“Toda raba.” “Thank you very much.” These were the responses from soldiers and civilians when an initial group of eight congregants from Hevreh of Southern Berkshire spent two to three weeks as volunteers in service on Israeli military bases in February.

 

Arrangements were made directly with the non-profit organization, Sar-El, an Israeli acronym meaning Sheruit Le’ Israel, or Service for Israel. Sar-El’s mission is to enable Diaspora Jews and friends of Israel to work side-by-side with Israeli soldiers, to promote solidarity and goodwill in a mutually beneficial experience.

 

This was the first Sar-El “adventure” for most in the February Hevreh group. We were assigned to a paratroop training school near Rehovet in central Israel, and were joined by six other volunteers from the U.S., to form a cohesive team. We performed a variety of rotating activities, from assisting in the cleaning and reuse of parachutes, to kitchen duty, painting, taking inventory, cleaning M-16 rifles, to loading bullets into magazines. We watched young paratroopers, men and women, jump from training towers under the strict supervision of instructors. Overhead, helicopters and fighter jets streaked across the sky from the adjacent air force base. This was not a Hollywood set; it was real.

 

Food in the dining area (“cheder ochel”), while bland and repetitious, was wholesome and plentiful. Eggs in many forms, tomatoes, cucumbers, chicken schnitzel and the ubiquitous cottage cheese or yogurt were staples at different meals. Your grandmother’s chicken soup it was not. Please note: kashrut was observed at all meals.

 

Accommodations were summer camp style: cots, cubbies, shared bathrooms and two to three men, or two to three women, in a room. Sorry folks, cohabitation was out. Olive green work uniforms (“fatigues”) were furnished. Amalia and Nathalie were our trained “madrechot,” or leaders. Can you imagine two 18-year old women supervising a group of grandparents? We quickly bonded as “mishpacha.” It was part of the adventure.

 

Weekends were free. We took advantage of a Sar-El coordinated, budget tour to northern Israel. The Friday evening Shabbat dinner on a kibbutz on the east bank of the Kinneret was delightful. The kibbutz was situated across the lake from Tiberias, at the base of the Golan Heights. Our group made a Kiddush to usher in the Shabbat meal. “Golden” Jerusalem and frenetic Tel Aviv were also visited by our group before returning to the base.

 

Several of us extended volunteer service into a third week and were assigned to a communications maintenance base at Ramla, also near Rehovet. We worked with volunteers from several other countries, including non-Jewish supporters of Israel. Here, too, the camaraderie of soldiers from the Israeli mosaic – Sephardim, Ashkenazi, Ethiopian and North American, all contributed to the sense of security of Israel.

 

Presently, another eight “Hevrehniks” are serving on an Israeli military facility for two weeks in March, performing similar duties to the February group. They will be followed by another Jewish Berkshire community couple in late March.

 

On weekends, which, of course, were at our expense, we observed Israelis going to cafes, enjoying the beach, riding buses and attending cultural events. Young soldiers, toting M-16s, and guards who searched bags at the entrance to malls, hotels and restaurants, created an atmosphere of calm alertness, not heightened anxiety. The Israelis we met seem to shrug off fear.

 

Israel is a vibrant country beset with problems, but trying to lead a normal life in a hostile neighborhood. Nonetheless, Israelis continue to build a nation of promise and serve as an inspiration to the Jewish People, at home and in the Diaspora.

 

The economy is definitely on the rebound. New, high-rise apartment complexes and high-tech research and manufacturing facilities, many in joint ventures with American and European companies, dot the landscape. The Begin Highway, named for the late prime minister, is under construction. When completed, it will bypass the West Bank and connect Jerusalem with Haifa and other northern cities and towns. A side note: we were momentarily confused as we tried to understand the road sign that read in Hebrew and in English, “Enter Begin Here.”

 

The Sar-El experience is not for everyone. But, if you want to make a visible, morale-building contribution to Israel, with a sense of personal satisfaction, one that you will never forget, then “go for it.”

 

For more information how you may serve on a Sar-El program, log onto: www.sar-el.org or www.vfi-usa.org. Or, contact Martin Silver at (413) 637-3424, <microtools-usa@msn.com>.