Likewise, I lacked the opportunity to emotionally prepare myself.
After all, by the time I found out about it, the missiles were already on their way.
Prior to that mass missile launch, the only indications of anything about to happen were the following:
A friend sent an email earlier that week asking me about a potential war, which I knew nothing about.
Upon asking my son in the army, he dismissed it.
So I put it out of mind.
Then a married son called me after Shabbat to let me know the plans for them to visit were called off due to the war.
"What war?" I said.
He mentioned, alluding to schools being cancelled, but seemed dismissive of the whole thing.
At around 11:30, another son called to say Iran had launched major missiles with programmed targets and GPS.
The missiles were already on their way.
Now, I was told they'd been launched at 11 with an estimated arrival time of 8 hours. Others heard 9 hours, and still others heard 7 hours.
I admit my stomach knotted because the Great Threat was finally being carried out.
What would be?
How was Hashem judging us at that moment?
(Later, I read a comment on Hidabroot, in which a Jewish woman stated she started reading Sefer Tehillim the minute she heard about the launching of the missiles and finished the entire Sefer by around 3 in the morning — now I know which Jew was responsible for sweetening the Heavenly Judgement literally hanging over our heads! And it wasn't the blessed Jews in the planes or the ones at the defense controls — they were the emissaries of the hours-long multitude of miracles, not the cause of the miracles..)
But as described in a previous post, I already understood not to rely on anything — not numbers, not times, not types of weapons or defense, nothing.
Indeed, we heard and felt (and I saw) the missile attack.
Family and friends in Beit Shemesh experienced a real thunderous sound-and-light "show" from all the missiles (though some managed to sleep through it — including some people I know very well as good and religious people).
And the North bore and has been bearing a huge brunt of attacks, continuing from Lebanon.
The whole thing felt unreal from beginning to end.
The next morning, life picked up where it left off before the attack, with business as usual, which only contributed to the surreal feeling of "Did that really happen? Is this really happening?"
And that very surrealism and "Huh?" itself is something for which to feel profoundly grateful.
After all, it could've been an atrocity.
Instead, it ended up being: "That was it? Did anything even happen?"
When Hashem performs a MAJOR miraculous favor for us, we need to express our gratitude.
We still don't know exactly what happened. (Except I know from my own eyes and ears that missiles indeed entered Eretz Yisrael airspace.) I hear all sorts of numbers and types of missiles and it seemed like Lebanon and Yemen also joined in the attack.
(You can see photos and the latest published numbers and information here: https://habayitah.blogspot.com/2024/04/photos-of-missiles-that-landed-inside.html)
Also, Jordan (who is not our friend) downed missiles.
And the UK and USA (who pretend to be our friends, but really aren't — with the exception of some individual Americans and Brits) also participated in blocking missiles.
And not one Jew was killed.
Furthermore, as far as we know right now, only 1 Jew was injured directly by missile shrapnel (other injuries occurred in the process of getting to a shelter).
So I'm left with the feeling of: "All those decades of building up the big scary Iranian threat and...this was it? That's all?"
It's like a humungous explosion turned into a wet fizzle.
(Also, I would've loved to see the look on the faces of the Iranian officials and their supporters when they realized that all their plotting, MASSIVE expense, and massive attack simply fizzled — literally exploding in their faces — without the loss of any Jewish life.)
This is a huge, massive chessed from Hashem.
If I'm not mistaken, the maximum rate of effectiveness for defense systems like Iron Dome, etc., is 82%.
Yet in this most recent situation, Hashem caused the defense system to hit 99% of its targets, with the final 1% hitting Israel with no causalities and almost no severe damage.
And even someone brimming with emunah and bitachon, who never felt fear for a moment, confident that Hashem would completely protect Am Yisrael (as He certainly did) needs to acknowledge Hashem's Great Goodness and Mercy in this never-before-seen situation of such an attack.
This gratitude includes Hashem causing unfriendly nations to assist in our defense. Especially Jordan, who sat with its hands folded as Iraq launched Scud missiles at Israel.
So it's very, very, vitally important not to get lost in the surrealism, confidence (whether spiritually based or technologically based), or feeling of "business as usual now."
Even feeling like "Heck, I knew Hashem would come through for us — I never doubted Him for a minute!" or "I knew this was all just a stupid ruse concocted by the Amalekite powers-that-be!" (both attitudes good and correct) still includes the obligation to tell God: "THANK YOU, SHOMER YISRAEL! YOU'RE SO AWESOME – I JUST LOVE YA!"
Needless to say, I'm talking to myself as much as anyone else.
For me, I needed to break out of the feeling of surrealism and "Huh?" and "Wait, that was it?" and the way life totally went back to normal (i.e., a certain complacency) in order to see the situation for what it is (a massive miracle and act of Divine Love) and really thank Hashem (which I feel I still haven't done enough of, due to the sense of everything feeling unreal).
Hashem performed a wonderful chessed for us.
And we should joyfully show our gratitude.
We can use our own words.
We can also say "Nishmat kol chai" and/or "Mizmor L'Todah" (Psalm 100) and/or "Yishtabach."