Why I'm Joining the IDF

Not too long from now I will be a woman in uniform!

It’s incredible how much my life has changed in the last year. One year ago I had a car, a full-time job and snow boots. Today I have a bus pass, a babysitting gig and hiking boots. 

I feel freer than ever and more in touch with what I want out of life. For the time being what I want is this:

I have decided to devote the next (approximately) two years of my life to service in the Israeli army. This is not a decision I arrived to overnight. I’ve been thinking about committing myself to Israeli military service for the past year and now that I’m an Israeli citizen I’ve decided to turn thought into action.

Before I go into my reasons for volunteering myself to serve I’ll give you the basics on military service requirements in Israel.

All citizens of Israel, with the exception of Arab Israelis but not excluding Druze Israelis, are required to serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Men are required to serve for three years and women for two. **Women can however opt of of military service and instead volunteer in a branch of national service.

The rules change a bit for immigrants (and for religious Jews, but I won’t get into that).

Men who arrive to Israel and immigrate after the age of 26 are not required to serve in the IDF. The same goes for women over the age of 21.

I am 24. When I arrived to Israel I was 23 - this means that I am not at all required to serve. But I want to; I feel compelled. 

There are a lot of people who are not going to agree with what I am about to say, or they will feel some sort of internal dissonance because they do agree but have decided not to act upon whatever feelings arise within them to serve. In any case, I will share with you my reasons for deciding to enlist…

It’s ridiculous that young immigrants in this country receive so much support from the government even when, in most cases, they do not serve in this country’s military, when had they been born here, they would have been required. During the first six months of citizenship in Israel new immigrants who are single receive about $650 each month - and that is from a government whose country is constantly fighting in wars of defense. On top of this direct monetary support new immigrants are also entitled to discounts on import taxes, rental tax and free health insurance for one year. And if that’s not enough, they also receive five free months of modern Hebrew class free from the government. 

Is it really fair for immigrants who don’t serve in the IDF to receive these benefits?

On the one hand, it’s not - in the history of this country thousands of Israeli soldiers have died who served not because they volunteered to, but because it was the status quo; they had to.

But on the other hand, the government doesn’t require military service of new immigrants beyond the already stated ages. This leads me to the question, if all citizens are required to serve, why aren’t all new citizens also required, regardless of age? I almost want to call it discrimination on the basis of age, but I’m afraid discrimination isn’t quite the right word.

Israel would not be able to exist without its military. It is my opinion that the State of Israel needs to exist; I point now to the slaughter of six million European Jews just 70 years ago. I can’t help but think that if the Jewish nation would have had an army, it would have been able to defend itself. By no means do I assert that Israel has done everything correct in regards to the people that have become refugees as a result of the State’s creation, but I do think it’s possible to still stand by the country and its military as a whole without taking a particular position in the matter.

All of these feelings aside… what’s in it for me, other than a uniform and gun?

I am happy in Israel. For the time being I want to live here. The best way for me to acclimate into Israeli society and to immerse myself in the Hebrew language is to join the army. However army service will not only be a Hebrew-learning tool, it will also provide me with a sense of self-fulfillment that cannot be found elsewhere.

I can’t feel right living here if I feel like a freeloader. I feel as though it is my duty to serve. If there had been required military service in the US I would have done it there - there wouldn’t have been a choice. Here in Israel, I feel as though it shouldn’t be a choice and for myself, I have decided it’s not a choice. I am committing myself.

My official Israeli Army process has already begun. On July 7 I went to the Israeli Army’s draft office in Haifa to have my Tsav Rishon (first call up). 

From this day I am supposed to receive three different scores: one is IQ related (Psychotechni), one corresponds to level of education and psychologic standing (Kaba), and the last is a physical assessment score (Profile). Based on my composite score I will be able to classify for various different units in the army. So far I have only received the first two scores; a 90/90 and a 56/56, respectively. Hopefully I will receive the physical score soon. It seems like there will be a lot of possibilities available, I just hope the language barrier won’t be a problem. An officer at the Tsav Rishon administered a Hebrew test to me but it wasn’t clear whether I passed or if I would be required to enroll in the army’s three-month Hebrew class. We shall see…

I will probably have more information to share about my draft date within the next week or two. And for those who are wondering… my current preference is to serve in the Search and Rescue unit. However, truth be told, I am not really that knowledgeable of the IDF and all of its units, so it is possible that my preference will waiver.

That’s all for now! Now that you’re all in on my big secret, I’ll keep you updated :)

A Young Jewish American Woman in the West Bank

Curiosity has the ability to inspire profound adventure. And fortunately for me, I am a very curious individual.

The sign reads: This Road leads To Area "A" Under The Palestinian Authority The Entrance For Israeli Citizens Is Forbidden, Dangerous To Your Lives And Is Against The Israeli Law 

To all of my family and friends who usually tend to worry about things, I have a confession: three months ago I journeyed to the land most Westerners refer to as the West Bank. For the purpose of this blog post I too will refer to it as the West Bank.

You are probably wondering why I ever would want to do this. Isn’t it a war zone, you might be thinking. 

First things first. The West Bank is not Gaza. The West Bank and Gaza Strip are the two territories, sometimes included in the map of Israel and sometimes not, that are often referred to as “the occupied territories.” Depending on who you ask, some people will say they are occupied and some people will say they are not.

A little geography lesson. The West Bank is located just east of Jerusalem, and just west of Jordan. The name, “The West Bank” comes from the geographical location of the land area… it is west of the Jordan River bank. I advise you do a quick Google search to look for yourself.

The West Bank is militarily controlled by Israel but Israeli citizens are not actually allowed to travel into certain parts of the West Bank for security reasons. The Arabs who live in this land call themselves Palestinians and they refer to the land, and in most cases to all of Israel, as Palestine. These people are not considered to be Israeli citizens and they do not possess Israeli passports. For them to travel outside of the region they have to travel via the Jordanian airport and not Israel’s airport (this is one someone told me, I apologize if it is inaccurate).

Gaza Strip is a literally a small strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea that borders Israel and Egypt. Gaza Strip and the West Bank do not border one another. Israel used to have military control over Gaza but it withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Now, a group called “Hamas” that most Westerners refer to as a militant terrorist organization (myself included), has military control over Gaza. But they don’t really have complete control over everything. Gaza is like a big prison. No one can really enter or exit. There is no airport there, and Israel monitors everything that comes in and out by sea (… not that it stops Hamas from ordering thousands of rockets to be launched at Israel as we saw in the summer of 2014).

I am not sure how I feel about all of this but I do know that I feel a lot differently now that I have actually gone and seen the grass on the other side. While I cannot speak to what things are like in Gaza, I can share my account of the West Bank.

Leaving Israel and entering the West Bank.

On the other side.

My roommate, Brielle, and I were due to depart with an organized tour group from our hostel in Jerusalem to see the West Bank but the tour was postponed and time was of the essence to us. So… a young Canadian man, Abdullah, from our hostel asked if we wanted to accompany him on an unorganized trip there. Abdullah speaks fluent Arabic and has Palestinian heritage but he himself has never travelled to the West Bank or to Gaza. Also accompanying us was another traveler from our hostel- Allard from the Netherlands.

Left to right: Brielle, Abdullah and Allard.

Crossing into the West Bank from Jerusalem was quite easy. Literally all we did was walk through a turnstyle. There was no one standing guard to check our passports or to ask us any questions - NOTHING!

And although the barrier was bare, I felt in the West Bank like I was in a completely different country - I felt like I was in Palestine, though I’m not sure what that even means. 

We first rode a shared taxi to get to Ramallah, one of the major population centers in the West Bank.

Me and two Palestinian girls. Their father said it was okay for me to be photographed with them. The girls were adorable!

(Side note: the day we did this trip was the day after it snowed in the region, and since these people don’t know how to handle the smallest bit of snow, the streets were pretty empty!)

Of all of the passerbys on the streets, there were few women. And the majority of the women that we did see were accompanied by men and wore head scarves (known as hijabs). This was a stark contrast from the scene in Israel where women serve as soldiers, live and travel often alone and wear sometimes some pretty skimpy outfits. I’m not saying either society is better, I’m just saying what was.

Abdullah found a mosque and led us inside where Brielle and I were asked to cover our hair and remove our shoes before stepping inside. There was only one person inside the mosque praying.

Abdullah told me I looked very Turkish with the head covering.. which makes sense because I am. 

Inside the mosque in Ramallah.

After a good 45 minutes after crossing the border we decided we wanted to see what a refugee camp in the West Bank looks like. 

We hailed a taxi and boy did we luck out! Our driver, Aymn, was the sweetest most genuine taxi driver I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a passenger for. He offered to be our driver for the duration of our visit to the West Bank and I’m so glad we said yes :) 

We arrived to the refugee camp in Ramallah and I have just one word to describe it: dirty. There was trash EVERYWHERE! I don’t know whose responsibility it is to keep the camp clean, but they are not doing it. 

The refugee camp was not at all what I thought it would be. I thought it would be a closed off area of temporary tent-stye housing. It was not. It was more just a section of town. It had little shops, apartment buildings and streets. But you felt like you were in a severely impoverished area.

And then, staring out from an alleyway at me was something I was not at all expecting to see. But there it was, like a bullet to my eyes, see the picture below.

Note the swastika on the bottom right of the purple gate.

From there Aymn took us to Jericho, which he told us is the lowest city in the world, elevation-wise. 

The drive was about 40 minutes. On the way Aymn pointed out to us “Israeli settlements.” I use quotation marks here because not everyone will agree on the term “settlement,” but for the purpose of this blog post I will use it.

The settlements are large gated mini-cities whose residents are Jews that have decided, for whatever the reason, to move east into the West Bank. These settlements are a very hot topic as they are planned by the Israeli government. Some claim they are in violation of international law and others claim that the land belongs to Israel. It is not particularly safe for the settlers to travel outside of their settlements. When they do, often Palestinians throw stones at them to show they are not welcome.

From the car we could see one of the settlements up on a hill.

In the past Israel also had settlements in Gaza Strip, but when it withdrew from Gaza in 2005 it also withdrew from the settlements.

While driving to Jericho we passed through a couple of Israeli military checkpoints. We weren’t asked to stop, we just had to slow down a bit. Aymn explained to us that the purpose of the checkpoints are to ensure drivers are obeying traffic laws and have the proper permits for their vehicles. When there is no visible enforcement, people drive too fast.

On our way to Jericho we saw the Dead Sea from its northern tip, which was beautiful to see. We stopped at a Greek Orthodox temple, I’m not sure of the name or the significance of it, but it was beautiful. We walked inside of the temple to the main sanctuary and inside of it there were some human bones. Aymn told us they were the bones of the people who built the temple. Although it was kind of cool I think I was more freaked out than anything.

Here is the Greek Orthodox temple. I swear this is a real picture that I took!

Inside the temple a woman prays.

Self explanatory.

Following our temple rendevous we visited the ruins of Hirsham’s Palace. This is where things got interesting. -Whatever the reason you are thinking, you are wrong.- Abdullah, Brielle, Aymn and I entered the ruins. Allard decided to stay behind and wait for us by the taxi.

Read the sign.

Aymn shows us the ancient mosaic tile floor beneath the earth.

A wide shot of the ruins.

When we finished touring the ruins Allard was nowhere to be found. At that point Aymn was very worried. You would have thought one of his nieces or nephews went missing. None of us had a way of reaching Allard by phone. Aymn drove around near to the ruins to search for Allard but couldn’t find him. At that point we knew we had to assume the worst: Allard ditched us. 

I should have known from this picture I took of him that he was not to be trusted. There is a certain look in his eyes...

We decided we should continue on with our journey. We drove to what I assume was the city center and got lunch. There we ran into Allard and you can bet there was some interesting energy flowing. Allard said he didn’t want to have to wait for us so he left. From this I draw the conclusion that this guy was raised by wolves, since he didn’t even have the decency to let us know he was leaving, and that he was not in fact kidnapped or taken hostage. And no, Allard did not offer to cover his portion of the cost for the taxi.

In Jericho...

Left to right: Brielle, Abdullah and Aymn

Abdullah buying from a local fruit merchant in Jericho.

From there, without Allard, we headed back to the Jerusalem border checkpoint (in an Israeli taxi this time) where, since we were in an Israeli taxi, we crossed back over with ease.

This photo and that which is subsequent we took at the ruins with Abdullah's GoPro!

Hope you enjoyed the tales :)

And now it is reflection time.

As a young woman of the Western world, it was evident there that I was a foreigner. The entire time I was there I felt like I was hiding my Jewish identity behind my American identity. I was careful not to let a single word of Hebrew slip from my mouth to my roommate in fear of the wrong person taking notice.

The people there couldn’t have been more warm. Everyone had a smile to share. My expectations were exceeded. The term “occupied territory” makes me envision Israeli soldiers marching on every street to watch the Palestinians’ every moves. But the soldiers were only present at road checkpoints which also do exist in Israel.

I didn’t feel like I was in a “disputed territory.” Though I’m not sure exactly what a disputed territory is supposed to feel like. I just felt like I was in a different country - Palestine. Maybe they should be able to have their own independent country - but then I remember back the summer of 2014 in Gaza with Hamas taking rule over the land and using its resources to fire rockets into Israel… It is a big paradox in my head. 

People often compare Israel to Nazi Germany. Now that I have been to one of the “occupied territories” I have to disagree with steadfast opposition. Though I have never travelled back in time to Nazi Germany I have read about it, heard about it from those who lived it and seen it in movies and documentaries. 

Israel is NOT Nazi Germany. However, knowing what I know now I don’t think it’s right to build population centers in land that is recognized internationally as a disputed territory. There are a lot of Israelis who would agree.

If you follow this issue in the news you have probably heard of the concepts “one-state solution” and “two-state solution.” Under the one-state solution Israel, the West Bank and Gaza would merge together, becoming one unified country. Under the two-state solution, the Palestinians would receive their own internationally recognized state.

In my ideal world countries would not exist and people would just live. But this is not reality, it is life of the past. I have no idea what lies ahead.

A small segment of the wall that divides the two polarized and yet so similar worlds.

What I do know, now, is where I want to go from here. I will leave it at that for now.

Destination Israel in the Desert

This past weekend my program organizer, Destination Israel/ Israel Way, coordinated a group trip to the Negev Desert for all of its current participants on its programs.

Left to right: Maks, Brielle, Dima, me, Kostia

Most of the participants were American. But not all. There was a pretty large faction of French participants. All of the program instruction was in English. This presented a problem...

There were a few times during scheduled programming where some of the instruction was translated into French, but most of it was not. If it were me who didn't speak English, I think I would feel a bit slighted, especially since their programs are for French speakers. Being in a foreign country where the national language is not your mother tongue you expect to feel lost a lot of the time. But when you are inside of your safety net in the keep of your organization you expect to feel a sense of familiarity and not distance.

Being that I only speak about 15 words of French I didn't actually speak to any of the French participants about this issue. However it was obvious that there was a sense of separation between us, the English speakers and them, the French speakers.

The best part of the trip for me was the first hike we did since we were able to bridge the gap a bit. A hike can present many a challenge - people have all kinds of different abilities. Some feel invincible against heights, some have spider-like rock climbing skills, and some have the strength to push on for miles and miles. And then there are others who have never hiked a day in their lives.

I was excited to have the opportunity to help those that were struggling at the end of the group - most who were French speakers. It gave me the chance to work on my nonverbal communication skills and to show that we are more the same than different :)

That night we slept at a Bedouin campsite - I'm not sure of the name of it. We ate an "authentic" Bedouin meal and then slept in rows of sleeping bags in a large tent. A couple interesting tidbits from the host of our dinner: Unmarried Bedouin women wear all black so that men know they are single and are not allowed to approach them. A Bedouin man may have up to four wives.

It wasn't exactly that stimulating...

The next morning I woke up EARLY to go on another hike.

The bus ride was maybe two and a half hours. We saw the Egyptian border from the bus. There is a pretty hefty fence separating Egypt from Israel that did not exist until recent years. Our tour guide told us the Israeli government built this fence for a two main reasons: 1) The Sinai peninsula is not currently policed by Egypt and it is important that independent militants don't cross over. 2) Refugees from countries in Africa other than Egypt have been entering Israel illegally for years via the Egyptian border.

This second hike was a bit more challenging than the first and was just a hop and a skip outside of Eilat. From the top of the mountain we climbed we were able to see all of Eilat and Aqaba (in Jordan), and our tour guide also told us that some mountains we saw in the distance were in Saudi Arabian territory. This means that in one day I saw four different countries.

The mountain we climbed is called Mt. Solomon and it is the second highest mountain in all of Israel. It took us about four and a half hours to climb up and then descend back down.

The view from the top was INCREDIBLE!

And... at the end of the hike we of course took a group picture!

The rest of the trip was in Eilat which wasn't extremely exciting for those on my specific program since we already live here. But I must say it was nice to have some new faces around. I even like to think I made some new friends :)

Up and Running Again (Pun Intended!) - Petra, Christmas and New Years

After a month and a half of doctor-ordered rest, I went running again today for the first time. Stress fracture no more :)

I'm back in my right mindset! And motivated more than ever! In this post I will provide a recap of everything that's been going on since Hanukkah... I'll go in reverse chronological order. Sit tight, because it'll be a long ride.

My dear old ma and pa were here in Israel for a few weeks while my mom attended a work conference. I went to visit them for a weekend in Tel Aviv and the following week they came to visit me in Eilat. And then together, we went to PETRA!!!

In front of the most well known of Petra's surviving ruins: the Treasury building. Carved out of a mountain!

For those who don't know, Petra is in Jordan. The climate is similar to that of Jerusalem's, which is similar to that of Atlanta's (I think...). It was cold! Petra is one of the modern-day Seven Wonders of the World.

Basically Petra is a historic village carved out of mountains - no bricks, no mortar, no stones - just mountains as building materials. It is really quite amazing. But what amazed me the most was finding out that it wasn't discovered by the Western world until the 1800's.

The government in Jordan purchased the land from Bedouins [I think] sometime within the last few decades on the condition that the only people permitted to earn employment there would be Bedouins from that particular tribe.

My mom: Ellen the excavator!

My dad: Leon the legendary!

This man on the right offered to make a trade with my dad: nine camels for me. It's a good thing my parents don't have that big of a backyard!

The worst part of the trip for me was to witness the abuse in Petra of camels, donkeys and horses. I had to hold myself back from crying while I watched as a camel nearly collapsed as it was lowering itself to let an overweight male passenger off of its hump and back onto the ground. I looked into this camel's eyes and never before have I seen such a look of desperation and sadness. It was truly depressing.

Then as we were exiting the site I saw some signs that helped me again find the light at the end of the tunnel.

It reads: "John should've thought about his size and the animal's welfare before taking a ride." Damn right he should have.

We got back from Petra to Eilat at about 7:00 p.m. Crossing the border back into Israel took a little bit longer than crossing into Jordan, since there was more security. I showed my parents where I live, they met my roommates and then we bid one another farewell.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention: our tourguide Nizar (pictured right) left a man in our tour group (pictured left) in Petra. He was not happy!

REWIND to New Year's:

In the U.S. we refer to the time period of Dec. 31 - Jan. 1 as New Years, since you are beginning a new year. In Ghana they refer to it as Pass Over, since you are passing over to a new year. In Israel, they refer to the same as Sylvester. The reason is one I didn't know until this week.

Since I feel the Internet can explain to you better than I can the reason for this title, I will copy and paste a passage a few paragraphs a website:

Silvester or Sylvester (also spelled szilveszter, sylvester or sylwester) is the day of the Feast of Pope Sylvester I, a saint who served as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 314 to 335 and oversaw both the First Council of Nicaea and Roman Emperor Constantine I’s conversion to Christianity. The feast day is held on the anniversary of Sylvester’s death, 31 December, a date that, since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, has coincided with New Year’s Eve.

As a result, many Europeans call New Year’s Eve “Sylvester.” When European Jews started to emigrate to the Land of Israel starting in the nineteenth century, the new year in their new country was, of course, Rosh Hashanah. But they still wanted to mark the changing of the secular year as in their old countries, so they continued to celebrate “Sylvester.”

Over time, the practice grew in popularity – especially after the aliyah in the 1990s from the former Soviet Union, where Christmas was banned and everyone celebrated Sylvester instead – to the extent that Sylvester parties are now held in many bars, clubs, restaurants, and peoples’ homes each year. As more and more Israelis consume American and European popular culture, they have also become more familiar with other holidays such as Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

Though there's no ball that drops here in Israel, the new year is still celebrated, but I didn't feel it on as large a scale. At work we made special flower arrangements to decorate the big dining room in the hotel.

I resolve in 2015 to smile every day!

REWIND to Christmas and my voyage to Tel Aviv:

Even though I am Jewish, spending Christmas in Israel felt a little bit unnatural. I am so accustomed to the culture of Christmas that you can even say I missed it! There were still some little signs of Christmas peeking out of the curtains here, but no Christmas songs on the radio :(

The hotel handed out Christmas candy to all of the employees. Side note: a good chunk of the employees are Christian and not Israeli. Many are African refugees, or are from Russia, Ukraine or other countries.

This restaurant has Christmas decorations since it is not Kosher.

Look closely, a menorah lurks in the background!

On Christmas day I rode the bus from Eilat to Tel Aviv to spend some time with my parents. It was lovely. My dad and I toured the shuk and I was able to find a few vegan delicacies! I felt like I was in the Mecca for vegans.

Vegan cashew cheese burekah!

Vegan Krembo! 

Vegan sufganiyot!

Vegan shwarma! It was so tasty!

Vegan donuts!

The only thing I was missing was another vegan person to appreciate all of this greatness! 

Thanks dad for joining in even though I know you weren't as inspired by it all!

I should also mention it seemed like there there were animal rights activists on just about every corner. We saw people with dogs from a shelter trying to find them homes right on the streets. We saw three pamphleteering booths within half a mile of one another. We saw a fake cardboard garbage can filled with fake little chicks in order to show onlookers what is happening in factory farms.

It was my kind of scene.

One of the evenings my parents and I spent Shabbat dinner with some recently discovered Israeli cousins on my mom's side of the family. I had already met them but my parents had not. Dinner was delicious, and it was like the closing of the circle for my mom to meet these people.

I snuck a picture for you all!

After dinner, cousin Roy kidnapped me and took me as a hostage at a Christmas party in Jaffa. He said he didn't think I would have gone had he told me in advance! (He is probably right... eek... note to self: I've got to stop being so boring!)

Ho ho ho!

Never did I dream I would see so many Jews in Santa hats...

They contracted Santa to be the DJ!

 The next day my parents and I met MORE cousins. It always seems like we have an endless stream of cousins popping up all the time. The hosts live just north of Tel Aviv and prepared for us an incredible luncheon. I can't even begin to explain how amazing the tomatoes stuffed with rice were!

Here we are! 

These newfound cousins couldn't have been nicer. They welcomed us like we had been family and known each other for years, and extended offers to me to come and stay with them at their homes. What a warm feeling :)

This week begins a two-week vacation in my program. I'm not sure what adventures it will bring or to where I will be traveling but my hope is that I will have some great new material for this blog! Hasta la vista baby!