense of community and ‘being in this together.’ Spending your days not knowing when you will be summoned to move to a bomb shelter is a powerful sign of war. Not being able to get home to the United States, as much as I am grateful to be here with my family, is a sign of war. Not being able to go to work and school is a sign of war. My son, like most people his age, is a reservist, and he was called up as soon as the war started. That is most definitely a sign of war.”
When asked if she was afraid for her safety and the safety of her family, Zecher wrote, “I feel calm and resolute.” “I am doing everything I can and everything I am told to do,” she continued. “I am worried because this is a war zone and even though Israel and the United States coordinated [t]his action, it is Israel’s soil and Israel’s civilians who are placed into the most immediate path of danger. I think I am concerned, and I would say that my family and friends feel concerned as well. I have received many messages of support and many prayers for my safety, and I am grateful for them all.”
As for Zecher’s position on Operation Epic Fury, she wrote: “I have many views, but the ones I will express is my fervent prayer for peace and harmony and safety for all the peoples of the Middle East. I pray for wise and compassionate leaders.”
