“We planned our big vacation eight months in advance. The plan was to spend one week in Italy in early February with my sister,” Renee Labovitz shared of her and her husband David’s itinerary. “Then, we scheduled two weeks in Eretz Yisrael with the Eretz Yisrael Movement Tour (EYMT). The finale was meant to be a week in Kiryat Arba, where we would spend Purim with our friends, Melody and Yosef Hartuv.”
As we recite in the t’filah before Ashrei in Shacharis: “Many are the thoughts in a person’s heart, but it is the counsel of Hashem that shall stand.”
Renee related that their stay in Italy was lovely. She was able to visit her niece, who had recently graduated from medical school, and they stayed at a hotel located just a block away from the Great Synagogue of Florence.
The hotel had assured Renee’s sister that they would not face any electronic barriers to accessing their room on Shabbos. Unfortunately, they discovered too late that the room was equipped with electric keypads and motion-sensor lights. Once inside, they found themselves effectively trapped for the duration of Shabbos. Fortunately, the local Chabad rabbi provided them with meals and a bottle of wine, though – in another small trial – they lacked a corkscrew to open it. It was a challenging weekend, but they had no idea of the far greater challenges that lay ahead.
The couple was eager to board their 6:00 a.m. flight from Italy to Israel, arriving on February 15. Their tour, which Renee described as “amazing,” began the following day. They traversed the country, visiting Efrat, Beer Sheva, Eilat, Masada, Kever Rachel, the Mitzpe Ramon Crater, and the Old City. In a clear display of hashgachah, they completed their itinerary just as the conflict erupted. The first day of the war was on Shabbos, February 28. “Baruch Hashem, we were able to see all of this before the war began,” Renee noted.
By Sunday, the atmosphere had shifted drastically. The couple found themselves constantly rushing to the miklat (shelter) whenever the city sirens blared. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before,” Renee said. “It is one thing to read about it, but entirely another to experience it firsthand.”
Yosef Hartuv braved the drive from Kiryat Arba to Jerusalem to collect the Labovitzes. Renee noted that while he had always planned to pick them up, he certainly hadn’t expected to do so under fire. He drove with urgency, wary of being caught on the road during an alert. “It was very scary,” she recalled.
Kiryat Arba provided a degree of relative safety. Situated near Chevron, it sits about an hour away from the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem corridors that bore the brunt of the initial bombings. In the larger cities, sirens were sounding up to five times a day, leaving residents with only 90 seconds to reach a secure room.
Despite the shadow of war, the spirit of Purim prevailed. Children donned costumes and celebrated as planned. “We experienced Shushan Purim as well, hearing the Megillah four times in total,” Renee said.
The couple was originally scheduled to depart on March 8; but on March 4, they received notice that their flight had been canceled. The State Department contacted them with an offer of emergency evacuation to options like Athens. Initially, the couple declined, due to the significant added expense. In hindsight, Renee shared a vital lesson: “In a war, you accept any viable way out.” They later learned that the State Department could have provided a loan for the expenses, but the information arrived after they had already declined.
Renee navigated a maze of bureaucracy, filling out emergency exit applications for the Israeli government, the State Department, and El Al. On a beautiful Erev Shabbos, March 13, Renee and David took a walk to a track behind a local high school. While they were walking, Renee’s alert app went off. Shortly after, the city siren wailed.
Renee raced toward a distant wall as a loud boom echoed overhead – the Iron Dome intercepting a rocket. “We had to find cover immediately because of falling shrapnel,” she explained. They huddled against a wall alongside another local resident until the danger passed. “It was traumatic; we had never faced anything like that.”
The path home remained elusive. They were booked on a flight for March 20, only to be bumped. The same occurred for flights on March 24 and March 26. As Pesach approached, they felt a growing sense of urgency. Though the Hartuvs were exceptionally gracious hosts – even taking them on an in-depth tour of Chevron and M’aras HaMachpeilah – the Labovitzes were eager to return home.
Finally, they received confirmation for a flight on March 27. Renee recalled the “nerve-wracking” process of checking her email and the El Al app every 30 minutes. With the airline overwhelmed by thousands of calls, communication was limited to WhatsApp, often with a six-hour lag. Amidst this chaos, Renee received the heartbreaking news that her mother was niftar. (May her neshamah have an aliyah).
They finally boarded their flight on March 27, opting to spend an eight-hour layover inside the Rome airport rather than risking a hotel stay. “We didn’t want to take any chance of missing the final leg to JFK.” The airport was eerily quiet, with shops shuttered. “I was doing my makeup for Shabbos at the gate, just so excited to be heading back,” Renee shared.
The couple arrived at 1:00 p.m. on Erev Shabbos. Renee expressed deep gratitude for her husband’s support throughout the ordeal. She also credited their community for helping them prepare for the upcoming holiday: Barbara Burstyn handled their Pesach shopping, and Miriam Ayella spent four hours helping them get their apartment cleaned for Pesach.
“We had to unpack, do laundry, and change over the kitchen all at once. It was Monday, March 31, by the time we were ready,” Renee said.
Reflecting on the experience, Renee offered this advice: “Daven for everyone in Eretz Yisrael and for the IDF. Remember that Hashem is always with you. And if you have the opportunity to leave during an emergency, take it – figure out the details later.”
Despite the harrowing journey, their devotion to the land remains unshaken. “By the way,” she added, “we are already planning our next trip back to Israel!”
Hashem should bring shalom and destroy our enemies!
By Susie Garber
