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A Time of Horror,

A Time of

Happiness

An Interview with

Rabbi Doron and

Shira Perez

For Rabbi Doron Perez and the Perez family, the events of Shemini Atzeret have hit home in the most direct and
painful way. Yonatan Perez, their oldest son, was injured in the fighting, and their second son Daniel is still
missing, presumed captured by Hamas in Gaza. In an unbelievably complex emotional moment, Yonatan was
due to get married just ten days after the atrocity, and the family had to decide whether to go forward with the
wedding. Rabbi Aron White spoke with Rabbi Perez and his daughter, Shira, to hear about their experiences over
the last few weeks.

You have been through an emotional rollercoaster over the At around 4 p.m. our phones started ringing constantly from a
last several weeks, but let’s start from the beginning. What number I didn’t recognize. I didn’t want to pick up on Shabbat,
happened on the morning of Shemini Atzeret? but after about 20 calls I picked up. “I’m OK, Dad,” said Yonatan
at the other end of the line – the clearest sign that something
had happened. “I am in Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva – I was
Rabbi Doron Perez: We were at our home in Yad Binyamin – shot in the leg, but the doctors say it isn’t a serious wound.” He
myself and my wife Shelley, our daughter Shira, and our oldest
son Yonatan and his fiancée Galya. At 6:30 a.m. on Shemini had arrived in Sderot, and then gone on to fight outside of Sha’ar
Atzeret, the siren went off, so we knew rockets were being fired HaNegev Junction, Kfar Aza and Sa’ad before eventually fighting
on the Nachal Oz army base – all in all, for 5 or 6 hours. He told
from Gaza. We ran to the mamad (safe room), and were going
in and out of the mamad for the next hour. We thought it was a me he had seen indescribable, unimaginable horrors, and he
was worried about his fiancée’s family. Galya is from Sa’ad, and
little strange, as there were more rockets than during previous
attacks. Our son Yonatan is an officer in the paratrooper unit, and having seen some of the devastation in other kibbutzim, Yonatan
by about 8 a.m. his phone was pinging with messages pouring was worried about her family.
into WhatsApp groups from army officers, and so he felt he had This was also the first time that something was mentioned about
to see what was going on despite it being Shabbat. It was hard to our second son Daniel. Daniel is a tank commander, and was
get a clear picture of what was happening – some people were based on the Nachal Oz army base, the base that Yonatan had
reporting Hamas terrorists had broken in, there were pictures fought on. “I know where Daniel’s tank is stationed,” Yonatan
of Hamas with Israeli hostages, but the main word that kept said, “and it wasnt there when I got there.” Yonatan had seen
repeating itself was “hazui,” “crazy.” Yonatan’s battalion com- tens of dead soldiers on the base, so we saw it as a good sign that
mander put out a message that anyone with a weapon should Daniel’s tank wasn’t there. We assumed he was with it fighting
come to Sderot. I said to him, “You have a fiancée, you only have somewhere, and naturally he wouldn’t have his phone on him
your handgun, and there hasn’t been an official call up, just in that situation. So as it came to the end of Yom Tov, I was with
a general WhatsApp message. Are you sure you should go?” Galya, our future daughter-in-law, mainly worried about what
Yonatan said, “If my battalion commander said anyone with we were going to find out from her family when Yom Tov ended.
a weapon is needed, then I am going,” and he drove off. I was
proud of him, but as none of us knew what was really going on, Shira: I also wasn’t so scared when the sirens began, or when
at that point I wasn’t so worried. Yonatan went to fight. I spent most of the day with Galya, and

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