It's been two weeks since my last confession. And it will have to wait two more if you're reading for detail. For now, I have limited time so I'll quickly expound on the topics of Jerusalem Day, which happened this past week, and the goings on in Sderot. Jerusalem Day celebrates the reunification of the city in 1967, and it used to be a national holiday. Today, it is primarily the holiday of the national-religious sector. Now, I know that it seems like this blog is out to prove that the knitted kippas are the only Zionists left in Israel. And while that does happen to be partially true, the reality is that, just like last year, Jerusalem was packed with national religious youth from yeshiva high schools, pre-military yeshivas and higher yeshivot. They came on organized group trips from all over Israel to attend the festivities. There were also massive showings of families. Total numbers are estimated at several hundred thousand. Said festivities were described in detail in a Jerusalem Day post of last year. There was marches, music, and the most numerically large group prayer/music session the Kotel Plaza sees all year. I can assure you that there was no secular representation at Jerusalem Day and, in fact, the left-wing media derided the event and tried to do its best to keep the spotlight off it, despite the sheer magnitude of the crowds and the meaning the holiday holds for the still Zionist populations in Israel's society.

In the IDF, we had a rabbi, who served in my unit in his youth, come and give a speech about the meaningfulness of having Jerusalem as our capital, the uniqueness of Israel and its centrality in world events, and the importance of military service as a means to ensure our survival. It was an inspiring speech, filled with quotes from the Torah and from Israel's leaders. Not the current trash that stinks up the Knesset, but the purer, ideological leaders of a generation ago. There was also a moment when the rabbi mentioned that there were a lot of crazy Americans in the unit who left their privileged existance and came to serve the Jewish people. The audience erupted in a good five minutes of applause and I have to say that it felt damn good to be given such a massive public display of appreciation. I generally have to deal with the pessimistic attitude of my fellow soldiers, so seeing that when their emotions are revealed, they really are impressed with the Americans who are such quality additions to their units, it uplifts the heart.

I think there are a lot of poorly written sentences in this post, but I am tired from drinking beer and eating freshly grilled burgers, so you must forgive me. I am turning in, and I will be back in two weeks with another update. By that point, I may have some detail for you on next weekend, which will be spent in the city of Hebron. I will try not to start a newsworthy incident, but I am somewhat of a firebrand, so you never know. Wearing the ceramic vest is going to be beyond uncomfortable, but I will get to pray in the Cave of the Patriarchs, so it'll be worthwhile.