Hi Again:

Some of you have requested that I continue with the correspondence from Israel.  So here is the final letter on Israel Trips – 2005.  But rather than describing the camp and what we did I would rather tell you about a very small experience so you can better understand why I go on these trips in the first place.  I have heard so many times that that you would like to go but can’t and here is my reason for going.   

After dinner, which is at six o’clock in the mess hall, you go to a group evening meeting at 7:15 in a large room where you have a variety of activities such a guest lectures on Israel, and its history, talks by the camp commanders on the Army, survivors from the Holocaust etc.  This particular evening our group leader, a solder in the Israel Army and specially trained to handle Sar-El (the division of the Army that handles this program) participants, felt that we should pay tribute to one of soldiers that had just been killed in Jenin.   

What Edeet proposed is that we read a letter from a soldier during the previous war.  The soldier, whose name I can’t recall, wrote a lengthy letter home to his parents.  Each one of our volunteers was going to read aloud a paragraph from the letter.  I am going to paraphrase the letter.

"It is now about 4 o’clock and I have to get ready to go out on another mission.  My new sergeant stripes look really nice on my uniform but it also makes me responsible for my group.  I don’t think I am old enough because the rest of the guys are already 20 years old and older than me.  I know I can handle it because the Lieutenant said so. Well, I have to set up my plans and then I can think about seeing you this Sabbath.

O.K.   I guess that I am pretty well set. Aviv will be leading the group and lets hope that we can get this done quickly in the West Bank.  It is not very hard but you have to be careful.  Aviv is great as he seems to be able to move around without anyone seeing.  I am going to bring him home with me on Friday as he has become my best friend.  Well it is starting to get dark out and I have to run…    Love you all, D."

                       At 18:50  D was shot and killed by  an Arab  sniper.

I could read no longer.  The tears rose up and I sobbed without stop.  I passed the paper to the person next to me and no one in that room could or would continue.  The meeting ended on this very sad moment each of us in our own thoughts and each of us dealing with the sadness.  In Israel every soldier is a relative and when one is killed the whole country has lost a family member. 

The very next morning the Army marked the 10^th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.  Right after the morning flag raising the Commander made a speech in Hebrew which I couldn’t understand. And after the flag was lowered to half mast, the Army post (about 400 soldiers – in their 20s) sang Hatikvah. The Blue Star of David waving on high in a cloudless sky told me why I was in Israel……

                                                                                 Shalom

                                                                                 Mickey