Reflections from a summer experience

[Jacobtess]

Hello all,


I recently went on a one-month program to Israel with high school students from my community, some of whom have never been to Israel. The trip was not an immersion-type experience as I'd thought it'd be but it far exceeded my expectations. Having been on numerous trips and programs to Israel and knowing most of the kids from school and wasn't so excited for what I thought lay ahead.

I put aside prejudices and grievances as best as I could, because, in my opinion, any trip to Israel is a great trip. The trip was pretty rigorous in terms of exposing these kids to Israeli hikes, terrains, conflicts, borders etc. We met an INSANE amount of people from all over the army with a ridiculously high pool of data that someone interested in joining the IDF could want (which, of course, was me). Both of the male madrichim served in the IDF, the first was an American-born Israeli who served in Golani while the 2nd was an American Jew who served as a tank commander after graduating from college in America. The Israeli program director obviously served and set a very fitting model for a Modern-Orthodox and learned Torah scholar (he won Chidon HaTanach in his youth and has quite a photographic memory) while advocating service in the army and making the IDF (and Israeli politics) an integral part of his life.

We met an Ethiopian who served in Palsar Golani, several air-force soldiers and pilots, and visited an army base. I can't give too many specifics for obvious reasons. I became close with the brother of our Israeli director who served in a special unit and has a pretty crazy (and famous) story of his own.

On one side of the spectrum, when asked whether joining the IDF was worth it, that man said that it changes your life and grants you invaluable lessons and experiences and the decision doesn't even need to be a decision--it should be a logical progression to serve. He quoted Pirkei Avot ("Who is strong? He who can conquer his instinct") and explained that "instinct", in his opinion was the weakness we all have to save our own hides, and when we can conquer that instinct and put others in front of us, we are truly "strong".

On a physical note, we hiked some pretty intense hikes all over Israel (I'd say roughly 40% of the trip were grueling, 7-10 hour hikes). Several of the hikes were navigation, culminating to a 12-hour night navigation/survival hike.

We spent a lot of time in the north camping and traveling along the border (from Rosh Haniqra, on the borther of Lebanon and the coast of the Mediterranean) to Kibbutz Misgav Am which is so high up on the border that it is close to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. We met a foul-speaking but passionate Zionist old man who served and fought in most of Israel's wars and lived in Misgav Am courageously for most of his life. The sheer number of people we met and traveled with really gave me an excellent perspective on Israel, army life, and general life advice.

A lot of people are on 2 extremes when it comes to the army--some can be very idealistic even after seeing and going through terrible things while others grow a bit resentful towards Israel and their service. Serving in the army is no joke--the army base we visited showed me how tough it can be to patrol all day on the border while not knowing when you can be attacked at any instant. Not every soldier shoots guns and kills terrorists--in fact, from what I saw much of the army life is drudgery. But drudgery that helps Israel and that is meaningful--each person has a key position --from the mechanic that fixes Apache helicopters to the 19-year old airforce pilot who operates a nearly billion-dollar F16 to the soldier who sits by a post on the border all day.

The only note of advice I can give to anyone is to grab the opportunity to visit and travel in Israel. I did, at a moment's notice, and came out with one of the greatest experiences in my short life.

I was looking for people and information about the IDF and I found it.