Intense Week, Emotional Finish

This past week was quite difficult. We learned how to move in tactical pairs. Although the week was supposed to be just about that one set of skills, it turned into an experience that included far more. We lived in the field, slept in old American sleeping bags, ate the same dry canned food thrice daily, and were continually cold and dirty. Out of every 24 hours, we spent only 2 sleeping. The rest of the time was filled with practicing various stances, crawling, carrying each other in stretchers or one-on-one. When not in motion, we were generally disallowed from sitting down and resting our feet. The body eventually enters into a state of exhaustion. Never being able to take off a fully-loaded vest takes a tremendous toll on one's energy levels. Just to make sure we didn't get bored, we also had some long runs. If you think you're in shape, try this one at home - strap 30 lbs of weight to your body and crawl up a 60 degree inclined hill for about 100 yards as fast as you can; run down; run 100 yards back up; run back down. That's one set. Do as many as you can with 2 minutes in between. Forget any sports practices you may have had, this is brutal.

After three days of the above-described fun, we had a long, but surprisingly not difficult, march. It could be that I am getting used to it, or it could be that the pace wasn't as fast as previous marches. At the end of the march, we finished up with a sprint up a hill, at the top of which our officers lit bonfires and we heard an inspiring speech by our deputy company commander. The highlight was that we finally got the shoulder tag of our unit. The rest of the pins and patches will take a long time to earn. Following some decent sleep (finally!), we had a day of conditioning on base. Lots of push-ups, sprints, and negotiating the obstacle course with full gear. Most of us didn't care what physical activity we were required to do, we were just happy to eat good food and have access to bathrooms.

Thursday, the fifth day in the Hebrew week, was a great day. We were taken on a tour of areas in East Jerusalem and the Old City where fighting took place in 1967. Old-school veterans shared their stories, and eventually we walked through the Moslem quarter and came into the plaza of the Kotel (the Western Wall). After an expected amount of turmoil and confusion, we were ready for the swearing-in ceremony. Lone soldiers were taken into the Border Police compound at the Temple Mount, where high level officers congratulated us on our commitment and gave us free stuff, again. I don't know what to do with all the cookies and shampoo the army keeps giving me.

After my special treatment as a lone soldiers ended, I rejoined my unit. We were all lined up in a tunnel that leads into the Kotel plaza, singing songs and getting riled up for the ceremony. The plaza itself was completely filled with a good 10,000 friends, family and other well-wishers. Finally, we marched out in some sort of order and took our places along the gun racks for our unit. All the platoons were arranged around an open area where the IDF's top brass spoke to us about Zionism, service and the upcoming threats. The audience was loud, the TV cameramen were having a great time filming us and projecting the images real time onto two massive screens in the center of the plaza. The atmosphere might as well be described as electric.

The head Rabbi of the IDF spoke at length about Joshua's conquest of Israel in Tanachic times and about the modern day's IDF connection to the warriors of ancient Israel. We were then each given a gun and a Tanach (Old Testament+Prophets+Writings). The gun we got was actually not ours, but just the next one on the gun rack. We were expected to exchange with each other after the ceremony until everyone had his gun. Leave it up to Israelis to actually plan for disorganization. The handing out of the Tanachim and the M-16's took place to a set of religious songs, "Shir Ha'Maalot" and "Adon Olam" amongst them, set to more modern tunes.

Finally, we all screamed out "Ani Nishba," meaning "I swear." Or, for those who for religious reasons refuse to swear, it was "Ani Matzhir," meanign "I declare." The climax was the Hatikva, the national anthem. About 500 soldiers and the well over 10,000-strong crowd all sang in unison in what I can only descibe as the single most uplifting moment in my life so far. The elation I felt can only be understood by someone who harbors intense Zionist feelings and fully internalizes the importance the IDF has in keeping this little enterprise we call the State of Israel alive. It was simply awesome. Once it ended, there was lots of hugging, families taking pictures and lots of young men excited by the fact that they are allowed to bring their gun home for the first time. I am not 18, but I can't say I wasn't somewhat giddy about the prospect myself.

This Shabbat has been spent reading and eating. Someone asked me what do I "do" as an oleh, an immigrant, in Israel. So I thought I'd share it with my general readership:

Aside from the army, I hang out in Jerusalem with all the other American olim. We comprise about a quarter of the population, and if you add all the tourists/students/work visa Americans, it's a whole "thing" to be a English-speaker here. Guys learn in yeshivot, girls in midrashot, people study in Hebrew university. Those in a different stage work in various jobs. Many people work in certain fields that have a fetish for hiring Americans. Some are wealthy, some are not. People rent apartments, do shabbat meals, date, go out, daven. Conversations about aliyah issues are common, and you can always find out what/how/where/when. People complain about phone bills, bank fees and the left-wing monkeys who run this country. The secular, and the less religious, have premarital relations. Young religious people who used to be secular have lapses with drinking and hooking up, although it depends on what crowd you're with.

The food, as is well know, is really good. My apartment is fully kosher and there are sometimes extra people hanging out or sleeping on couches. In other words, we live life, abide by the Torah as best as an unmarried person can, and go on long walks.

Life is more Jewish here, and if you make an effort, it's completely Jewish in every way that is possible. At the same time, there are practical sides of life that you have to get through. So far, no one I know is even thinking about going back. Zionist feeling is strong and there are many things to love about this place. The current aliyah trend taps into a very strong group of people who make this place their own, despite the problems. I don't know how it is for the totally secular crowd, they must have a more difficult time, but they are hanging in there.

On the whole, life here is very good. Once you figure out how this place works, and you forget about materialist desires, it's quite a pleasant place to live, not even taking into account the Zionist imperative and the goodness of being a nation in its own land.

There's also a large community of guys like me, who volunteered for the IDF in their 20's, so there are plenty of people with whom I have a lot in common in terms of my particular aliyah experience.

By the way, if any of my readers know anyone who may be interested in aliyah and/or IDF service, forward this website address to them. As far as I know, there are no blogs out there quite like mine.