Transitions

"Hatikvah/the Hope" Israel's national anthem.  One of
the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.  Listen here.

My entire world right now is in a transition.

My life in the army has advanced from training to operational.

My life outside the army finds me moving from my quiet kibbutz to an apartment in Jerusalem.

Israel is experiencing a resuscitation of the summer social protests and people continue to question and critique the deal that brought Gilad Shalit home after over five years of captivity in Gaza.  Most recently, the Israeli-American law student, Ilan Grapel, was also released after being taken prisoner five months ago in Egypt.  Shalit was traded for 1,027 Palestinian terrorists; Grapel for 25 Egyptian prisoners.

Meanwhile, Europe's great European Community experiment appears to be going down in flames with Germany and other nations being forced to pay the price for Greece and Italy's financial woes/crises/disasters/the list goes on.

And Occupy Wall Street.....I mean c'mon, get real.  They actually demean the sixties social protests against the government and the "Man."  At least the hippies and disheveled, bearded and bra-less men and women then had a political aim, namely pulling out of Vietnam.  From what I've read, while Occupy (insert unfortunate, hapless city here) has attracted a wide cross-section of Americans, many are there just to be there (probably because they are unemployed, and while angry and frustrated as a result, are yet to channel it into a coherent political message).  Furthermore, they seem to vilify the very institution that can bring their hopes and dreams (whatever they may be, beyond thought bubbles) to fruition.

Anywho, I ramble.

My green kumtah (beret) of the past ten months is no longer a permanent fixture on my left shoulder.  A reed kumtah has replaced it as I am now officially a part of chetivah Tzanchanim (Paratroopers' Brigade).  Some of the guys who were with us in training have gone off to a special course to become mefakdim, commanders.  Others will follow in the coming months.  And some guys "fell" from kravi to job, they are now jobniks, non-combat soldiers.  In total, the citahs, machlekahs, and plugah have lost a noticeable number, which now makes for smaller units and tighter coordination and communities.

My first week wasn't exactly what I would call thrilling.  It was great on Sunday morning to not get on the train and go to Machanah Natan in Beersheva.  Instead, I took a bus from Tel Aviv to Ariel, a Jewish city in the West Bank.  My plugah gathered there.  It was great to see all the guys after the break for Simchat Torah after our masa kumtah and tekkes kumtah.  We are all no longer trainees, we are operational soldiers, with our company gun straps, our paratrooper wings, and our red berets.  Ready for the bus to take us to a base outside Shchem.

Looking down at Shchem.  I had second thoughts about
putting up such a belligerent-looking photo, but read
to the end of this post, hopefully you'll understand.

Its only been a week, but life thus far is much different than the training base.  There was still a certain degree of distance between the soldiers and commanders in advanced training.  While we were reminded of maintaining distance the first day on kav, the commanders aren't necessarily my military elders as much as they have since become the young nineteen to twenty-somethin' year olds.  I certainly still respect them as more experienced (to an extent), but we are on a more familiar and informal level than ever before.

But, the bottom line about kav duty, is that its been just a week.  While most of my time won't be so glamorous, I will still have missions, patrols and guard duty.  Hopefully legit military work.

I just slept my last night in my kibbutz apartment.  In the past few months, I've returned to my kibbutz twice, I think.  For the holidays and weekends off, I've either been in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem with family or friends.  My kibbutz has simply become a place to keep my belongings.  I've kept a backpack at David and Amy's apartment in Tel Aviv and have lived out of it for weekends off.  Why am I so averse to going to my kibbutz?  Because the thought of getting to and from it is just simply daunting.  I have to catch a bus or train to Hadera, no big deal.  But then to get to my actual kibbutz, I have to rely on someone being able to pick me up from the depot, but he's not always readily available.  So then I have to pay 70-80 shekels for a cab ride.  And then to leave, except for Sunday mornings when he drives all the lone soldiers, I need to catch a tramp from inside the kibbutz (very dangerous thing to do in uniform if not from inside the kibbutz) to a nearby intersection, catch a bus to Hadera, then another bus to Tel Aviv or elsewhere.  And as I haven't been there so often anymore, it's a place another lone soldier could be living.  There's nothing to do at night, no girls, no bars in the area, and because I haven't been there so often, I've never really formed any strong friendships with the other soldiers, many of whom aren't from the States.  And when it comes down to it, a guy like me needs to be in a city...so Jerusalem here I come!

On Tuesday, I'm moving my things from Kibbutz Hama'pil to an apartment in Jerusalem.  The contract was signed today and I'm going to be living with Shmuel (in Tzanchanim/from New York), Effy (Tzanchanim/Australia), Simcha (Golani/Canada) and Chaim (formerly in Kfir/Canada).  Although this sentiment will echo something I said before moving to Hama'pil, I will repeat it now: I'm finally going to be living in a place of my own.  It'll be with other lone soldiers.  They're all Chabad, religious guys.  I'm exploring my religion but have made it clear that I am not shomer Shabbat.  It'll be an experience, and I hope a great one at that.

Going back to my training base (Bach Tzanchanim) for two weeks of ulpan, learning Hebrew.  It'll be a short week; I'm moving on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we get Thursday through Sunday off.  I plan to be in Eilat next weekend.  Going with a girl I've been seeing.  Life's pretty good.

But in Israel, I just found out that rockets are falling on Beersheva, Ashkelon and other southern cities.  And now, following the "success" of the Shalit deal, a Saudi Arabia cleric and prince have offered a combined $1,000,000 to kidnap an Israeli soldier.  One million dollars!  For a soldier in the IDF.  Sure it's some random Israeli, Jewish/Arab/Druze/Christian teenager or young adult.  But do you know who else that is?

That's me.  One million dollars to capture me.

Where is Obama and the US in telling our Saudi allies that this is downright unacceptable?