By Avi Feldman

"And now its time to say Goodbye, to all our company."  [That's what] Mickey Mouse sang many many years ago. The song then went on to say M - I - "C" - see you real soon! K - E - "Y" - why, because we like you! That song has stayed has stayed in my memory bank because its been a very important part of my life for over fifty years now. That's because it is how I run my life ...... I try to be with positive people in positive situations and for positive reasons. 

As an extension of this opening remark, I once again did Sar El with positive people, in a positive situation and we all definitely did it for the right positive reasons So, as I sit in a Hong Kong hotel where I stay [overnight] in order to break this incredibly long journey back home to Melbourne Australia, I can proudly tell people that one of my principle reasons for coming to Israel, was to help Israel through our Sar El. 

[Once] again, I feel all enthused about our Sar El and shall try and help David with his newly-established Aussie arm of Sar El. From what I can see, he has been doing a great job promoting Sar El through the web page that he created (www.sarelaustralia.org/).  I shall try to emulate his footsteps in my Melbourne which is over a thousand kilometres south of his Brisbane.
 
Why am I telling you this? By now you may be asking yourself that very question.
 
Because our Israel needs as much as help as it can get from anyone from anywhere. So whoever you may be and wherever you may be, if you too can help promote our Sar El to whoever may listen,  then it truly would be your mitzva to do so.
 
Shalom ve lehitra'ot till next October to all my friends that I've made thru Sar El and to those I may make in the future.

                    The Best Of Friends

By Avi Feldman

Friends, friends and then more friends.

With every Sar El that I have done, the feelings of achieving and gratification for helping Israel through it are all very well and good, but its fringe benefit is too good not to mention.

The fringe benefit that I am talking about are the friendships that we all enjoy through meeting fellow committed volunteers from all parts of the world. The reunions of old friendships and the making of new friendships make all the work we do and the difficult living conditions, truly worthwhile and fantastic.

This amazing feeling of such friendships is always felt at the Central Bus Station's MacDonalds store each Sunday morning when we meet there. To get as emotional as we do with people that we’ve only known for one or two weeks is extraordinary. Then comes the sharing of email addresses to stay in contact which sometimes sees reunions and or shared times together that are always happening.  

So instead of telling you just how wonderful it all was which to some would  be  boring as they’ve heard it all before, I just want to thank those whom I befriended this time around as the moments we shared were unreal….. Thanks and I hope that you enjoy these pictures.

By Avi Feldman

Hi again from a very happy Sar El’nick as once again as Sar El has enabled me to help Israel in such an enjoyable and as you will soon learn, rewarding way.
 

Many years ago, I started sharing the good times that Sar El had to offer through this web page, I wrote a big shpiel on how we all can get the most out of Sar El. After 21 times, Sar El once again has proven to me how fortunate we all are to have found this sensational way to help Israel. The madrichot we had last week came to my rescue to help me have another terrific week of incredibly rewarding work with magnificent volunteers from all over the world yet again.

Now how does one assess such good times you ask? I upload my pics onto my computer like all of us do after each stint, then view them a few days after the week has finished to recollect as to how good it all was. I’ve now done that 41 times (after each week of the weeks that I’ve so far done) and have them all on my hard drive as a terrific memory of the wonderful times that I shared with fellow committed volunteers like myself. I then forward them on to [Sar-El Program Coordinator Pamela Lazarus and Sar-El Web Editor Stacey Miller], so that those who have shared that time and space with me, may also enjoy the happiness that these pics have captured.

Having said all that, please let me share with you that this was the seventh time that I was posted to the medical kit base. This stint was no different from the previous six times as it was as good as the others, which is a big thing for me to say as the previous ones were all great. The highlights include being reunited with my buddy from last year who I liked so much so that we made it a point to grab the same beds from the same room. OK, we weren’t with the same great guys from last year, but those who did join us turned out to be just as good, but in a different way. The work we were given was a variation of what we did last year, but with new volunteers to do it with, it proved to be as rewarding and fun as the previous times were. 

We were privileged enough to hear our section’s boss tell us that all of Israel’s medical kit bags are assembled at this base, and 90% of them are assembled by us volunteers. After hearing that, imagine how important we all felt, as all of us are there to help Israel. So I am now preparing to return to that base for the umpteenth time to work with my newly-made friends, but this time with a lot more purpose for what we are all doing after hearing what the boss had told us.

So to my friends out there, I hope you enjoy these pics as much as I do and am truly looking forward to sharing next week’s experiences with you in my next communiqué.

By Avi Feldman

When I first started doing Sar El some 6 years ago, I had no idea that the work I was donating to Israel came with so many fringe benefits. I half expected to meet new people from abroad but had no idea as to how good they would be, even though we all shared the same desire to help Israel. I also had no idea that their 18-21 year madrichim would be so incredibly good that they would not only guide us through the bases that we were sent to, but would in fact, be mature and clever enough to teach us ulter kuckers about Israel, the army and even some Ivrit (Hebrew) to help us with our time there.
 
So I happily enjoyed every Sar El group that I was a part of because of those fringe benefits and felt totally enriched after each program. But all the programs I had participated in up till then were three week programs, so when Sar El offered me a one week alternative, I snapped it up to see what it would be like.
 
Well yes ...... it started off sensationally when I met up with so many of my ex-pat friends at the airport. Friends whom I had not seen since doing Sar-El with them some years ago. The actual one week turned out to be absolutely terrific for those who don't have the time to participate in a longer program.

You see, the camaraderie that was developed in such a short time was amazing. That in turn led to each and every one of trying our utmost to help Israel through the work we did and to learn as much as possible from the madrichot.

Sure, we didn't have a tiyool (trip) and sure we didn't have the second and third week's bonding reunions that the longer groups enjoy.

However, during the one week we did have we enjoyed a party with its own revue, had a walk and dinner at the local supermarket, and worked like dogs in the 38C heat because we all wanted to.
 
So if you have those dreadful time constraints, the one week program can certainly be recommended as illustrated in all these pics that I took in such a short time!
 (You can see more of Avi's pictures

on the Volunteer's Picture Page - Editor)
  

Shabbat Shalom From Netanya

 As Avi Returns!

By Avi Feldman

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