You Have 15 Seconds to Say a Psalm Before Kassam Explodes

The so-called truce between Hamas and Israel is a farce. It didn't last a week before the rockets were fired into the Western Negev. Each day Israelis in the Western Negev wonder if this will be their last.

Since 2000 and for over 7 years, 6913 rockets have been fired into Sderot, a small city near Gaza in the Western Negev.

The National Council of Young Israel in the United States has announced a new project that simulates the pressures facing Sderot residents after a Code Red warning gives them 15 seconds to run for cover from an incoming Kassam rocket fired by Arab terrorists.

Project SMS (Solidarity Messages for Sderot) sends a text message to subscribers after the early warning system sounds in Sderot. The message reads. "A Kassam has been launched at Sderot. You have 15 seconds" to recite Psalm Chapter 130, give charity, call the United Nations, the White House, Senators and Congressmen or pause for a moment and pray for the people of Sderot.

Psalm Chapter 130

1 A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths have I called Thee, O HaShem.

2 L-rd, hearken unto my voice; let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

3 If Thou, HaShem, shouldest mark iniquities, O L-rd, who could stand?

4 For with Thee there is forgiveness, that Thou mayest be feared.

5 I wait for HaShem, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.

6 My soul waiteth for the L-rd, more than watchmen for the morning; yea, more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in HaShem; for with HaShem there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.

8 And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Of course if you're as unlucky as I am to have Barack Obama for your Senator, you will get only a printed response that this is all Israel's fault. But I write anyway.

Sderot has been under siege for more than seven years since the Oslo War broke out in September, 2000. The Committee for a Secure Sderot reports that Arab terrorists have attacked the city with 6,913 rockets. The government promised that the siege would end after carrying out the expulsion program that included the forced removal of Jews from the Gaza region and the withdrawal of all IDF personnel.

Shaul Mofaz, who was Defense Minister at the time, vowed that Israel would respond quickly "if even one rocket is fired" on Sderot. Since then, the Olmert administration has agreed to a number of ceasefires, but each one was quickly broken. More than half a dozen rockets have hit the western Negev since the latest truce began less than two weeks ago.

The time for talk has passed. The time for action is now. Now is the time to strike back. To tell Hamas and Gaza that a truce means that both sides stop fighting, not just one.

Young Israel executive vice president Rabbi Pesach Lerner told its members the group wants them to experience the sense of urgency Sderot residents face when the warning siren is sounded.

"The people of Sderot have been forced to live in a time warp of 15 seconds for the last seven years," he stated. "When a rocket is fired at Sderot and the alarm is sounded, they have fifteen seconds to run for cover, find their children, gather the sleeping family from the top floor to the basement and wonder if today is the last day of their life."

Help bring peace to the Western Negev! Call or write your congressman, senator or even President Bush today!