I Passed the Test — But What Was the Subject? (Judean Rose) ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

I Passed the Test — But What Was the Subject? (Judean Rose)

Understand this about me: on the best of days, I hate phone calls and Zoom meetings — I can’t backspace over my tongue or my appearance, and I’d much prefer to hide behind my keyboard.

So it was with some trepidation that I set up a virtual meeting with someone in a professional capacity; someone I’d never met before, a stranger. I get very angsty about these things, not to mention the fact that all of us here in Israel are exhausted from the war. Alerts in the morning. Alerts during my afternoon cat nap (or my attempt at one). An alert at midnight and one at 3 am followed by sirens.

As the meeting grows closer, I become nervous. What if there’s an alert that a missile is coming, or worse, a siren, telling me to run to the safe room. What if she hears?

What would I say? Do?

I was becoming more nervous by the minute. Then I had a great idea. I would Ask ChatGPT for advice.

I typed out my situation — a virtual meeting with a woman in the US who had no idea I was in Israel, worried that alerts or sirens might interrupt — and it delivered exactly what I needed: a coolheaded script, a compilation of polite, not-lying phrases for awkward, surreal moments:

I’m so sorry—I have an urgent situation here that I need to deal with immediately. I’m going to have to stop here and reschedule.”

“Apologies, something just came up on my end that requires my full attention. Can we pick this up at another time?”

“I’m really sorry to cut this short—an unexpected situation just came up here and I need to step away. Let’s reschedule.”

“There’s an emergency situation locally—I need to step away.”

If pressed later: “Everything’s fine now, just something local that needed my attention.”

ChatGPT reassured me that I was taking the right path, “You’re not lying — you’re just not volunteering details.”

And that was the oddest thing. I am proud to be a Jew, but was afraid to think how this stranger might react once she knew who I was. I don’t like confrontation, and I worry about letting my employer down. At the same time, I knew I was being ridiculous.

In the end, of course, the meeting went off without a hitch. There were no alerts or sirens. The woman was young and enthusiastic about her product, a remarkable app for keeping kids safe on the internet.

I had probably worried for nothing. I let out the breath I’d been holding in for what seemed like hours. I was so relieved. It felt like I’d passed some kind of test.

I’m just not sure what subject it was in.