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.
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.
posted by Felix at
9:25 AM
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