Rambam’s Hebrew class experiences Sderot bomb

The incoming missile siren went off on Monday during Rambam Mesivta’s sophomore Honors Hebrew class while the students were video conferencing with their teacher, Batel Dahan in Sderot.

“What we saw,” reported Binyomin Wallin, one of the students, “was all of a sudden she went out of the picture in the middle of class. We heard the siren; it wasn’t that loud when we heard it. It wasn’t that close to the bomb. Normally you hear the bomb 15 seconds later. We didn’t hear it; it was far away. None of us knew what was happening. When she came back,she explained that she went into the hallway where there is a bomb shelter in her building. When she got there she waited until the siren went off and then the people went back to their apartments.”

“We were wondering what happened,” continued Wallin. “I was worried for a second. It was kind of a bit creepy. It’s part of her everyday life. She was used to it. She went about it calmly. When she came back we talked about it for a minute or two and went straight back into the lesson.”

“It’s part of their daily routine,” said fellow student Yarden Sokol. “Thank G-d that there is a bomb shelter on every floor of the building.”

“It’s sad that they have to go through it,” said Wallin. “They have the protection they need. Hopefully nobody will get hurt and hopefully it will be over soon.”

Arthur Carp of Quantalytics, donor and facilitator of the video conferencing program at Rambam, noted that the connection was still open when the teacher had to enter the bomb shelter. “It left a very vivid impression on them as to what living in Sderot is about with Gaza and its Palestinian Arabs next door,” he said. “This was far more frightening than reading about it or watching a news clip.”