M-16 is No Match For Me

I think completing my last blog entry really motivated me to work on it some more so here is another blog entry within the same week-I’m starting to catch up! You should all feel important considering how much time I spent writing this one so enjoy!

January 16 -23, 2011

Me and my oversized uniform

My alarm went off at 7:15 very early Sunday morning for Shacharit (Morning Prayer services). Then, after breakfast, we had an hour to finish getting ready for our "Israel Experience Week". Basically the entire month of January entailed the 2 weeks of Winter Break and the rest of the month for experiencing Israel before our Nativ group was split up into our 3 groups and shipped off to our new homes for second semester. For the first week of “Israel Experience” we were given 4 choices: A trip to Poland, a week volunteering in Haifa, a week archaeological dig, and a week experiencing the Israeli army in a program most Israeli high schools do called Gadna. I chose the army experience because I already visited Poland last Summer, and I knew I would never have a chance like this again to truly get a glimpse into the life of a real Israeli. When we arrived to the Sde Boker army Base in the South of Israel, we were immediately treated like new soldiers. Our Nativ group of the 20 of us was then divided into two groups. Basically the whole day was a foreshadowing of the week ahead of us; discipline was going to rule our lives. Whether we were getting our clothes (with missing buttons) or getting holly mattresses and smelly sleeping bags, we were under constant time restraints. There was some physical labor but mostly it was running from one tree to another light post in 15 seconds, and to stand in formation ( 2 lines standing in position), so for the rest of the day we did a lot of practice with discipline and if we moved after the time was up we had to do pushups. Our group of 20 was then divided into 2 tsevets(Hebrew army lingo for group) of 10 and were assigned a Mefakedet (commander) – ours was named Avigail. We didn’t just practice our discipline, we also had classroom time where we heard a poem about what it takes to be a soldier. I was really impressed and impacted by the poem and its depth on the life of an Israeli soldier. After a decent dinner that was improved by the shoko(Israeli specialty of chocolate milk in a bag instead of a box), we had an initiation ceremony where all the Tsevets gathered to meet the head Mefakedet and listen to the importance of the army and how lucky we were to get an experience like this. It was a little weird because all the other tsevets were from a huge Israeli group but our small group was American so one of my friends, Sean, translated the instructions. After the initiation, we were given our single hour of free time that all soldiers are given right before bed (yes, only an hour, no breaks during the hard working day). Even though that hour is designated for getting ready for bed and showering, all our Nativ girls made a pact in our tent that we wouldn’t be showering the entire 5 days we would be at Gadna because it was soooo cold and we’d have to run from the bathrooms to our tent at night with wet hair – we’d take dirt over pneumonia any day. When the hour was up, our Mefakedet came into our tent to make sure we were all in bed with the lights out and even stayed in the tent to make sure we’d go to bed (though there wasn’t a need, because we were so exhausted from the full day).





I woke up Monday morning to the sound of screaming Mefakedets in every tent, waking up the whole base at 5:30 in the morning! Today was the day we had anticipated and been expecting since we had all signed up for Gadna – our field day! After getting dressed, praying, and cleaning up our tents (the exact way as it would be expected in the army) we started our Masa (Hebrew for journey); we walked all morning for almost 3 hours, but when we arrived to our destination we were rewarded with a breakfast that was yet again improved by the chocolate milk. The whole day entailed field work – learning different ways to crawl, fall, and even walk.  We played games to practice all our new learned techniques and I could feel the bruises and welts grow as I would do pazatztas (certain ways to fall into crawling position). To make us look like real soldiers in the field, we even put mud on our faces and sticks over our uniforms for camouflage! But it wasn’t until after lunch that we really got to put all of our new learned skills to practice. Our tsevet (group) was going to compete against the other Nativ tsevet; by using our new camouflage and hiding techniques we were able to act like soldiers in battle. Each team was given 10 “grenades” and a certain amount of bullets. Even though it wasn’t real, adrenaline rushed through our blood, it was so intense and even a bit nerve wrecking because you didn’t know if anyone was lurking behind the other side of that rock or bush you were hiding behind. Ultimately each team won a round – but the competition between our tsevets wasn’t over yet. Both teams had to build hideouts that would be necessary during a war and it needed to meet 3 qualities – that it be hidden, comfy, and can protect. Our team’s hideout impressed the Samelet (assistant to the the Mem Mem(the mefakedet of the mefakedets))as we acted out a war scene that exemplified all 3 qualities. After a day full of scrapes, bruises and hard work, we headed back on a bus to reach the camp ground before sunset. To end the day we had some classroom time (it was very nice to get to sit after a hard day’s work) where we learned about and discussed friendship in the army. When you’re faced with such grueling circumstances, you can’t help but form bonds that will last a lifetime. Then after dinner we got to meet with the Mem Mem and learn about gun safety – as we would be shooting guns on our last full day of Gadna! That night I didn’t even wait for our hour of free time to be over, I was so exhausted from the day’s work – but before bed I saw that my knees had turned into murals of black and blue!

Picnic Breakfast after our long "MASA" (journey)

Matt (my partner in the competition) and I with camoflouged faces

My Bruised knee by the end of the week!

 

It was a lucky day when we got an extra hour of sleep and didn’t get woken up till 6:30 on Tuesday! After working in the field all day long on Monday, Tuesday was designated for the “classroom”. After starting to learn about gun safety with the Mem Mem the previous night, we continued learning and preparing for shooting the gun aaaall day. We learned about the 3 ways to shoot a gun (standing, kneeling and lying down) and the pros and cons of each position. Since lying down had the most contact to the ground, you had the most steady shot, thus we would be shooting in that position the following day. We also got to practice holding the gun and pretending to shoot it. We practiced following the orders and commands the Mem Mem would be giving us the next day in order that we would shoot the gun safely. When I first was handed the practice gun, I was surprised at how heavy it was and was overwhelmed with the feeling of holding a gun even if it wasn’t able to shoot. Since I was a little overwhelmed by the intensity, I forgot to cock the gun when I was given the order, so I was really glad when I got the second chance to practice, because I did it correctly and felt much more prepared for when it would be time for the real thing. Even though we ended the day with more classes about the army and its importance to Israel, Tuesday had definitely been the day of the M-16.

Though I thought I was lucky that we got to sleep in until 6 on Wednesday, I wasn’t so happy to find out that our tsevet’s chore that day would be to clean the bathrooms. It turned out to be not as awful a job as we thought, though it definitely wasn’t the most pleasant of jobs. Just when we thought our time of being active (like in field day) was over, we got to participate in a competition with all the other tsevets. There were tons of stations that we got to circulate through. It was also important to cheer and have a lot of team spirit because it helped with your score no matter how well you did in that specific station. I did feel pretty special at one station – we had to take turns sprinting to a specific spot where we had to do a quick pizatzta and once we were on the ground we had to quickly pick up a stone lying on the ground and throw it at a water bottle on the ground. We each had a turn after turn and were supposed to knock down the bottle as many times as we could, and I was the only one to knock over the bottle the entire time! Ultimately it was really fun just to play around and have a break from all the orders screamed at us constantly and just have fun with friends. After the surprise competition it was the time we’d all been waiting for… we were going to a shooting range to shoot M-16s. The bus drove us to a deserted field in the middle of nowhere (obviously for safety) and then they told us we’d each go into the “shooting room” by tzevet and go through the commands to shoot the 11 bullets that were already loaded in our guns. When it was my tzevet’s turn we walked in and sat on our mats in silence but with huge smiles of excitement and anticipation on our faces. Elkana, Nativ’s assistant director, and Aaron, one of the counselors, were also there and able to take pictures of us all while we waited and followed the commands. The whole experience was so surreal, adrenaline pumped through my veins and it seemed as if the experience was over before I knew it. Though some of the “soldiers” in my tsevet described shooting the M-16 as cool, I felt that wasn’t a very fitting description. Holding the gun in my hand and pulling the trigger was really intense, it was definitely scary, but also exciting and while it made me feel like I had power it also made me feel powerless because I was dealing with such dangerous machinery. No matter how it felt, I was pretty proud of myself once I’d finished and even more proud when I’d found out I’d made 7 out of 11 bullets on my target! (My other friend who has shot guns before got 8 and this was my first time!) As a souvenir we all got to keep a shell of one of the bullets we shot and the yellow target sheet with all the bullet holes in it. We came back, still in shock from the experience and had lunch. Though we thought nothing more exciting could happen after the gun shooting that day, our tsevet was in for an extra special treat. The next day would be Tu B’Shvat which is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the trees and all the fruit that they bare etc. Jews celebrate this holiday by eating special fruit and by planting trees, especially by planting them in the land of Israel. Trees are obviously very important for the earth, not just because of their fruit but also what they do to help the environment. A lot of times people will even pay for a tree to be planted in Israel in honor of a celebration or as a gift. Our tzevet got the honor to be the only tzevet of the base to plant trees in the base, and we got to plant 4! Since the land is so dry in the dessert we had to use pick axes to dig the holes and then add fertile soil so the trees would actually grow in such a dry a climate. We even got to bring our fourth tree to the Mefaked Habasis (the commander of the entire base) so it could be planted in front of his office, it made our honor even greater. We even got an extra half hour of break that evening before bed and since tomorrow would be our last day they told us we’d get to sleep in till 6:30 again! We definitely went to bed happy from our exciting day and sad but excited for our last day of Gadna.

Me shooting the M-16

7 bullet holes in my target sheet!

pick axing the hole for one of the trees

My tzevet with one of the newly planted trees

Fast asleep and still enjoying my sweet dreams, I was abruptly awoken by the sound of screaming Mefakedets waking us up a half hour earlier than expected and screaming that we only had 7 minutes to be dressed and ready outside in our “chet” formation with our tents already cleaned. Once we were in our “chet in front of our Mefakedet with our shirts tucked in and still yawning and in shock from the early wake up, she told us that we had just gone through a drill that most soldiers have to do to be ready to move in case of emergency battle. We were then ready to head to our surprise closing ceremony which really meant that our experience with Gadna was coming to an end. We marched in two lines, tsevet after tsevet, to David Ben Gurion (the first prime minister of Israel)’s grave – which is where our army base was located next to. With the closing ceremony they presented awards to certain “soldiers” and gave some speeches to the Mem Mem Alef (commander of our group of tzevets) because it was her last day after a year of working at the Sde Boker base. There were lots of tears, but it wasn’t till we were marching back that my tears started to fall. I have had Reynode’s Syndrome since freshman year – it’s when I have poor circulation in my hands and feet and in cold weather my hands and feet can even go numb. I was having issues with the hard cold nights of the desert so the army gave me a pair of gloves to use (which I still have as a souvenir!) but that morning that we were up early was particularly cold since the sun hadn’t come out yet. Since we stood completely still during the hour long ceremony in the cold weather, my feet had gone completely numb in certain parts and were in more pain than I’ve experienced in my feet due to my syndrome. With each step I was in more and more pain, but I didn’t want to complain, so when my friend next to me saw me sniffling she thought I was just overcome with emotion from the ceremony. As I tried to explain my pain the real tears fell and everyone else thought I was crying because of Gadna, so, after the sun came out as we walked back and warmed my feet out of pain, we all laughed at how they thought I was crying because Gadna was over and not my pain. After a picnic lunch and cleaning up the base/packing up to get ready to leave, they had one extra surprise left for us before we got on the busses. The 2 Mafekedets of our Nativ tsevets and the Mem Mem and the Samelet were all standing there to give us our own personal ceremony where all of our Nativers received pink award sheets because we were an especially good group. The Mem Mem said that she has never given awards to an entire group the whole time she’s been on the base (a year!) but we were all such hard workers they thought we all deserved something. Though it was almost time to get on the bus it was finally time for what we’d been waiting for since we were assigned to our Mefakedets… they weren’t our commanders anymore so we got to have a Q&A. With tons of laughter we found otr that our mefakedet was 3 days younger than me! Apparently a lot of times she wanted to laugh at things we did but she’s not allowed to because of her position in the army, it was so fun to see that she was just a normal teen like the rest of us, but weird at the same time to think that we had looked up to her like a real leader the whole time! After listening and following all her orders and commands and then finding out she was our age, it really opened up the world of the army as a place of order and the importance of your actions to keep order which is necessary in time of war. On the ride back to Jerusalem, I not only slept to make up for my exhausting week, I also reflected on my new realizations of the Israeli army. I learned how uniting it is to have the army be mandatory, because even if your job isn’t to fight (which most people’s isn’t) it still forms a united nation. I also realized from all the extra chores I had to do every day to keep the base in order, that being in the army isn’t always just fighting in the field; it’s about working together and being a part of something important.  By the time I’d dropped my bags in my room I jumped in the shower to wash off 5 days of dirt and hard work, and got in my pajamas. By 9 I was in bed and zonked out – ready to make up for all the lack of sleep.

My Tzevet

 

After 11-and-a-half hours of sleep, the sun shining through my curtains woke me up in time to catch breakfast from the cafeteria. After a morning of cleaning and unpacking (slash starting to repack for the next trip), I had a  quick lunch that was a refreshing change from Gadna food, and headed to the shuk for a few things I’d be needing that Shabbas. One of which was some drinks to take to Abby and Evan Ravskis’ for Shabbat dinner that Friday night.  As I’ve written many times before, Evan is/was my chevruta(study partner) for one of my classes at the Conservative Yeshiva; in fact we have an additional member in our study group, Ari Rosenblume who is on Nativ with me.  Since it was our last Shabbat in Jerusalem before we left, Evan and Abby had us both over for Friday night dinner. They also had invited a couple other friends, of whom I knew, and it was just a great night full of delicious food and laughter. I was so glad to have that extra time with Evan and Abby before I left for Karmiel. Plus Evan remembered how much I love his salmon, so he made me that while everyone else had chicken, I felt extra special and was glad to leave them on a good note (though I knew I’d see them again).

There was still one more lucky couple I wanted to see before I moved to Karmiel – Alex and Laura Freedman f course! Since Alex is my cousin I had to spend my last Shabbat with him even if I didn’t want to (but luckily I really did!).  I also wanted to make sure I spent my Saturday morning services at Kedem where I have made my own community considering most of the congregants are my friends from the Conservative Yeshiva. It was a little sad giving good bye hugs at the end of services to all my friends, but I was still looking forward to lunch with Alex and Laura. Like always, the food was delicious and we had so much to talk about, like my Gadna trip and their upcoming honeymoon trip to Italy. I was so glad I had gotten that extra chance to spend time with them before my move, and it made my Shabbat extra special.

Sunday morning was the start of our “Israel Today Seminar”- basically 3 weeks to get a better understanding of Israeli society and stepping outside of our Nativ bubbles. Our morning with reality began with David Horovitz, the Editor of the Jerusalem Post, one of the most popular Israel Newspapers that can also be accessed from jpost.com.  Though I’ve never been huge into politics, it was interesting to hear his view and points on Israel, especially the West Bank issue… which was a good setup for the next part of the day. We were off to explore the settlements in Gush Letzion, located in what is known today as the West Bank. In society outside of Israel, the news often presents the settlements as a road block to peace between the Palestinians and Israelis. Settlements are also portrayed as rundown villages with temporary housing with only extremely religious Jews that stubbornly won’t leave the territory. I’ve always been confused about the situation – like I said before, I’m not into politics! Even though I’m still confused (it’s obviously not simple or else there’d be peace in Israel), after visiting a kibbutz and Efrat (two settlements within the West Bank) and listening to “Settler Bob”, I definitely have a better understanding of what is going on, and an even better understanding than most people just by seeing it first-hand. One big revelation I learned is that the settlements aren’t run down at all, other than the parts that are empty because the government has forbidden any further construction in those territories; the settlements are actually really pretty and established “towns”. I also learned most of the people aren’t the typical Ultra-Orthodox Jews, just Jews that believe this is the Jewish homeland and that we shouldn’t give up the land considering Israel is already so tiny. It was also interesting to discover that the reason the territory is called the West bank is because the Palestinians don’t want to call the land by its real names- Judea and Samaria- because Judea officiates that it has claim to the Jews. Even though I’m still confused, I am very glad I got the chance to understand a bit more about the land that I love living in. The day got even better as the evening approached with more learning but in a much more entertaining way. All of Nativ was going to Tel Aviv to watch a play put on by the Deaf and Blind. I had no expectations before going, but even if they had been high, they wouldn’t have been let down. The show was called “Not by Bread Alone”, and was performed mostly by people who were BOTH deaf and blind. There were some people who were just deaf or just blind but even if they could hear, they could only hear because of hearing aids. We basically got to hear their life stories, dreams, and watch performances, which was mostly miming and dancing. One of the most interesting parts was how they introduced the play; all the actors and actresses were sitting and making bread! (hence the title). As they kneaded and rolled the bread they introduced themselves, though most of them just stood while the three people, who could talk, spoke for them. I was so impressed with all the performances, there was one guy who was born blind and became deaf at 11 but could still talk (thought it wasn’t extremely clear it was still hugely impressive). At the end of the show we also got to eat the bread that they had made at the beginning of the show- it was super delicious and hot out of the oven! The evening left me so appreciative of both my sight and ability to hear; but I also learned that it’s always possible to overcome obstacles we face.