The Real "Neturei Karta" - that's us
An apolitical post...3 months late
We graduated advanced training, and had a wonderful ceremony which nobody I knew attended. sigh. I got my "wings," a shiny silver tank pin for my dress uniform, which somebody Upstair's took it as the cue to start a downpour. So it rained on me, and I hitched home most of the way, but the last leg took most of the time - the irony of hitchhiking. Welcome to Israel. (<-- that's something you can mutter underbreath every day for years). I got back to my apartment after around 6 hours of travel, whence I began enjoying a long weekend. I got posted to B Platoon, stationed in the Judean Hills, protecting a settlement named Tekoa around 5 miles South from Jerusalem, in the Eastern Gush Etzion bloc (the bloc with Efrat, Migdal Oz, Bat Ayin, Alon Shvut, and many other less famous settlements). It is a small base, so much so that it doesn't even merit the term "base."
There are exactly 10 religious people in the platoon, so there is never a minyan. The guard duty rotation makes it impossible that all 10 people will be off duty and/or awake at the same time, and so by the time the 2nd Shabbat had rolled around, I hadn't prayed in a minyan for around 16 days.
But this Shabbat was different. I pulled duty in nearby Noqedim - to guard their strategically located...bet knesset! What this meant, essentially, was that I was allowed to doven with a minyan, and oh, was it wonderful! For the first time in a long time, I appreciated the quorum. It is a very effective device, the minyan idea, and it is inspiring! People came in droves to invite me to dinner, or offer me food. I got some questions from Anglo olim that could only be described as Shiddukh Questions. (What I plan on doing after my service is a valid topic; asking if I'm single, though, lacks subtlety, no?)
In truth, we weren't really necessary, except to remind both Arab and Jew that the army was there, Guardians of the City; because in reality, so many of the citizens were packing iron, they could have made their own platoon. I'd bet us three soldiers were really assigned as decoys. Most of the civvies had better weapons than we did! Or rather, better techno-geeky gun sights. ACOG 4x telescopic sights (aka, the "trigicon"), Elbint parabolic sights, and things with even cooler names that would blow out your monitor just to display them. Neato gnarlations!
Anyway, the moral of the story is Oh How wonderful it is, this Jewish country, and the patriotic citizens that live the moral life in the name of their God, revive the ethical in the name of their brethren. Soldiers as symbols of independence rather than force; an army whose middle name is "Defense." It makes us fair targets for terrorists, and fair recepients for your home baked goods.
This is one reason why I am here, and one more reason why I plan to live here.
I'll tell you all the bad post- and revisionist-Zionist stuff in some later post; now, let's bask in the the glory of the dream...
We graduated advanced training, and had a wonderful ceremony which nobody I knew attended. sigh. I got my "wings," a shiny silver tank pin for my dress uniform, which somebody Upstair's took it as the cue to start a downpour. So it rained on me, and I hitched home most of the way, but the last leg took most of the time - the irony of hitchhiking. Welcome to Israel. (<-- that's something you can mutter underbreath every day for years). I got back to my apartment after around 6 hours of travel, whence I began enjoying a long weekend. I got posted to B Platoon, stationed in the Judean Hills, protecting a settlement named Tekoa around 5 miles South from Jerusalem, in the Eastern Gush Etzion bloc (the bloc with Efrat, Migdal Oz, Bat Ayin, Alon Shvut, and many other less famous settlements). It is a small base, so much so that it doesn't even merit the term "base."
There are exactly 10 religious people in the platoon, so there is never a minyan. The guard duty rotation makes it impossible that all 10 people will be off duty and/or awake at the same time, and so by the time the 2nd Shabbat had rolled around, I hadn't prayed in a minyan for around 16 days.
But this Shabbat was different. I pulled duty in nearby Noqedim - to guard their strategically located...bet knesset! What this meant, essentially, was that I was allowed to doven with a minyan, and oh, was it wonderful! For the first time in a long time, I appreciated the quorum. It is a very effective device, the minyan idea, and it is inspiring! People came in droves to invite me to dinner, or offer me food. I got some questions from Anglo olim that could only be described as Shiddukh Questions. (What I plan on doing after my service is a valid topic; asking if I'm single, though, lacks subtlety, no?)
In truth, we weren't really necessary, except to remind both Arab and Jew that the army was there, Guardians of the City; because in reality, so many of the citizens were packing iron, they could have made their own platoon. I'd bet us three soldiers were really assigned as decoys. Most of the civvies had better weapons than we did! Or rather, better techno-geeky gun sights. ACOG 4x telescopic sights (aka, the "trigicon"), Elbint parabolic sights, and things with even cooler names that would blow out your monitor just to display them. Neato gnarlations!
Anyway, the moral of the story is Oh How wonderful it is, this Jewish country, and the patriotic citizens that live the moral life in the name of their God, revive the ethical in the name of their brethren. Soldiers as symbols of independence rather than force; an army whose middle name is "Defense." It makes us fair targets for terrorists, and fair recepients for your home baked goods.
This is one reason why I am here, and one more reason why I plan to live here.
I'll tell you all the bad post- and revisionist-Zionist stuff in some later post; now, let's bask in the the glory of the dream...
posted by Shlome at 3:25 PM
1 Comments:
Hey there Amitai!
there was a point where I was checking this page regularly, and there was nothing, and nothing, and nothing, and it sorta fell outa habit. Tonight, on a whim, I check back and waddaya know, bunches of news! Always good to hear from ya.
Anywho, I was hoping to hear about your experiences with Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Ha'Atzmaut. I hope they all go well for you. Me, I have AP's to celebrate. wish me luck!
-Zev
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