'The war has been on for four weeks; the bombings are still on. I can hear it in my house.'
Sharon Galsurkar, who calls himself a devout, spiritual Jew, moved to Israel five years ago. He and his family had a comfortable life in Mumbai, but Sharon believed that spiritual enhancement for a Jew can happen only in Israel, the Promised Land.
Sharon, a resident of the Biblical town of Bet Shemesh, central Israel, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com how every Israeli is feeling, a month after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
Why I moved to Israel
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I am a citizen of Israel now. I moved with my family to Israel five years ago.
I'm a thorough Indian. I was set in India, but the whole idea of moving to Israel is because I'm a religious Jew, a Jew who's into his Jewishness, a practicing Jew.
If you understand the Holy Book of the Jews, the Torah, and if you understand Jewish history and specifically the mystic aspects of Judaism, then you see a Jew is bound to Israel.
Just like the Hindus worship their land, there's some sanctity to the land for Israeli Jews also.
Jews have basic 613 commandments in their scriptures which decide the ethics and essence of the Jewish community. There are lots of such commandments which could only be fulfilled in Israel.
Now, Israel is the land whose map is as per the Torah, commonly known as the Old Testament. But Old Testament is not the right term. The right term is Torah, the five books of Moses. In our sacred scriptures, for example, there are a lot of commandments related to the land.
Now, when I was seeking spirituality, when I was growing, I was a truth seeker, kind of not really like someone who's religious by closing the eyes. I'm from a science background, so I realised that spiritual enhancement for a Jew can happen when he moves to Israel and then he's able to also fulfill certain more requirements of being a spiritual Jew.
It's an elevation process for a Jew to be in Israel.
We call Israel our Holy Land, which was promised to our forefathers. The Jewish kingdom was here. Now, Jerusalem has that location, which is the only location in the world where Jews can actually have the temple rituals.
We have beautiful synagogues, prayer halls, where people can come and pray, but there are a lot of rituals which are described in our religious books and our teachings, our system that can only be done in one location, and that is the Dome of the Rock. So for us, the Holy Land, the soil, it's all connected to our spiritual growth.
Israel is every Jew's essence. That was the only reason why I moved to Israel. I was doing pretty good in India, loved my friends and everyone. My quest for seeking spirituality as described in the Torah is what brought me to Israel.
'Being religious, spiritual, we started praying more fervently'
I live in Bet Shemesh, central Israel, roughly 30 km from Jerusalem, a city mentioned in our scriptures, where Jews had settlements since more than 3,000 years. You can find a lot of archaeological monuments around the town.
Bet Shemesh is roughly 50-60 km away from Gaza.
October 7 was Saturday; we were celebrating the eighth day of the Shemini Atzeret, a month-long festival.
Now, the religious Jews have lot of restrictions -- we don't really use phones, we don't use electronics, we don't travel in vehicles; a lot of restrictions that religious Jews observe during this period.
We were in the synagogue when it (the Hamas terror attack) all started (on October 7). I was praying with my community, and the sirens went on.
In Israel, all the cities are alerted by sirens, the moment the Iron Dome detects rockets coming Israel's way. Within seconds the Iron Dome calculates how much time the rocket will take to fall in that city and accordingly the sirens start buzzing.
In my city, I have roughly one-and-a-half minutes to get to the bomb shelter. Since we were in the synagogue, a caravan type, temporary structure, there was no bomb shelter.
Coincidentally, at that time we were reciting a passage that calls God to help. We were at the opening to that passage and the sirens went on. Being religious, spiritual Jews, we started praying more fervently.
Till the evening, which is 30 minutes after sundown, when we are allowed to start our phones did we realise the scale of Hamas's terror attack.
(Hamas firing) Rockets (at us in Israel) are pretty common in Israel. Unfortunately, they are not reported worldwide because no one really bothers, frankly.
It's like okay, the sirens started screaming, the rockets came in, the Iron Dome intercepted them in the sky, and maybe just one hit the land.
I think twelve sirens went that day in Bet Shemesh, and to be honest, my town is least affected as compared to many other towns like Tel Aviv, Rehovot, Ashdod, Ashkelon. These were bombarded heavily; Bet Shemesh is on the nicer side, but still people in my town had to run towards the bomb shelter 12 times.
Roughly two-and-a-half kilometres from where I live, one of the rockets fell near a synangogue, where lot of people had congregated for prayers, but it was God's miracle that it didn't explode.
We thought there were just a few rockets, as always, but it's only in the evening when we opened our phones, and when I went through Arutz Sheva -- which I feel is a very credible news channel in Israel, they don't exaggerate things, which is nice about them -- did the whole shock about the attack registered.
Till that evening, we had no idea that there was a terrorist attack by the Hamas inside Israel.
After the prayers, usually, we go home. We are engrossed in whatever rituals we do at our home, have food and be with family.
I live in a religious neighbourhood, so hardly there are people who will interact with one another after sundown. Actually, later we understood a lot of people left from here (Bet Shemesh) because they had friends in the south (where the Hamas attacks took place), in response to distress calls they received from their friends and family.
Lot of people went with their guns to the south.
I was disconnected from the world till that evening.
'It was like Israel's 26/11'
More than 2,000 Hamas fighters had entered Israel and even a week after the October 7 attack, the Israeli Defence Forces were fighting with them inside Israel.
Unfortunately, the scare was like a lot of these Hamas terrorists didn't stay in the south, but had even entered central Israel. This was exactly like Israel's 26/11 terror attack where there are 10 terrorists (when 10 nPakistani terrorists who entered Mumbai via the Arabian Sea and killed more than 180 people on November 26, 2008) and here there were 2,000 terrorists and you don't know for sure how deep inside Israel they were.
Imagine 2,000 terrorists coming in with the sole intention of rampaging, killing, maiming, raping and abducting Israeli citizens!
It was scary; we couldn't sleep for a couple of days because you don't know any time, someone can be at your doorstep, though you're not near Gaza, you know that the terrorists are in the south, and they can go anywhere from the south; if you see the reports they wiped out the entire Kibbutz communities at places.
There are a lot of people from the south who are staying here (who moved after the October 7 Hamas attack) and we have accommodated them. They're staying; different families are cooking for them, they're bringing in food for them because they just came with nothing.
This is one aspect.
The other aspect is, of course, people who are family and friends, and who are 18-20-22 year old kids were immediately called for fighting Hamas. We get news coming in. Every time a soldier dies, they issue a list. Every few days, they issue a list of the soldiers killed.
It's sad; these people didn't ask for it.
We have people here, our neighbours, friends, a lot of them, who all are in deep anxiety because their kids have gone (to fight Hamas) and they don't know where they are because it's a secret operation.
There's a lot of anxiety.
'We are trying to understand what is the (God's) message (from the Hamas attack)?'
Every Israeli is affected here in a different way.
For me, my kids are with me. My wife is with me. None of my family member is killed. So I cannot really feel the impact, what other Israelis are feeling who have already lost their loved ones. I cannot really get into their shoes.
But I'll tell you how I am affected, though. My family is safe here. My close relatives are safe.
I often travel to India for work. I work in India a lot, so I cannot travel to India now. I couldn't travel after the festival. I was supposed to travel, but anyways, I don't care because I need to be here.
The religious Jews have a very firm faith in God. For us, everything comes from God. We are trying to understand what is the (God's) message (from the Hamas attack)? and we trust God.
Our life revolves around being connected to God. So we see things in that light, but not necessarily everyone sees things in that light. For me, it's like today I'll survive and tomorrow I'm going to die.
It's (my life and my death) only going to be according to my God. But still, the anxiety is there.
'So many people are supporting Hamas; it's pathetic'
There's a lot of anger in me because when I see the news I feel pathetic the way the world reacts (to Israel's attack on Gaza): Israel is always the culprit. They (the Israelis) are the occupiers and all kind of garbage.
No one wants to check the details. No one wants to get into the details. Everyone is just, like, sentimental and want to make a big noise and do some harm. So many people are supporting Hamas all over the world. It's pathetic.
No one is talking about the hostages. When will the hostages be released? I see this indifference, this inequality, just because Israel is like, a country which is progressive, which is strong.
I feel angry and sad about it; it pains us. In Israel, no one can be out of this (pain and suffering). You're part of this because the country is so small. You feel it. The war has been on for four weeks; the bombings (from Hezbollah and Hamas) are still on. I can hear it in my house, not very loud because it's still far, but I know it's alive.
From my house, I can see (the bombs and the smoke). Like just two hills beyond, I see a huge Arab village. And what happened? A lot of extremist Arabs in Israel rioted. I'm not saying all the Arab Muslims.
There are a lot of good Muslims who are pro (Israel), but unfortunately, a lot of local extremists from Lebanon, the Hezbollah, are already targeting the West Bank, Ramallah, and Jenin. They're firing on the police. They're firing on the civilians.
