:: alumni

Speech Eli Posner gave at Ashky Hedvat’s Wedding

Gil Adler, BU class of '06 alum and former president of the BU Chabad Jewish Student Organization, recently joined the Israeli Army. Here are his reports from the front lines:

Part I

Hi,

I wanted to let you know several things:

I have been wrapping (Tefillin) everyday...and not just to get 40 extra minutes OUT OF
running, pushups, and listening to commanders yell at us... but because of the
war.

{You have no idea how weird it is to put on Tephillin, over army uniforms, army
boots and then wrap an M16 around your shoulder....it's really bugged out.}

I fasted on 17 Tamuz because of the fall of one of the Beis Hamikdash. It was a
difficult fast, but very worth is considering the situation going on all around
me.

If you would like to get a first hand example of what’s going on, I will delve
little bit into what I’ve gone through so far...which is relatively nothing,
but feel free (in fact, PLEASE!) read it to the congregation next Shabbat meal:

After drafting last Monday (July 9th), I have been sent to a base specifically
for foreigners drafting into the IDF: Argentina, Russia, Ethiopia, FRENCH,
Americans, Canadians, South Africans (whites), Australians, are all the
countries represented in our 'gdud' of 90 people drafting into the IDF units
on July 25th...It is a program specifically designed to build our self
confidence when we enter Machlacoht in our units with other Israelis. We
foreigners will already have had 3 weeks pre-basic training before them. We
will already know how to assemble our units, treat our weapons, and be in army
decorum before Israeli’s arrive for the first day of basic training.

It's very magical seeing all these Jews from all over the world volunteer to
defend the borders of Israel. Of the 90 foreigners, most are going
into 'Nachal' ("Noar, Chalutzee, Lochem" = Young Attacking Infantry), some are
going into Tzanchanim (paratroopers), and others have begun technical training
for the IAF (Israeli Air Force). About half of the fighters going into
Nachal are entering Special units (Palchan, Palsar, Orev). Despite what
anyone has heard, I can tell any Jew sitting in any Chabad House in the world,
that you are all needed to do one of two things: 1) Wrap, Pray 3 times a day,
and say tehillim. and/or 2) come to Israel to join the IDF. There is never
such a thing as "you are not needed", so please do your part in defending the
borders of the land that Hashem promised Avrahom, which we read everyday in
Pseuki DeZimra.

As of Tuesday night, soldiers that have been not even yet entered basic
training have been called up for standard IDF protocol, including shmira.
Between Egypt’s & Gush Katif in the South, and Lebanon and Syria (really Iran) in the North, this situation will get much worse before it gets better.

I don't know what you may here on the news or the internet. All I have had to
go by is ynetnews.com since Friday afternoon. 3 Soldiers are captured (1 in
Aza, 2 in the North). 4 soldiers missing from Cheyl HaYam. I fear more of
Hezbollah and Syria action is ready to come as it is no secret the Syria wants
to conquer back Romat Hagalon after the 6 day war.

Seeing cities being bombed by ketusha's is a direct attack on our borders and way of life. Being 3 days in pre-basic training and having to guard a perimeter of a base in the middle of the night as ketusha's are flying into Tzfat (direct view of our base) and seeing IDF attacks flying north is a direct attack and defense of our borders.

Please realize that the purpose of the IDF is to defend our borders against all oiviim, and do your part in one of the two ways. Shabbat Shalom.

-Gil

Part II

Dear Posner Family & Friends of Chabad of Greater Boston:

I'll attempt to write this letter chronologically.

Yachad Nenatzeach.

Guarding a base in the middle of Israel is not very exciting because a terrorist would either have to be VERY high, or VERY stupid. However to stand on the border between Galil Tzafon (north) and Galil Darom (south) -- probably the nicest view to do shmira in all of Israel -- is very magical to watch the sun rise over Tzfat and the kineret, only to see ketusha's landing in the city of Tzfat, and land in the forest surrounding Tzfat to the southwest, and in the kfar 2 km from our base.

I just arrived home for Shabbat after 2 straight weeks of being 'on base'. The program I concluded in an army base near Tzfat was an enormous success for
all the courses.

There where 4 courses at my base in the north: One for 2.5 weeks before every draft for kids who volunteer from abroad (see previous posting) to boost our self confidence and get acquianted with army protocol. We went through
more class time that actual funciton in the 'shetach' because of the ketusha situation, however it was time well spent (see below). Another course of about 100 kids who came to Israel to volunteer for the army who spoke almost no Hebrew, they were at the base for 3-4 months. The 3rd Course is for 'adults' between the ages of 26-32 who want to work in the army, but they too are from abroad and no little or no Hebrew. These are all soldier who will go be 'jobnikim' and want to work for the army administratively. The last program is for Israeli’s from troubled homes who need special assistance to acclimate to their mandatory service.

I measure this success by the attitude, confidence level, and ability to function normally within the army. The 90 people from my 'pluga'
(division, course), where only at this base in the north for 2.5 weeks, and when
arriving at 'bakum' (the army base at which everyone arrives in order to get sent
to their battalions (golani, givati, IAF, Nachal, etc.)) we were already used
to all the commands, and formations to line up and approach commanders and
officers. At the 'bakum', the commanders can't punish you for doing
anything wrong, so we were very respectful of the commander's patience, but
picture 30-60 other kids like Gil all hanging around together for 2 weeks...[if
you can't ask the Rabbi what it would be like, he certainly can picture it].

When told we would only be sleeping 6 hours, we never even flinched. When told
we only had an hour for 'Sapash' (Seedurey Eenyanim, Po, Sham) (free time),
we were already used to it. Nothing came as a shock to us, we were on the same
level as Israeli’s, maybe even half a step ahead of them.

Some of the soldiers in the pluga were accepting into the tzanchanim (paratroopers) 'Gibush' -- 8 Ethiopians and 1 Russian kid. 3 kids were
chosen into the IAF (Israelli Ari Force) into the 'Nun-Mem' (Anti-Planes). The
rest were scattered between Golani, Givati, Shirion (tanks), and Totchanim
(Heavy artillery). Anybody who came to Israel through the Machal 2000 program was sent to Nachal.

All of my new friends were kids from Texas, Maryland, Monsey, California,
and other areas in the USA -- we all went to the Nachal basic training base in
the Negev. When arriving at the base, it was EXACTLY as I had pictured it in my [day] dreams. The Negev is a very beautiful place, despite being a desert. The sunset and sunrise over the dunes and mountains contain more colors than any
rainbow I have ever seen.

The most magical and Hashem-filled moment came when davining shacharit
Friday morning. After saying "Morid Hatal" in Shmoneh Esreh, we concluded our
davening and went to join our pluga for protocol in order to go home today. The
moment we openend the door of the shul, there was fog and dew EVERYWHERE. 10 feet visibility would not be an exaggeration. At which point we all joked about what ELSE we could have prayed for that would have arrived in the middle of the desert.

We arrive back to the base Sunday, and being our 'gibush' for the special
units on Monday (I can't even describe in words the amount of running & workout
they do to your body physically, verbally, and emotionally). Let me put it
this way: if you haven't sweated, thrown up, passed out, and [with a splash of
water to the face] woken up, you probably won't pass it. I would like to get
accepted into a specific special force, only Hashem in my heart and my head can
help me finish the task set ahead of me next week.

I don't have to remind you about the situation going on in Israel. Soldiers had to fight for an hour to get in buses from the Negev (many, many, army bases) to Tel Aviv because the trains where shut down due to 'suspicious activity'.

Please. No...I'm being Serious: Please. Wrap tefillin, say a tehillim, give some tzedaka, write the Rabbi a short e-mail saying "hi", anything! Just be as Jewish as you can.

I wouldn't trade any of the pushups, running, sprinting, shmira, sleeplessness, or matzav-shtaym (holding the push-up position) for any extended trip or air-conditioned office. IDF needs fighters. Kravi. Infintry. If you have any serious desire to commit yourself, e-mail me, or visit www.mahal2000.org

Shabbat Shalom & Sof Shavuah Raguah.

-Gil

Part III

I had a very lengthy message written for Update #3, however it was erased so I will attempt to update as much as possible from the last 3 weeks:

It's so incredibly easy to be 'Dati' (traditional, observant) in the army. Where else does someone come to you and tell you "You have 15 minutes, go daven Mincha" (45 for Shacharit, 15 for Maa'riv)? So it would be a blatant disregard of my Judaism to NOT Daven. I don't have to mention that it's an awesome 15 minute break in the middle of the day when the sun is the hottest (over 40 degrees Celsius). My Tefillin & Tzitzit have become somewhat communal: at least 3 days a week I walk in to the shul during shacharit and find my tefillin bag empty. It's a pretty good feeling knowing that I can fulfill a mitzvah without doing ANYTHING (literally, I just leave my tefillin bag on the table rather than put it in a cabinet)...I've learned that many people (including myself) wrap tefillin in many different ways and have NO IDEA why, or just don't remember from their Bar-Miztvahs. I am actually lucky enough to have a minyan of daveners in my 'Machlakah' (Unit of 30 soldiers). There are many other Machlakot (plural) that have 4-5 VERY observant Jews (I'm talking about long peyot tied behind their heads and fully bushy beards), and can't get a minyan together every afternoon or evening. I feel VERY VERY lucky that Hashem has assembled my chosen unit to have exactly 10 daveners. B"H, you will see some picture of me very soon and don't be surprised, shocked or stunned: I have started to grow a beard. I haven't trimmed it or touched it in 3 weeks and it looks pretty cool. In the IDF you need special permission, in written form, from the Commander of your Base in order to grow a beard. Every soldier that wants one writes a letter: I wrote that rabbi Posner taught me that 1) men don't wear women's clothes ([most] women have smooth faces, men have facial hair for a reason) and 2) Don't round the corners of your face (Could mean the pe'ot, or the beard). So hopefully I'll get my permission soon.

Every soldier, no matter how far in his 'maslul' (literally path, but it's the course of training you are in) has to help prepare food and clean dishes. I can tell you this: Of the 3 bases I have been at so far, and eaten at: they are ALL: 1) VERY VERY clean 2) VERY VERY Kosher and 3) The food isn't all that bad. The is not such a high variety of food (I.E.-Shnitzel 3 days a week for lunch), but there are HUGE separate freezers, rooms (not sinks) in which you wash dishes, Ovens (think 6 feet high, 3 feet wide, and about 10 next to each other), Boilers (think 50 gallon+ of pasta). The floors are washed EVERY 15 minutes, with no exception; EVERY dish is washed, and inspected after EVERY wash. The only problems we run into is that the non-cooking cutlery & plates are sometimes washed by lazy soldiers-...ewwwww. I suggest running over the plate, fork, knife with your hand to make sure it's clean, and it's not hard to rinse anyway. The level of strictness of kashrut just blew me away. it might as well have been two separate kitchens. Please keep in mind that my base's kitchen was built for 400 soldiers...and now serves 2,000 every day.

Shabbat at an army base is an incredible experience. The closest thing you can imagine is Shabbat Sing-A-Longs after the Friday night meal at summer camps, or maybe even the first week back to school at a college campus [Chabad]...but with much more singing. Our 'Plug' (Division), spent the first Shabbat of basic training on base instead of going home. Every Division takes their turn. I can't put into words the amount of physical labor that goes into basic training activities, so to have 4 hour (time is one of the holiest things in the IDF--even more so than completing missions) before the Shabbat to relax and get prepared for the day of rest is incredible. Everyone gets dressed in their 'Aleph' uniforms (the nicer ones that are worn outside the base--versus the 'Bet' uniforms worn in order to sweat and run around), and looks clean and presentable for the Friday Night meal. Most of the soldiers who never EVER go to shul come on Friday nights because 1) its easily accessible, 2) They don't really have much else to do. However it's not forced on anyone. At the meal, everyone stand for Kiddush like a high officer walks into the room, with the 'Coomtoht' (Beret) on our head. After the meal you become one of two people: 1) Run back to the tent to talk on the phone, hang out, do nothing. 2) Hang out in the Dining Hall to sing songs (or help clean up just in case you don't know the words to the sfardi or mizrachi tunes but love to hear the music anyway = me). Either way, one of the most memorable Shabbat experiences ever happens about an hour after the meal is over. Everyone goes back to their tents to change back into 'Madas' (Madei Sport = Short & T-shirt) and sits around with our M16's and 'Tzolvot' (contraption holding 2 Magazines (58 bullets) on your belt) and we throw ALL the coca-cola, Bissli, bamba, sweets, etc. into the center of a circle. We has about 4-5 minyanim of soldiers singing and screaming Shabbat songs. Picture in your head a used tent from Vietnam (not kidding), 40-50 Shorten M16's, about 90 Magazines, 40-50 Kids from all over Israel, all different background and Jewish observance levels, A full moon (this was 2 weeks before Rosh Chodesh), millions of stars, everyone laughing and smiling and singing: All while being hundreds of Kilometers (It's Israel--2 hours of driving is a lot for them) from their Ema's, Aba's, Sibling, Best Friends, Warm Spring Mattress Beds, Air Conditioning, A kitchen....HOME!

Shabbat day is pretty laid back (You take that term for granted if you haven't gone through Army basic training, yes--even if you've gone through CORE, Capstone, or ENG). Some people wake up for shul, others (a-hem) sleep as long as they can to catch up on rest. There is a kibud Shabbat, and the commanders make sure we have some Chupar (happy things?): Ice all day so we can have cold drinks, Some Mezonot to snack on, etc. The only time we have to stand for on Shabbat is Chulent Lunch at 1:00 PM. Otherwise it's mincha, maariv, Havdalah, and back to a normal week's work. Recently the army has taken the policy to try as hard as possible to NOT have a soldier 'Soger Shabbat' (Close a Shabbat on the base rather than go home). So I've been home all but 2 Shabbatot (the other 2 we were doing 'Shmirot' (guarding) the base).

I can't say much about my training, or where I am exactly in the army, but I can say this (every soldier goes through these things for basic training): I am in the Negev (REALLY HOT), but you get used to it very quickly. I am in Nachal (No'ar Chalutzee Lochem, Young Offensive (or pioneering) Fighter), ironic name for an army of Defense Soldiers, but that is the name of my battalion (Other battalions you know are Tzanchanim (Paratroopers), Golani, Givati, Shiryon (Tanks), Totchanim (heavy artillery). We had M16 week: the entire week you are in the shooting ranges working with M16's (short, not long, thank Hashem) and target practice (Yes, I aim low), Zero-ing out the Aim, target practice on cardboard at day, night, twilight (really cool). This past week we had TAMAR week (It stands for stuff), but basically it's a lot of class time about the weapon (THE weapon is the M16), grenades (and grenade throwing practice), Classes about the enemy (intro to Hizbollah, Ramallah, Jenin, PLO), and Chemical Warfare: the full suit, gas masks, tear gas training.

Our commanders have agreed to let me and the one other kid from the Machal program to video tape the interesting parts of our Maslul, so I will hopefully have something nice to bring back to everyone when I come visit Boston (I'm preliminarily planning for first week of School 2007).

I wish everyone a Rosh Chodesh Sameach, Shabbat Shalom, and Shavua Tov,

Gil

Part IV

Three weeks is a very long time to be on an army base...so after a long delay, here is update #4

I am officially halfway through with basic training and our 'Maslul' (path), or training program has been cut shorter once again. Three weeks ago I lived like an infantry soldier in the middle of the negev desert: sleeping in the dirt, practicing fighting formations, 'leezchol' (crawling, but not like a baby--think crawling like a soldier) over thorns & bushes, no showers, no deodorant...'hakituzur': the real deal...but practice. The week ended with a 12 kilometer sargent led-'masa' (hike?) over two hours from our camp, back to our base with all of our gear (half tent, sleeping bag, helmet, 6 magazines, vest, 'neshek' (weapon). Every machlakah has a 'pakal' (pack) of water (20 kg), stretcher (10 kg) and 'kesher' (communication) (8 kg). I had the 'honor' or taking the stretcher because our sergeant chose the three 'shpeetz'iest (literally means spike, but in the army a 'shpeetz' is the hardest working soldier, and a 'kochav' is a star, but in the army a star is the laziest) soldiers to carry the pakal's. This is a special masa because all the other masa's are led by the lieutenant, so this is a very special masa for the sergeant. Personally, it was the hardest physical thing I have ever done. The weight on the shoulders, the pace of the march, and the physical exhaustion of the 2 hour trip are enough for anyone to realize the amount of hard work needed to be a strong infantry soldier. I was fortunate enough to have my friends behind me push me (you have no idea how much it helps to have someone behind you literally take some of the weight off my back by helping me go forward.

Jewishly, it was a very interesting week. We obviously had our tefillin and siddurim, but I had the honor of fulfilling a little known mitzvah. We have no bathroom so all of our business has to be done in the field. But it says somewhere in the Torah (consult your local Rabbi for the perek and passuk) that it's a mitzvah to dig a hole and cover it up. I don't know how many students in Boston have the honor to LITERALLY fulfill that mitzvah, but I was able to chalk it up with the man upstairs right before Rosh Hashanah.

We came back to the base on Thursday night and spent Shabbat on the base: with the Rabbi in charge of the Chativa (Nachal Unit). It was interesting to sit at the Oneg Shabbat and see all the religious guys (more than me believe it or not) sit and ask questions. I realized that the Rabbi's in the army have a huge responsibility to make sure that EVERYTHING in the army complies with Jewish law. We talked about everything from the kashrut in the kitchen to how to talk on the kesher on Shabbat (in order to minimize the battery usage). I only spent an hour @ the Oneg but the questions these kids where razing where CRAZY strict to the laws of the Torah: They spent about 15 minutes talking about if the Eruv on the fence guarding the base was kosher b/c it may have been too low. I had no idea where some of the [other] laws they were talking about where coming from, but it was fascinating to see how the religious guys are the inspectors for the Torah at our, and every, army base.

The next week was m16 week. Shooting ALLLLLLL DAY. Again, we slept in our tents (picture in your head those tiny triangle tents, each soldier has half of the triangle, and you click them together at the apex and sleep 2 to a tent) about 1 km from the base (which was really annoying to wake up and see our beautiful beds and comfy mattresses) in order to save the trip between the 'mitvachim' (shooting range) and our base. Every morning was: 15 min of 'GalChatz' (shine shoes, brush teeth, and shave [not me, I’ll get to that later]), 1.5 hours of davening and slichot, and then 14 hours of shooting with breaks for water and food). Every soldier shot a 'Brohss' (name of a container that holds bullets), which contains 980 bullets. 'Tachless' (bottom line): IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN. You learn different positions and different distances and different jams in the weapon and shooing with raised heartbeats, and shooting with different targets, shooting at day, twilight, night...It was AWESOME. Then came Rosh Hashanah.

Me and Andrew (my friend from U-Maryland who has been with me since day #1 in the army: same machlakah since July 9th) decided that we would volunteer to stay on the base IF we had to in order to give all the kids with Ema's and Aba's and friends and significant others a chance to go HOME (a very important concept in the army: GOING HOME). So we stayed and guarded the base, heard the shofar on Sunday (Andrew is awesome at it), and ate apples with honey and pomegranate seeds. We had 4 other guys stay with us, and all their parents came to the base for 2 hours to see their kids and bring food. Lots and lots and lots of food. We had meats and chicken, and shnitzels, and pies and fruits, and tons of coca-cola & pri-gat (fruit drink). It wasn't that bad...until the Bedouins came along. They thought the base was empty and their entire life consists of stealing stuff from other people so it was frustrating to wake up at 3 am and have to threaten them to distance themselves from our base (WHAT where they thinking?). Everyone in our machlakah was thankful that we volunteered to stay (wasn't a big deal: Rosh Hashanah ain't Rosh Hashanah without my dad's Kiddush and mom's kopitkus), I felt like I did another mitzvah without really doing much anyway. (Side note: Andrew and I killed a lot of time by reciting all the songs to 'Joseph and the Technicolor Dream coat...we're very odd like that)

With Rosh Hashanah over and our Pluga almost halfway through basic training, we received our first mission. We picture the glorious task of killing terrorists in Aisoh (pronounces Eye-Yosh from 'Yehuda & Shomron') (The West Bank). But sadly we aren't yet trained THAT much. We sent to guard the Advanced Training base for our Pluga because they where leaving for the week. Aside from that we slept and went to the arcade (I’ll get to that in a sec.) Guarding a base takes a lot of mental power because it's very rewarding and fulfilling...but ridiculously boring because nothing ever happens....right? Not exactly. Normally through the course of the army, guarding simply SUCKS. Until Gil has to guard. A little background: there are guarding posts at each corner of the base, 2 guards at the main entrance, 2 guards at 'bunker' (where all the heavy artillery is stored), and 4 soldiers as 'Kita Konenoot' (In case something happens, these 4 soldiers, along with the sergeant respond immediately). So I had just come off of my post and was told I was in the Kita Konenoot.

After taking a break from writing I just found out that there was a bombing in Rishon LeZion, the city I am living in the weekend with my aunt & cousins. I consider it the Brookline of Boston, or the Brooklyn of New York, that's what Rishon LeZion is to Tel-Aviv. My cousin is trying to get through to all his friends b/c it was RIGHT in the area where we loyally go to the same 'makolet' (market) to buy coca-cola, tobacco (for Nargila/hooka) and sweets. This is the reality we live in and will be a very busy weekend for the soldier serving in Aza or Aiosh (West bank).

Not 20 minutes after coming off my post and finding out I was in the Kita Konenoot, I heard over the kesher (translated): "This is [name of post] to Carmel Carmel (The Kita Konenoot 4 person team that responds to out-of the ordinary things happening), There is shooting in the direction of the base coming from the Bedouin village to the north east"...the 4 of us look at each other in pure SHOCK not believing what we just heard. 5 seconds later "This is [name of 2nd post] to Carmel Carmel, I hear rounds of shots coming from the Bedouin village to the Northeast" within 40 seconds we had our vests on, magazines inside our neshek, helmets on our heads and me (kesher/communication), Dov (with the stretcher), Ophir (with water), and the Chovesh (field medic) running toward the North-western entrance of the base to meet our lieutenant. In hindsight, it's amazing how much of life becomes instinctual when you practice the basics OVER AND OVER again. The lieutenant briefed us on the situation he heard (he has a mini-kesher), and we left the secure confines of our fenced base into the hills to the North of our base. [Rabbi: don't edit the following sentence]: BUGGED OUT, SCARED ----LESS AND EXCITED [Sorry Gil I had to - RSP] do not even BEGIN to interpret my feelings. We made a 'siur' (pronounced: 'see-uhr') (Recon. tour) of the north side of the base and started west of the Bedouin village. saw nothing out of the ordinary (2 wild goats/deer looking things prancing around), and spied on the village from a really good vantage point and saw NOTHING (at first I thought this was good until I realized that there was not one soul walking around, or one goat or chicken outside...very eerie). Our lieutenant said enough was enough and we continued our siur around the base and went back into our base. Safe & Sound. Next came probably the most profound mincha of my life. Amen.

The next day was another Machlaka's (30-35 people) turn to do the shmirot, so our's got to go to the arcade. I'm not kidding. Our basic training base has an arcade. I'm talking about Pac-man, Mario Brothers and Sonic, or Area-51. Wait, it's EXACTLY LIKE area-51. Only the US, GB, and Israel have these buildings in their armies. Entire rooms with giants screens that replicate shooting ranges and [later on] real life situations. They took real guns and gutted them out, replaced the insides with the same parts, but they all connect to a computer through a hose. Our commander is in a booth behind us yelling commands through the ‘madonna’ (think of the headset she used in her concerts), and on the screen pops up targets (both static and moving) and we respond to his commands (jams in the weapon, positions to shoot, numbers of bullets to shoot, etc.). This is an INCREDIBLE tool because we accomplished in the first 2 hours what we did in the first 2 days over m16 week. This was our first practice with moving targets. ADVANTAGE of investing MILLIONS of dollars in this room: MUCH MUCH MUCH more accuracy in shooting. The computer shows you where you hit or missed the target on the screen...to the centimeter. It shows you your reaction time, time between shots, ALL your statistics. It’s INCREDIBLE. There is even a lighting change for twilight and night time both on the screen and in the room. It was so much fun.

Now on Friday morning at 5:30, everyone gets woken up to start their day. I am dressed and ready to go, standing with my machlaka, and the commander is like "Gil, Andrew, Asaf, what are you doing? You have another hour to sleep...and get on your aleph uniforms, you’re going home"....I'M COMING HOME! Our reward for volunteering to stay over Rosh Hashanah. I get 4 days at home.

Gmar Chatima Tova.

-Gil

Part V

After 5 days of learning battle in open warfare (fields, mountains, deserts,
etc.) and sleeping, again, in tents with snakes, scorpions, and bugs, our
unit was assigned to guard 19 settlements for 2 weeks in 'Aiosh' (pronounced
Eye-Yosh, it's short for Yehuda & Shomron, what the media calls 'The West
Bank'). My specific 4-personsquad was sent to the settlement named
'Ateret': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateret .

My sergeant (who was responsible for assignments of who is sent to which
settlement) made his list based on how responsible the lieutenant, commanders
and himself felt we were. I don't know what they were thinking, but they
sent me with no commander and responsible for 3 friends/soldiers to guard
the settlement from: Um Tzafa, Gush Haroorah, and Kfar Birhan = About 5,000
Palestinians.

When we arrived at the settlement I quickly realized it would be JUST like
being in college with 3 roommates, only instead of going to class, we have to
guard and patrol. And I have to make sure that everyone does their Daily
stuff (20 min of shooting practice, workout, exercises, run, sprints, eats
3 meals, sleeps 6 hours w/in 24 hours, learns for the next level of
Infantry recognition (Rovai 05), and get to their guard post on time).

During my first shmira I got to see the sunset over the West bank Mountains
and was (like wikipedia said) actually able to see Ashkelon, The Ocean, and
the Tel Aviv skyline. I can't put into words how gorgeous it was. I got to
thinking how bugged out it is that kids (my soldiers were 18-19) are
responsible for the safety of all 80 families in the settlement. I was also
reminded how different the term 'Gated community' is between USA (Florida)
and Israel. There are no tennis courts and no country clubs with golf
courses, but there are electric fences, steel gates, patrolling jeeps,
helicopters, apache's (for the 'miluiim' (reservists)) and loaded m16's.

After a few days I experienced 'Simchat Torah' at the Yeshuv (Settlement).
As customary there were 7 Hakafot, however in Israel, like America, there is
a custom that Kohanim receive the first Hakafah, and Levites receive the
second. Unlike in American, In Israel the soldier receives the second
hakafah. Keep in mind that EVERY MAN in the yeshuv is wearing a white shirt
(no tie, no blazer, no suit), so the olive green blatently sticks out. I
felt very honored and proud to be wearing my uniform in what should be a
Clorox Bleach commercial.

I am now home for the weekend and have one more week in basic training (the
Infantry recognition test). The next step, after a 'Regila' (week off), is
Advanced Training for 2 months. I am trying to find an excuse to come visit
America after advanced training, that way I wouldn't have to wait until next
summer. Either way, I hope to see all the birthright people in December
January.

-Gil

Part VI

Since the last update, I had "Week 05" - FINALS WEEK. This is a week of finals, both multiple choice, fill-ins, and physical. The entire week was spent either training for the obstacle course or studying. When we weren't running or doing krav maga, we were studying the various subjects (comm. equipment (PRC 77, 624, others), weapons (RPG, LAW, M203 (grenade launcher), M16a1 & m4, FN's Machine Gun, the Israeli machine gun: Negev), ammunitions, basic strategy, along with cultural & historical stuff about Israeli wars, prime ministers, and generals. It was a very difficult week but everyone made it through...sort of.

Our company started out as 30 guys + 3 Medic's that join every company (2 months after we all drafted). 2 guys joined us after dropping out of chovlim (Israeli Navy's officer's training), which is very common because they have to sign 7 years of keva (Service for the army as their job), and it's a very difficult maslul. Now we are back down to 30 guys: One of the chovlim guys didn't want to return to advanced training after completing over a year in the army, the second guy didn't want to work hard, and wanted to have more time joking around while in the gdudim (931, 932, 950). The 3rd guy, with Israeli parents that moved to Spain 7 years ago, decided to come to Israel to volunteer. Unfortunately, he had a very bad back and couldn't keep up with our training. The 4th guy had problems at home, and the 5th guy has eye problems which he hid from the army's doctors. Lying is the last thing anybody does in the army in general, even more so in special forces. He had his health profile lowered enough as to not be allowed to be kravi.

After all the tests and running around, our week ended in a Yom Sport...Think color war back at camp: basketball, Soccer, Sprinting, Running with stretchers, Pushing Hummers, all ending in a night of jeopardy-style Israeli trivia. What? You didn't run with stretchers or push hummer's in camp? YAY CAMP RAMAH! This was a competition within my brigade's basic training camp for all the guys who drafted in the August draft.

The morning of the competitions our Lieutenant and another officer (Samech Mem Peh) stand in front of the 2 company's in our platoon looking very serious. Keep in mind we are all in shorts and t-shirts (obviously all wearing the same "yom Sport" t-shirt to show unity). It was so quiet we heard the main gate of the base open, and we are about half a mile away. Our lieutenant just stands there looking at us; his face was so stern and cold. The Samech looks over our faces, paces slowly, but not too slowly from one side of the formation to the other. He stops in the middle, looks over our faces once more, and says "Today is about winning. If you have fun on the way, good for you. G-d help you if we lose. NOW LET’S GO HAVE FUN!" My and my friends look at each other and we didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Obviously my company led our platoon to victory over the gdudim.

The next week was our week off: Having made no Israeli friends (sans my cousin & his crew and my company in the army), I partied with 2 American Machal Nachal guys, Eli Tilson (Facebook) and Andrew Stein (Facebook).

Now we begin Advanced Training...Basically the same as basic training, only with less distance with the commanders, longer times to work with, and more complex things to learn. We have to call commanders by their first names, and NOT "Commander Uri", or they call us "Soldier Gil", which sounds cool at first, but trust me after 2 hours it gets annoying and you are on a strictly first name basis. Instead of getting 4 minutes to do something, stand in formation, get another 5 minutes to do something else, stand again in formation, we would get 40 minutes to accomplish several tasks/mission, and then stand in formation only once at the end of 40 minutes. A lot more freedom, and lot more responsibility (Hey, with great power comes great responsibility, right?).

The week after our week off was a week of learning about the country, about the political makeup of the country, about moral issues in the army (I.E.- You've just emptied the house of the family of a suicide bomber, the house will be imploded by the army engineer's within 5 minutes, you do one last sweep of the house, and find a really cool ________ (knife, pen, watch, painting, anything). You know it will destroyed and never found within 5 minutes, do you take it?) We also spent half a day on analyzing what we would have done in the disengagement. Very interesting week, we loved it because we weren't running around all day.

Every company has set pakalim which is an acronym for pekudah keva LecChir (Command, permanently for a soldier). Basically it's what training each person gets. Everyone would much rather be a Negevist (machine gun-ist) than a LAW-ist (Light Anti-Tank Weapon), which is only used in real warfare (very much so in Lebanon this past summer), but because of the $40,000 per rocket price, it isn't used in practice and training weeks. All the Big stocky muscled guys (genetics) got the negev. The Tallest widest guy got the FN (Fabrique Nationale) Belgium made MAG (Automatic Machine Gun), all the guys who don't have glasses and had the best shots were made Sharp shooters (One of the biggest advantages of the IDF is the strength of accuracy of these guys), We already had our Medic's, and I received the RPG. So Gil, You are too weak to handle the negev, and your glasses won't let you be a sharp-shooter, what POSSIBLY can you be trained in? I'm glad you asked: The answer is the art of the RPG. The LAW-ist and RPG-ists are the only ones, who in time of war, will walk around with two weapons. Hooray for more stuff to sprint up a mountain with. It was a very fun week and it is a VERY difficult scope to aim with, but the RPG is one of the most useful anti-tank weapons created.

Most of basic training is spent in the field (sand, small tents, sleep on the ground, no showers, see previous updates.) For the next 3 weeks we had: 1-open warfare with squad and team structure (later will be company-wide structure), 2-urban warfare. Urban warfare took place in a fake Arab village built outside our base. The village is a few small houses to learn the most basic principles of what I will be doing for 3 years of service. Urban warfare week ended with a great paintball session where we had to capture the town from certain commanders/officers. It was so much fun, and it was the first I realized that all the shooting stances and target practice I have had for the last 5 months has actually become instinct, as I shot 2 guys standing 5 yard, and 10 yard away, before they were even to get off a single shot. When the Session ended we all lined up, and they each had 2 green splats of paint on their facemask...right between the eyes. I was very very proud of myself for knowing that in a real life scenario, I could really defend myself.

This last week we had a 3 hour session of fighting out of APC's (also one of the pakalim). Then we moved onto something brand new for us: Shetach Murkav - Northern Warfare. Since the war in Lebanon, the Army has learned many new lessons, and within 4 months had the ability to re-write all the rules about warfare in structured ground (Instead of a mountain or hill in the desert, think bushes, cliffs, trees, forests). The week ended in our first company-wide mission.

Mazal Tov Ashky

At the wedding of Ashky Hedavat and Tara Tatelman, at the suggestion of the Kallah - and to the great surprise of the Chattan- Eliezer Posner gave a speech. Follows is the text of the speech that Eli himself wrote and eloquently delievered. Comments? Eliezer Posner

A man once wanted to learn how to go scuba diving, so he found himself a teacher and started his diving lessons. His teacher taught him about the air tank, goggles, flippers and the rest of the suit. After a couple of lessons he learned how to dive but didn't like the bothersome heavy air tank on his back, the goggles strapped to his face and the big bulky flippers he had to wear on his feet. Once when he was out diving he met another man who was also swimming around but this man, was dressed quite comfortably wearing a tee shirt and sweat pants, all relaxed. He started to get angry, at his teacher for making him wear all this uncomfortable gear. So he swam over to the man and asked him why do I have to shlep around this heavy air tank, and goggles while you swim around with a comfortable tee shirt all relaxed. The man looked at him and said, the difference is that you're swimming -- I'm drowning. The lesson of the story is, all the gear is compared to the Torah and Mitzvos which seemingly are burdens on our backs but really are preserving our lives.

It's like giving someone a heavy diamond, no one would complain about the weight, rather they realize the value, and the weight is no longer a burden.We just finished celebrating Chanukah. One of the lessons we learn from the self-sacrifice of the Maccabees is that our dedication to Torah and Mitzvos is not at all supposed to be because we understand them but rather because they are the will of Hashem, higher than our understanding . So nothing can stop us from our commitment. And so Ashky at this new stage of your life I want to wish you and bless you that in your home Torah and Mitzvos should be kept not as a burden but rather as a privilege with no room for compromise - because they are G-d's will.

Growing up in Boston, in Kenmore Square, in the middle of so many colleges, not really a family town, the people I would call my friends are the guys at the Chabad House. They are the ones I would hang out with. And like all friends we would laugh at happy times and feel together at stressful ones, so it was with you, whether it was getting lost on our road trip to Morristown, going out for pizza, attempting to bowl at two in the morning, taking a spin in your car or just hanging out at Chabad House, without a doubt in my mind Ashky you certainly fit into my category of friends. Friendship is usually based on common interests and shared experiences. So when there no longer are common interests and no more shared experiences there is no longer any friendship. This is completely different with a brother. You are someone brother even if you don't really like him, and don't seem to have much in common, it is much deeper than that.I am saying this in the name of myself and the rest of my siblings. Ashky to us is not only our friend but much greater than that -- Ashky is like our brother.

When people express themselves, express their joy, they can do it in different ways. It can be explained logically so they understand your happiness, or you can do it in a way that goes way beyond logic, by showing your joy through singing and dancing.

And so Ashky on this special night of your wedding I am very happy to be here, as a friend to explain to you how grateful I am to be sharing this simcha with you and wishing you success for your future to build a house of Torah and Mitzvos And as a brother I sense the joy and feel the privilege to dance with you on your special night! May we dance from here back to Israel together with Moshiach to the Third Beis Hamikdash!