Living through the conflict presents daily challenges as they juggle work, children, and the stress of constant sirens
Yehiel Levin is a retired US Army veteran from Santa Monica, California. He moved to Israel three years ago after spending years deployed in Iraq and other combat zones.
I spent so much time living in chaos in Iraq, the situation here doesn’t really bother me
“I spent so much time living in chaos in Iraq, the situation here doesn’t really bother me,” Levin, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, told The Media Line.
But he admitted he feels conflicted watching the United States and Israel now fighting alongside one another to defeat Iran.
Yehiel Levin. (Courtesy)
“I understand that Iran is definitely evil and has to be destroyed, and the leadership has to completely change,” Levin, who lives with his partner and her daughter in Jerusalem, said. “At the same time, as somebody who was sent to fight in Iraq, I’m really, really, really against the US getting involved in anything that doesn’t directly relate to it. I’m kind of torn when it comes to that. But it’s pretty cool to watch both countries work hand in hand.”
Levin is one of well over 200,000 American citizens who live in Israel and are now watching the war against Iran unfold from inside the country they chose to call home. Many say they support both nations. At the same time, living through the conflict presents daily challenges as they juggle work, children, and the stress of constant sirens.
For Ariela Lerman, the war has turned daily life into a careful balancing act.
Lerman is the mother of two young children, both of whom are now too afraid to leave her side since the war began. Her youngest daughter, Ruthie, who is five-and-a-half, recently told her that every time a siren wails, her heart jumps and beats so hard it feels like it is coming out of her chest.
Recently divorced, Lerman is managing the children largely on her own. She said she is fortunate that their apartment building is close to a basement shelter and that “we have amazing neighbors.”
When a siren goes off, Lerman unlocks her door, and one of the neighbors comes to help her get the young children down the stairs quickly.
Still, the emotional and logistical strain is taking its toll. She said she feels like she is getting very little work done and is starting to feel stir crazy with children who do not want to go outside because of the sirens.
If this continues for another week or so, I’m probably gonna completely lose it
“If this continues for another week or so, I’m probably gonna completely lose it,” Lerman, who lives in Jerusalem and moved to Israel from Baltimore, said. “I work basically from home and thankfully have an amazing boss who understands that I am a single mom and do not have the capacity to work when they’re both at home … One of the days when we had like seven sirens during the day, I barely got anything done when I really needed to get things done. And the other day, I was just so exhausted because I barely got any sleep.”
Ariela Lerman. (Nili Auerbach)
She admitted she has given the children far more screen time than usual and spent a small fortune on art supplies and other activities to keep them occupied.
Her parents live nearby and sometimes help. But even simple tasks have become difficult. She recalled how she recently tried to run to the store to pick up a couple of items, but one of her daughters started kicking and screaming when she attempted to leave. She only managed to get out the door after her father held the child back.
Laura Cornfield, who is also a single mother of three teenagers, said she is managing for now. For her, the challenges are different.
Her children still want to see their friends, which leaves her worrying about where they are every time sirens sound.
Every time … you hear a boom, you’re concerned. If you’re not with them, you’re even more concerned.
“Every time … you hear a boom, you’re concerned. If you’re not with them, you’re even more concerned,” Cornfield said.
The family has a safe room in the house, but it doubles as her teenage son’s bedroom, and her daughters are less than eager to spend time there.
Another challenge has been keeping the children engaged with school.
“The challenge is having them join their Zoom classes, because it’s very difficult for kids to be interested in Zoom when they’re used to interpersonal interactions in a classroom,” Cornfield told The Media Line. “Being in front of a computer to study for more than two hours a day is very difficult for a generation of students who suffer from ADHD.”
Lauren Hamrick, a Christian country singer, moved to Tel Aviv during the High Holidays after spending the summer there. She chose to relocate even though Israel was already at war.
“I can’t explain it,” she told The Media Line. “Israel is the kind of place that chooses you. No one ends up here by accident.”
She added: “Everything that had been happening here, politically, socially, spiritually, I didn’t want to miss a second of it, and so I chose to uproot my life and to come to Israel and to add to the conversation as an observer, as an ally, as just a witness to this great history.”
Still, she could not have expected this latest escalation, only a few months after the previous Iran war in June 2025. She said she is not afraid and believes God is protecting her, but admitted she is “exhausted.”
“When you go to the shelter every 30 minutes to an hour, it’s completely exhausting,” Hamrick noted. “You start to lose a sense of self. You forget your own first name, what you look like, and whether and when you can shower. The experience certainly is taxing on the human spirit.”
Yet she said being surrounded by Israelis who have lived through wars before is helping her stay strong.
I’m just in this posture of learning how to fight, and I am learning it from the best fighters, the blessed fighters.
“They show you how to do war,” Hamrick said. “I’m just in this posture of learning how to fight, and I am learning it from the best fighters, the blessed fighters. And I think that the whole thing has given me a lot of pause and made me feel very introspective and very prayerful.”
As an American living in Israel, Hamrick said she also feels “deeply proud.”
“Trump is in real time debunking the lie that America first means America only,” Hamrick told The Media Line. “I tell people that America’s war is Israel’s war and Israel’s war is America’s war … Trump carried out that preemptive strike, knowing that Iran was preparing to strike first … I commend the president’s bravery.”
Hamrick said she believes that when the war is over, people will understand just how much Trump saved them from.
“God bless America, God bless Israel,” she concluded. “I’m proud to have upgraded my life to live in this splinter of land in the eastern Mediterranean, watching it all with my own two eyes.”
