This situation is now somewhat personal. After coming home last night, my roommates informed me that a friend of ours, who had shabbot dinner with us last week, was at home in northern Israel when rockets hit his home and killed his mother and his 7 year-old nephew.

Besides this, a friend of mine from D.C. is in Lebanon right now. Before I left for Israel, she invited me to Beirut (flying in from Amman or Cyprus, of course). I can't get a hold of her and I wonder if she's ok.