I came back today from two weeks straight in the army. The 2.5 week program for new immigrants ended on Tuesday. We spent the last week of the program armed with long M-16 A1's. We had to sleep, shower, eat and go to the bathroom with the gun. If one was seen walking around anywhere without a gun, it's a serious offence. The reason for this, aside from the fear of a gun getting into the wrong hands, is that having a gun on you regardless of what you're doing makes you comfortable with it. You quickly get used to walking, running, sitting and doing just about everything else with the gun on you. From my performance on the shooting range, I have to say - thank G-d for lasik eye surgery. I am a good shot, and I don't need corrective eyeware.

Aside from learning to love to our M-16's, we did some running, some push-ups, and a fair amount of crawling around. Crawling sounds fun and easy, but it is not. It's one of the most difficult aspects of training. Covering 50 yards over rocky, thorny, muddy terrain as fast as possible and repeating multiple times, is not just physically exhausting. It's mentally taxing and it rips the skin off your elbows, as well as causing bruises in various parts of your body. I earned a gory gash on my right elbow, which is still healing. Push-ups also switched from being on the palms to being on our knuckles, and still on gravel. Fitness-wise, again, I have no problems. But the random strange pains are a problem for everyone. It does get easier though and I am told that within a month one's knuckles and elbows become hardened and the pain lessens significantly, until it vanishes entirely.

Finally, we did some hiking. By hiking, my commanders meant running, with equipment, up a 3 kilometer slope. Hard, but fun. Additionally, we spent some time learning to get into various firing positions. I can assure my Hollywood-trained readers that it's not as easy and simple as it it may seem. Tips for those thinking the army is for them - get good at crawling, falling and getting up quickly and smoothly, and don't be grossly obese. Not to much to ask for, and again, the army is about mental toughness. The physical part your body will learn to do on its own, your job is to keep mind in the right place.

A fun experience was the selection phase that I went through last week for my intended unit. It involved a significant amount of stress and only further emphasized the idea that if you're mentally capable, you can do anything. If you're mentally weak, no amount of physical training will help. Those who I think are interested in the details of this selection phase will receive personal e-mails. The basic point is that I was accepted and I am now slightly cooler than I used to be, or at least that's what I tell myself.

My last base, aside from being a good preparation for real training, has been socially interesting. I met everyone from a football jock from West Palm Beach Florida, to an Ethiopian who can run a 4:30 mile while chainsmoking, to crazy Russians, to Boston University frat boys, to very French Frenchmen, to a Dutch history student (much like myself but with 40 more lbs of muscle), to a Yale swimmer, to Russian super-athletes, to California surfers, to white-skinned Toronto-ians, to a crazy but cool Texan, to a Cuban-Miami type (yes, apparently there are Jews like that), and my favorite - a proper Brit with a BA in medieval literature and an MA in late medieval German literature from Oxford. This last case also rowed crew, and finds the "discipline" part of the IDF so easy it's basically a joke. If anyone knows guys who rowed crew and knows Brits, he'd understand why. The sport of crew and upper-class British society have rigid discipline the likes of which few armies can attain. Not to mention that, in all honesty, "discipline in the IDF" can hardly be called that. For someone with even a somewhat Anglo-Saxon background like me, the "discipline" part of the army is not a challenge.

On Tuesday, after giving back our temporary weapons, we were taken back to Bakum, the IDF's processing center. On the way, we stopped at a mall and enjoyed the special soldiers' discounts that the vendors seemed eager to force on us. A break from army food is always appreciated, although I can't be so cliche about it, since army food has so far been quite good. I then spent two days in limbo in Bakum. The Bakum experience can either be quick and painless, like my first time there, or it can be flat-out crazy. This time around it was the latter. Upon arrival, we were split up into "plugot klita" - absorption companies. This is basically a unit where you hang out temporarily while the bureacrats do the paperwork to send you to where you're supposed to be in the army. Of course, this is not an efficient system. The fact that you get a sticker with a number and that these numbers determine which absorption company you're in and therefore where and how you get processed, already bodes administrative problems. My plugat klita, like all plugot in Bakum, was supposedly assigned to various cleaning duties. We rebelled against our jobnik commander and told him that we intend to do nothing until the paper-pushers get us to our intended units. He was angry, but as a jobnik (someone who has no relation to combat) he should be used to getting lip from soldiers. I am therefore happy to say that I did not work in the kitchen nor clean anything during my 48 hours in Bakum. We slept in tents, which was an entirely arctic experience and we spent endless hours waiting to get 5-minute interviews with selection officers. Bakum basically felt like some sort of black hole. A place that exists but doesn't really relate to the outside world. A place where you're alive and well but practically imprisoned, and where you fate is determined by processes you have no control over. To add the excitement, fully half of the guys who came with me to Bakum ended up in Bakum's jail. Jail in Bakum is where they keep those who refuse the assignments that the jobnikim in Bakum attempt to send them to. It is widely known that if you stay in jail for a few days, up to two weeks, you will eventually get the assignment you want. Jail is not really jail by the way, it's just a more restrictive lifestyle in a crappier absorption company.

I guess all of this sounds crazy to the un-initiated, but within the bizarre IDF reality, it makes sense. All Israelis have fond memories of Bakum, and now so do I. The key thing, as with everything in life, is to have a sense of humor about it. Eventually, I was properly processed and representatives from my new unit had me sign a few papers, gave me some new gear, gave a speech about road safety and the dangers of alcohol and sent me home for a 3 day weekend. In IDF terms, 3 days off is considered luxurious. I am resting up this weekend, because first thing Sunday morning I report to my new base. Once there, I will have two weeks of pre-training, including further testing, before starting the actual training phase. IDF is all about preparation phases and although I initially thought they were a waste of time, I have changed my mind. Soldiers need time to get used to army life and break in their boots.

In other news, my room still looks like hell and clearly needs the proverbial woman's touch. I need a new bed, I need a normal chair and a rug. These things exist, but all I want to do with my free time is rest, not run from store to store. Shabbat was spent at my relatives', whose ability to feed me hot, home-cooked meals is greatly appreciated. I am going out with a couple of friends now, to sit in one of Emek Refaim's little cafes and discuss our progess as new Israelis. Some of my Ulpan Etzion people with the 6-month IDF obligation (making aliyah at ages 22-25) are deferring their service to do an MA. Some are about to start in December. The 6-month track is known as shlav gimmel and drafts in December and May every year. It allows only limited job choices, the most exciting of which is probably artillery. The other options are truck-driving and the like.

For those making aliyah aged 26 and up, you have to volunteer to do the 6-month service. I can assure you that, if you want it, you will get it. If you're a super-Zionist like myself, you can volunteer for an even longer service, which opens up more job options. If I ran Israel, every childless male immigrant aged 30 and under would be required to serve for 2 years. Those making aliyah aged 31-39 would have to do 6 months. But then again, I can be accused of being too patriotic or overly Zionist. Because clearly, even with our blatantly positive characteristics, we must be more moderate??!!? I think I am the sane one and everyone else is either over-intellectualizing or being egotistical. Usually a bit of both.

I recommend the new James Bond movie by the way. It's lacking in special effects and futuristic gadgets, which makes it much more realistic and overall a better movie. Go watch it. Anyways, I am going to regale my friends with war stories and show them my bruised elbow.

IDF

Wednesday morning I took THE step to becoming a real Jew in the State of Israel by joining the IDF. Now, instead of just talking about how much I don't like the anti-Zionist Jews in Israel (primarily the black hats), I can say with some authority that they, in fact, are bad Zionists, while I am not. Of course, the black hats also give a bad name to the national religious public like myself, who have no problem doing the army and simultaneously being observant.

My first day, I went to a meeting point on Givat HaTachmoshet in northern Jerusalem, where I waited with several hundred other pieces of fresh meat until we were led to a big movie theater and shown a inspiring reel of footage from the Six Day War in 1967. From there, we got on a bus and were driven to Bakum, the central processing center. There, we received shots, donated blood to cancer patients, gave a pin-prick blood sample, got X-rayed, filled out a medical form, got some initial equipment, received ID cards and ate mediocre food. This all took most of the day, and by nightfall we arrived in a northern base. We spent the evening getting lined up and running from spot to spot. Thursday morning we were apportioned into platoons and squads and got the commanders that are going to be in charge of us for the next 2.5 weeks.

The rest of Thursday was spent doing endless short sprints and getting into, and staying in, the basic formation "at attention." Everything is done with a time limit, and being late or making random small mistakes is reason to get into "matzav shtaim" - position two. This is the beginning position of a push-up. From here, we would either hold it, or go to "matzav ehad," the down part of the push-up and hold that. Normal push-ups also happened, but not as commonly as just holding a position. "Matzav ehad v'hetzi" is position "one and a half" - which is half-way down in the push-up. This is, obviously, painful. Personally, I am in good shape, so I am not bothered by little sprints. The push-up thing got to be a bit much, but it's really not a big deal. In all, I found the beginning to be easy. As long as you're willing to do what you're told and don't take anything personally, there's nothing hard about it. The younger guys probably find it harder because the whole concept of discipline and doing what you're told must be a bit scary and overwhelming for someone aged 18-19.

Randomly, we also spent several hours in a big auditorium getting talked to by higher-up commanders and watching slide shows. Regarding praying, there's a religious commander who takes all the religious soldiers to the synagogue three times a day. Shacharit is 40 minutes, mincha and maariv is 15 minutes each. I feel bad for the non-religious guys because many of them don't have the motivation they need, and they can easily get it by bringing themselves closer to G-d and being more spiritual.

There are a lot of russians in my unit, as they do still comprise fully half of all the immigrants to Israel. Most of them seem to be enjoying themselves, because the Soviet mentality is well-suited to discipline. Not to mention that some of them are impressive athletes. There are also a lot of French guys, who try, but their Frenchiness makes it all a more difficult experience than it really is. South Americans are also present, and, of course, there are tons of Americans and Canadians. The English-speakers are all in their early to mid 20's. Most of them are like me, having made aliyah. The rest are in the IDF via Mahal, a program that allows foreigners to volunteer for a 14.5 month stint, without accepting citizenship. From what I am told, most of them accept Israeli citizenship at some point during their service.

Friday I went home and experienced, for the first time, of how nice it is to be able to ride public transportation for free. I am going back to that base tomorrow, which I understand will be an easy day for us. Starting Monday, things are going to get "hard" again. Over the next two weeks, we'll do some hiking, sleep outside, shoot some guns, and of course spent too much time in "matzav shtaim."

I will be going home again two weeks from now, so you'll have to wait for the next update. By that time, I will be a grizzled war machine so I hope I'll still remember how to use a panzy little laptop.

Temple Mount Issues, Impending War with Hizbollah and Syria

(Following courtesy of Arutz-7)
Sheikh Raad Salah - head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, a Hamas supporter, and an outspoken enemy of Israel - warns that Israeli plans to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount could lead to violence and bloodshed. "The day will never come when a Moslem or an Arab will have the right to cede even one foot of the Al-Aqsa Mosque or of Jerusalem," the Sheikh's Al-Aqsa movement announced.

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem was the site of the two Jewish Holy Temples, the first of which was built by King Solomon in the year 832 BCE, close to 1,500 years before Islam was founded. For most of the next 1,000 years, Holy Temples stood on the site, until the Romans conquered the entire land and destroyed the Second Temple. Though the area came under the control of the Romans, Byzantines, Moslems, Christians, Turks, British and others over the coming centuries, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were always the focus of Jewish religious and national yearnings and continued to be the Jews' "capital in exile." In the Six Day War of 1967, the modern state of Israel liberated the Temple Mount area, placing all of Jerusalem under Jewish control once again after a hiatus of 1,900 years.

Israel, however, never actualized its sovereignty over the holy Temple Mount site, but rather granted the Moslem Waqf nearly total control. Jews, in fact, have not been allowed to pray there ever since then-Chief IDF Rabbi Shlomo Goren led a prayer service there on the first Tisha B'Av after the liberation.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) is preparing a plan for the construction of a synagogue on the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount. The plan must be approved by the Jerusalem municipality's planning committee - an unlikely eventuality - and Ariel is set to meet with rabbis and public figures on the issue later this week. MK Ariel notes that such a building would "rectify a historic injustice," and that every Supreme Court ruling on the issue has recognized the right of every Jew to pray on the Temple Mount.

"The synagogue will not interfere with believing Moslems who wish to pray at the Al-Aksa Mosque," Ariel said. "On the contrary, this is an opportunity for the Moslem world to demonstrate and prove that it is tolerant enough." The "Moslem world" is not jumping at said opportunity. The announcement by Sheikh Salah's organization states, "We hereby warn aloud about the existence of a Jewish national consensus that is trying to build the Holy Temple at the expense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We warn that similar plans were submitted to Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak and their publication led to violence, the ramifications of which have not ended to this day."

"The timing of the publication [of this plan] is not coincidental," the Islamic Movement states, "and it jibes with the increased calls for expulsion [of Arabs], the implementation of the policy of religious persecution and national discrimination, and the giving of a green light to the construction of the Third Temple. We remind, for the 1,000th time, that the entire Al-Aqsa mosque, including all of its area and alleys above the ground and under it, is exclusive and absolute Moslem property, and no one else has any rights to even one grain of earth in it."

"We remind the Israeli establishment, which stands behind these plans, that the problem of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem is not just a Palestinian problem, but a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic problem. The day the Al-Aqsa Mosque is harmed, Heaven forbid, all the Arab and Islamic nations will call to prevent this damage. Watch out! Beware of merely the thought of hurting or desecrating the mosque."
(End of Arutz-7 Report)

I couldn't have presented the problem any clearer than www.israelnationalnews.com did. We own the Temple Mount legally, morally, historically. All we have to do is not be afraid of the Moslem world, and Jerusalem can be made into the true capital of the Jewish people. Clearly, the Moslems are afraid that we'll exercise our religious and historic rights and kick them out of the Temple Mount.

As for the Northern border - analysts at the IDF General Staff are drawing up plans in order to prepare for a war against Hizbollah and Syria in the summer of 2007. Haaretz is reporting that intelligence analysis shows that both Hizbollah in southern Lebanon and the Syrian army are preparing for a major war. The prediction is that the forces arrayed against Israel on the Northern border will be ready to attack us as early as April or May of next year.

Aaron Zevi-Farkash, the outgoing head of Aman (Military Intelligence), has stated that war with our friendly neighbors is unavoidable, and that Iran will sooner or later directly join the conflict. Farkash also made it clear that the Europeans think that an atomic weapon in Iranian hands is much like an atomic weapon in the hands of the Soviets - dangerous but unlikely to be actually used. The Europeans simply don't see the difference between the pragmatic Soviet leadership, for whom nuclear weapons were a matter of prestige, and the Iranian leadership, for whom nuclear weapons are a tool of religious warfare.

It's becoming clear, according to various security officials' interviews in the Israeli press, that Israel will strike Iran shortly before Iran develops its first nuclear bomb. It is highly likely that fighing with Iran may start as part of the war with Syria and Hizbollah. In that case, we'll be seeing a large, regional war in 2007. No one worry though, Hashem has given the Jews of Israel the ability to win. As for the courage to use our full force instead of poking around from house to house in an attempt to avoid destruction of civilian lives and property.... well, that's where the problem starts.

I pray Israel will get leaders who do not fear their own strength, do not fear the international community, and realize that enemy civilian deaths are not our fault. It seems simple, doesn't it?

I wanted to clarify some realities in today's world. Anti-Semitism in the Middle East has reached proportions far greater than what was happening in Europe in the 1930's. The school textbooks, television programs, the news, the newspapers, and university lectures, not to mention the teachings in mosques, are full of the lowest, most vile, most explicit forms of Anti-Semitism. Jews are descriped as descendants of monkeys and pigs who drink gentile blood and eat Arab babies. We are presented as conspirators to every bloody conflict on Earth, in control of the military-industrial complex and world banking, which we use to enrich ourselves and to impoverish the rest of humanity. Cartoons, both in newspapers and on TV, continually portray Jews with blood-dripping fangs and claws, committing dispicable acts towards the innocent.

In western nations, Islamo-fascists have found common cause with leftists, anti-globalists, Neo-Nazis, liberal intellectuals and groups supposedly concerned with human rights. Together, these disparate groups agree on one agenda - that Israel is an evil and immoral occupier of Palestine, commiting genocide on a regular basis. They completely ignore the fact that the Arabs in Palestiane lived as a minority under Turkish rule for over 500 years, were content to be a province, and never fought for independence. They didn't have any "nationalist feeling" until 1967, even though they fought the Jews from the 1920's until 1967. The "Palestinian national narrative" is a recent invention, much like the concept of "Syrian" or "Jordanian" or "Egyptian" Arabs. These were all created by Western powers and are not separate nationalities. The Arabs are one large nationality of 300 million stretching from Iraq to Morocco. Up until the 7th century, the Arabs only existed in the Saudi Arabian peninsula, from where they conquered the Middle East. The word "Palestinians" under the British Mandate actually referred to Jews in the region, lending even less credibility to the term.

Meanwhile, the world ignores Jewish national claims in a land that hasn't had any political claims since the Crusaders laid a religious claim between the 11th and 13th centuries. Instead, Israel, whose religion and culture are organic to the land in question, is viewed as a foreign implant, compared to Hitler's Germany, and its destruction urged from every quarter. Iran holds massive Holocaust denial conferences, and the 70-odd Islamic nations continually agree on their mutual hate of the Jews and their State. Iran's continual statements that the intended goal of the regime is to destroy the Jewish state through whatever means possible is not criticized in the UN or by the EU. The general view in most of the West is that Israel is a bother, an annoyance that prevents a "reconciliation" between the West and Islam. Meanwhie, the hate spewed by all media, publishing and educational outlets in the Moslem world is mind-boggling. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a hoax proved to have been composed by the Russian tsarist secret police the early 1900's, has been translated and is a best seller throughout the Middle East. As an example, Saudi Arabian schoolbooks contain explicit summaries of the Protocols as factual:

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: These are secret resolutions, most
probably of the aforementioned Basel congress. They were discovered in the
nineteenth century. The Jews tried to deny them, but there was ample evidence
proving their authenticity and that they were issued by the elders of Zion. The
Protocols can be summarized in the following points:

• Upsetting the foundations of the world's present society and its systems, in
  order to enable Zionism to have a monopoly of world government.
• Eliminating nationalities and religions, especially the Christian
  nations.
• Striving to increase corruption among the present regimes in Europe, as
  Zionism believes in their corruption and [eventual] collapse.
• Controlling the media of publication, propaganda and the press, using gold for stirring up disturbances, seducing people by means of lust and spreading wantonness.

The cogent proof of the authenticity of these resolutions, as
well as of the hellish Jewish schemes included therein, is the [actual] carrying
out of many of those schemes, intrigues and conspiracies that are found in them.
Anyone who reads them — and they were published in the nineteenth century —
grasps today to what extent much of what is found there has been realized. (^ CMIP report: The Jews in World History according to the Saudi textbooks. The Danger of World Jewry, by Abdullah al-Tall, pp. 140–141 (Arabic). Hadith and Islamic Culture, Grade 10, (2001) pp. 103–104.)"

According to Freedom House 2006 report, Saudi "textbook for boys for Tenth Grade on Hadith and Islamic Culture contains a lesson on the "Zionist Movement." It is a curious blend of wild conspiracy theories about Masonic Lodges, Rotary Clubs, and Lions Clubs with anti-Semitic invective. It asserts that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an authentic document and teaches students that it reveals what Jews really believe. It blames many of the world’s wars and discord on the Jews." (^ 2006 Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance Report by Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House. 2006 PDF)

This is just the beginning, but I don't want to beat the proverbial dead horse and tire my readers. What is more shocking than what is being systematically implanted in the minds of Muslims and Iran's explicit threat of "wiping Israel off the map," is the fact that these nations and their leaders, are welcomed members in most international organizations, especially the UN. The UN fawns over their Moslem members, and, in order to appease them, spends more time passing anti-Israel resolutions than doing any other single item of business. The media, universities, intellectuals, journalists, politicians and opinion-makers in the West either support this demonization of Israel or are silent about it. This is no different than the events leading up to World War II. Just as the world then did nothing, so it will again sit back. Israel is in no one's particular strategic or economic interest to defend. There are over 6 billion people in the world, a tiny spec of a country with 5.4 million Jews is utterly meaningless. The world has never stepped in to save us, nor should they be expected to. It's up to one but us.

I know most liberals would scoff at such assessments. Especially Jewish ones. But they are going to get killed just like the rest of us if we don't look reality in the face and confront it with determined force. There is a time to bend over backwards for peace, and there is a time to realize that the enemy is absolutely not interested in peace, but rather in a phased destruction of our country. The utopian models built by liberal globalist thinkers in the 1990's included the gradual erasing of borders, the dissolving of national groups, the creation of continent-sized economic blocs and a single, powerful world government that would ensure safety and a good business climate. While this may appeal to some on an intellectual level, it is clearly a universalist theme with a strong foundation in the internationalism preached by the communist movements of the 20th century. Childish dreams of the enamored idealist few are quickly brought under the control of the violent, the brutal and the power-hungry.

But then again, humanity loves to repeat its mistakes, and no one should be surprised. In our little corner of the Middle East, the current drama is playing out, a rehearsal for the bigger show yet to come. Maybe, if we can stop the enemy here and now, the threat will recede and we can prepare for a tomorrow. If not, at least we can fight hard enough, for long enough, until the moment comes for a greater scale conflict. The battle, in very real terms, is being fought here by the Israel Defense Forces. The following are online videos of Jewish soldiers who have to risk their lives to ensure that this little State of ours keeps growing strong, despite all odds.

1) This is video is a tribute to the sacrifices made this summer in Lebanon.
http://israelrules.blogspot.com/2006/10/soldiers-part-four.html

2) This is a video of battalion 97, Kfir brigade, in training. This is the only all-religious battalion in the IDF.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fh2vS2g7tM

3) This is a video of battalion 931 of the Nahal brigade on a mission in Lebanon. This is intense and 25 minutes long. You can't click on the link, you have to copy and paste it into the address part of your browser. Then, your video player will pop up and play it. It should play in a large screen version. Again, this is very real, shot by a reporter embedded with the battalion command team.
http://switch248-01.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=209947&ak=63628786

Those of us who are true Jews must pray to G-d that the IDF, and the society from which it draws its men, its moral support and its motivation, will weather the many storms to come.

Judaization of Israel, IDF-related matters, Felix's IDF service

Tel-Aviv is still Tel-Aviv, but more Jewish! Yes indeed. Despite the aggressive secular culture of Tel-Aviv and its liberal, anti-religious residents, Jews with a strong connection to their identity have made great progress in building yeshivot, re-starting moribund synagogues and teaching Judaism in secular frameworks for those interested. Rosh Yehudi is a great outreach organization that has developed a large, and growing, following amongst young, secular Tel-Avivis.

Of course, not all is peaches and cream. The majority of secular Israeli are still not even thinking about keeping Shabbat. But that is not important in and of itself. What is important is that secular Israeli culture is on the decline, as an ever-growing number of young people is finding out that nihilism is not a satifactory lifestyle. Young religious couples are moving into Tel-Aviv and slowly changing the culture towards more observance, or at least respect of observance. Moreover, the religious have a really high birthrate, which makes the process of bringing spirituality to the emptiness of secular life significantly easier.

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, women defining themselves as hiloni (secular) are having an average of 2.1 children. Women defining themselves as at least dati (religious) are averaging 4.3, more than double the rate. Currently, amongst Jewish 1st graders and 2nd graders, just over 50% are religious. Children are the future...

On a separate topic, an Israeli BA (which takes 3 years to complete) costs about $7500 in tuition. This is, thank G-d, not that expensive, although living costs make getting a degree much harder for most Israelis. The IDF gives all its demobilized soldiers a pikadon - a decent sum of money based on years in service and on the job the soldier had. This sum can range from $4,000 to $10,000. This money can only be used for tuition, starting a business, or marriage expenses. If it is not used within 5 years of discharge, it is automatically deposited, in full, into the person's bank account.

Clearly, this money is a great bonus and it helps out a tremendous number of people. However, it would be much cheaper and easier, for those people using the money for the BA, to simply "forgo" the pikadon. Instead, they would present their university with proof of military service, and the degree would be free. This is more effective then having the student prove to the army that he is enrolled, get the money deposited into his account, and then, supposedly, using the entire sum to cover tuition expenses and not a new motorcycle.

Of course, differences between varying lengths of service and levels of duty can be accounted for. There should be a simple and straightforward law - (a) anyone who served in a combat unit for at least 1.5 years gets a free BA; (b) anyone who served at least 2 years in a non-combat job, or in a combat unit for under 1.5 years, gets 2 free years in a BA program; (c) anyone with any other type of service, shortened or whatever, gets 1 free year in a BA program. This is a simpler and cheaper system that cuts out a lot of middle-man bureacracy.

For example, there's a simple law that all soldiers ride public transportation for free. Clearly, this costs nothing to implement and it would be utterly stupid to make the soldiers pay for transportation, and then claim the money back from the army. So, lets take example from those practices which are cheap and efficient.

The tuition aid situation could also use a dose of fairness. New immigrants receive a free BA, or a free MA if they already have a BA from their country of origin. In order to make it fair, this great benefit should only be available to those immigrants who fulfill their IDF duty. Sadly, most of the French and South American immigrants I know, do their best to avoid the shortened 6 month service required of them. Citing "difficulties in adjusting to aliyah," they dodge their duty. The IDF makes this quite easy, as they don't want unmotivated recruits. This general attitude by the army has created an atmosphere where many potential recruits in the last 15 years have been claiming "pacifism" or "conscientious objection" as reasons not to serve. In those cases, 4 months in a military jail are served, and the draftee never has to worry about the army again. Of course, the infamous yeshiva exemptions used by nearly the entire ultra-orthodox community are still as big of a problem as ever.

Due to the various backdoor ways to dodge IDF service, the current recruitment rate of Jewish males stands at 80%. Of the 20% who avoid the draft, 10% use the yeshiva loophole, 4% claim some sort of legal objection and are briefly jailed, 4% are exempted from the system due to being mentally or physically unfit, and the final 2% dodge the system altogether by going abroad or hiding from authorities, who are not too eager to hunt them down.

Granted, an 80% draft rate is actually quite a success considering that most Israelis have almost European standards of living. The 80% figure has been steady since the late 1980's, even as the country has become much wealthier and more individualistic. However, as late as the 1970's, the recruitment rate averaged 95%. But, the number of ultra-orthodox men studying in yeshivot was rather small, and the army didn't let recruits lie to them about medical or mental conditions.

There's no reason why Israel, through smart policies, can't get the recruitment rate back up to a more respectable level. After all, history teaches us that the strongest and longest lasting nations are the ones that are the most socially cohesive. National service has always been the hallmark of a society with a purpose, and the most effective way to create citizens who feel strongly responsible for one another and for the nation as a whole. As Jews in a Jewish country, we must certainly have a purpose to our being here. If the parts of society that don't subscribe to this philosophy are allowed to gain strength, Israel will be weakened, and life here will become individualistic and self-centered. This automatically leads to moral corruption and decline in values - the prerequisites of national downfall. As mentioned earlier in this post, the forces of good are strong and are keeping at bay the forces of decadence. We just have to keep it up. Deterioration has a way of sneaking up on a country.

Of course, all of the above logic applies to me personally. Hence, I will be starting my IDF service a week from today. Of course, it will all be "classified" and I won't be able to write much about it in this blog. Basically, I will be James Bond but without the martinis, because gin and tonic makes me sick. There will, however, be plenty of expensive cars, beautiful girls, reckless sky-diving, wild car chases, thrilling shoot-outs, and luxurious dinner parties. I intend on saving the world, maintaining British influence in world affairs, and keeping the Queen's name from being tarnished. All the while, looking irresistable in tuxedo and a kippa.

In other personal news, I have moved into an apartment in Moshava Germanit, just off of Emek Refaim. Yes, it's an upscale neighborhood, for anyone familiar with Jerusalem. My apartment is in the most expensive part of that neighborhood. How I was able to pull this off is quite random and I don't understand why the landlord doesn't charge higher rent. I'd like to think he is doing a good deed, but I think it's just out of laziness. Either way, I'll take my luck however I can get it.