My Life as
a Sar-El Jobnik
By Joel Bermack
(Edited by Stacey Miller)
The reactions I received were interesting. "What are you doing? It is dangerous there. Volunteering with the Israeli Defense Forces? Are you crazy? You are taking a risk."
The only risk would have been not doing what I did.
I did something amazing. I volunteered with a program called Sar-El. What is
Sar-El you ask; well I asked the same question a few years ago. It was then that
I read an article about Sar-El. This is a program to aid Israel, through
hands-on volunteer work on military bases. Sar-El is an acronym for Sherut
L’Yisroel, Service for Israel.
Sar-El started in the summer of 1982 during the Peace for Galilee Operation.
Israeli General Aharon Davidi, former head of the IDF Paratroopers and Infantry
Corps, conceived of a way to relieve the labor shortage in Israel during harvest
time. He sent emissaries to the United States to enlist volunteers to help
harvest the crops and keep the economy going, while thousands of workers were
away serving in the army. More than 600 responded immediately to that first call
for help. This was such a great success that the program continued on after the
crisis passed. As a result, in the spring of 1983, Sar-El was founded as a
non-profit, apolitical organization. Since 1983 volunteers have been placed on
IDF bases throughout Israel.
Today the program has expanded to include volunteers from countries all over the
world. Volunteers range in age from 18 to the young at heart. This past August,
over 750 people from around the world, came to Israel and volunteered with
Sar-El. Here in Canada, Sar-El Canada has offices in Toronto and Montreal. Their
website is
www.sarelcanada.org.
I have been to Israel before, the first time was in January 1983. To be
truthful, I found it to be a beautiful country, but could not wait to get on the
plane home. I have been back a couple times since then, once for a month. On
each visit I started to see Israel in a different way, not wanting to get back
on the plane home.
Since my last visit in 2007, I was looking for a way to go back, a way to
contribute and do something for Israel. Yes, I could just write a cheque and
make a donation, but that was not the answer. Then I saw the website, there was
a Canadian group going to do Sar-El in October 2010. After getting the blessing
of my wife Annette, I contacted Judy Shapiro at the JCC, who is the Calgary rep
for Sar-El. My paperwork was sent off in July, and I was accepted into the
program. Then came the 3 months of waiting, with excitement, trepidation, and
nervousness.
My journey began on October 2nd, as I flew from Calgary to Toronto, then the
long flight to Tel Aviv. As we were landing, looking out the window, I was
getting goose bumps. Walking down the ramp towards immigration, I had such a
warm feeling inside. Once I was cleared and got my bag, we all met up in the
lobby with Pamela Lazarus, who is the Sar-El coordinator in Israel. We got
organized into our groups and made our way to our bus. Due to security, we are
not told which base we are place on, until we are enroute. I was assigned to a
base near the town of Ramla, outside of Tel Aviv, not too far from the Ben
Gurion airport.
Volunteers in the army with Sar-El are not given any preferential treatment. We were given the same uniforms to wear, slept on the same squeaky metal bunk beds, in the same barracks as the soldiers, and had to abide by the same rules. We were up at 6:00AM, breakfast at 7:00AM, flag raising at 8:00AM, then off to work at 8:30AM. We worked until 11:45AM, then made our way to the mess hall for lunch at noon. Work usually was over at 4:30PM, then dinner at 6:00PM. I forgot to mention that the walk from our barracks to the mess hall was almost a mile each way. We got our exercise.
We also ate with the soldiers in the mess hall. Surviving on the same
sustenance, eggs, eggs, and 100 ways to do cucumbers and tomatoes. Actually the
food was not that bad. The main meal of the day was at noon, and was usually a
meat meal. Breakfast and dinner were about the same, eggs, cottage cheese,
olives, and salads.
Being on the base, we were involved with the repair and refurbishment of
equipment. I personally was working on refurbishing the base units that the
electronic equipment sat in while in the tanks, trucks, etc. There I was
wielding wrenches and ratchets, taking apart the units, cleaning the sand out,
and putting in new bushings. Yes, me, using tools. Some of the others cleaned,
repaired and rewired the communication helmets, and antennas. Our work was then
being sent back to the front lines. In the IDF, non-combat soldiers who work on
base are nicknamed "Jobniks."
As with all the bases, all soldiers go home on Thursday afternoons and return on
Sunday mornings. We also had the same weekends off. My first weekend, I spent in
Tel Aviv with some of our group, which was so much fun. The other weekend, I was
lucky to be able to spend with my wife’s cousins in Jerusalem.
While on base in the evenings, we usually had some sort of program for about an
hour. This ranged from hearing about Aliyah, life as a soldier, and the history
of Israel. We then had the rest of the evenings to ourselves, but we were not
allowed to leave the base for security reasons.
Living on the base was like living with teenagers. The soldiers were great, and
talking with them in their environment was so interesting. Learning about them,
being so young, 18-21, yet so responsible. To really appreciate them, we had to
remember that they were teenagers: loud, slobs, smoked way too much, and fought
over stupid things. They were Ethiopians, Russians, in addition to all the
Sabras. Most of the soldiers were very friendly and eager to practice their
English with us. They told us of their frustrations.
Answering their questions of us-why where we there, where were we from, why did
we come to this dangerous country? I am not sure that they understood our
reasons for coming, but they were grateful that they had not been forgotten, and
amazed that we would come to Israel (at our own expense) and stand with them,
even if only for a few weeks. Most rewarding was talking with one of the
Commanders who had been on this base for ten years, and heads up the computer
lab. This is his life, serving his country and his family. I also connected with
an interesting soldier by the name of Brook. He was 19, born in Beer Sheva, of
Ethiopian descent. If you did not know otherwise, you would swear he was the
singer Tupac. I called him six-pack, he like that. He has been in the army for
one year, and hates the army, and wants to get out. Where does he want to go? To
America, to be a movie star in Hollywood.
I spent an unbelievable three weeks in Israel, living and working on the IDF base. This experience did more than what I needed to do, to give something back to Israel, more than just a cheque, and more than just a tour of ancient places and visiting relatives. I felt such pride when I donned the IDF uniform, standing at attention at flag raising. Feeling a peace of mind, that my work on base contributed to the safety of Israel and Israel’s soldiers.
I met some wonderful people, and made some new friends. I was inspired by
Bernard, who was 84, and worked next to me wielding his chisel and removing
bolts. Sheila who is 87, from Jersey Channel Islands, on her sixth time
volunteering. I am only 52, and have returned home with a sense of purpose and
excitement, not only for my experience, but also for a different view of Israel
to share. I hope to do this again, and encourage others to go as well. Yes, this
was amazing. Shalom.