I Will be Drive by Passion and Not Fear --
By Shelley Lohmann
I went because no one else was going. I went because Linda Hurwitz moved me to tears with her passion for tzedukah. I went because Debbie Harrick and 16 men and women had the passion to travel on a mission sponsored by THE ASSOCIATED this winter. I went because I was not going to let the fear created by the media and terrorists keep me from expressing my solidarity with the people of Israel. I understood that the people of Israel needed me now more than ever and I wanted to make a positive statement in our crazy world.
I began my trip alone and returned having made new friends from around the world and mishpacha in Israel. I will not say that it was an experience of a lifetime because it is now an experience I will repeat as often as I can in my lifetime.
I went to Israel on a program called “Sar-El” – The National Project for Volunteers for Israel, founded in 1983 as a non-profit, non-political organization. “Sar-El” is the Hebrew acronym meaning “Service for Israel”. Over the years the greatest number of volunteers have come from Volunteers for Israel (www.VFI-USA.org) in the U.S.A. and Volontariat Civil in France. Sar-El has a wonderful website that is updated weekly www.Sar-El.org. I encourage you to visit it and checkout the testimonials.
I went with two main goals in mind: to show my solidarity with the people of Israel and to put as much money as I could into Israeli hands. I wanted to have a hands-on working experience. So, you call this a vacation?!
Never before in my life have I been so dirty, sweaty, hot and disgusting, and felt so good about the work I was doing. My adventure began when I landed at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. Pam Lazarus, a woman from Chicago who made Aliyah two years ago and now works for Sar-El, met me. We would spend another hour at the airport talking and waiting for 2 more volunteers to arrive, and then it was time to set off for our base.
We were stationed on a base called Batzap located near the city Ramle, which is about 30 minutes from Tel Aviv. This small base and 4 others comprise the larger base called “Pikud HaOref” which means “Home Front Command”. Batzap is in charge of fixing and distributing electronic and transmitting devices in the Judea and Samaria region.
Our daily routine was:
7AM Breakfast - which consisted of sliced cheese, Israeli salad, scrambled eggs (about 3 times a week), and eggplant salad. Plus on each table was a loaf of bread and containers of cottage cheese and cream cheese. Since our base was just a small part of this larger base we had to walk about ¾ of a mile to and from the mess hall. What great exercise that was! I chose to fast walk in the cool morning breeze, but had to slow it down during the mid- day heat. In the dining hall they had seltzer water and at every meal, I filled my 3-liter bottle; drinking lots of water was essential.
7:50 - morning meeting. Our madrichas (two female soldiers who were in charge of the volunteers) gave us our daily briefing and some world news.
8:10 - flag raising
8:30 – 10:00 work - This is the army; our workstations were not air-conditioned and we were lucky if we sat by a fan! Our workstation was set-up as an assembly line with many different jobs to be done. By the end of the week I could do them all and then I was able to train the new volunteers the second week I was there! In our work area we were responsible for reconditioning and rewiring the earphones in the soldier’s helmets and repairing the personal antennas that attached to the helmets so soldiers could be radioed their commands and be in touch with the outside world. Every helmet we fixed, every antenna we repaired not only saved Israel many thousands of dollars but it also saved a human life. All the volunteers, regardless of religion or ethnicity were here to save lives, not destroy life.
10-10:30 Break –Time to wash my face and refresh with baby powder!
12:30-1:30 – Lunch – which was the main meat meal of the day. All food on the base was kosher. We always were served Israeli salad, humus, eggplant salad, two vegetables, two starches, either chicken, fish or brisket, soup, bread and fruit. The food I thought was great, very basic, but certainly delicious.
1:30-3:00 Work
3:00 – 3:30 Break - Time to call my girls who are living with their Dad in Texas for the summer. They, like many others did not want to me go, but I felt that I was being a strong role model because I did go! I wanted to show them that when times are toughest their Mom must take what she feels is the right action. I wanted to show them that I do not live my life in fear. So, to calm their fears I called them daily.
3:30 – 5:00 Work
5:00 –6:00 Time to hit the shower and put on civilian clothes
6:00 – Dinner. After dinner every night our madriachs would present a different short educational program to the group. Or we could opt to go off the base on our own for a few hours, but only 5 volunteers per night were allowed a pass from 6Pm- 10PM.
The first week the volunteers on our base numbered 18 and so I was able to go out two nights. The first night a group of us walked into Ramle and the second night we took a short cab ride to Rehovot. It must have been beshert; our cab driver was so warm, so eclectic, and so vivacious that we bonded instantly. Her parents are from Yemen and they came to Palestine before Israel was a State. This very special woman was born on May 19, 1948. To honor her birth and the birth of their new nation her parents named her Israela. She has 6 children, 5 living in Israel and one in California. I felt honored and privileged to be invited to her home for Shabbat dinner the following Friday night.
Three times during the two weeks I was there a group outing was arranged by Sar-El. The first Friday morning I was there Sar-El took the volunteers to Ben Gurion’s home in Tel Aviv and so it was an easy decision to spend my first furlough there. The weekends consisted of Friday & Saturday. Sunday at 10AM we were back on the base to begin a new work week.
In Tel Aviv I walked the streets day and night (sometimes alone, sometimes with friends) and never felt afraid. We had drinks at Mike’s Place on the beach in Tel Aviv on the 4th of July. For those of you who don’t know, Mike’s Place was bombed just a few short months ago. But the minute a location in Israel is bombed the Israelis are quick to rebuild and revisit the area in even stronger numbers than before. In the past year the Israelis have taken on an “in your face attitude” when it comes to terrorism and being afraid of living their lives. Israelis are in the malls, on the beaches, and dancing in the streets. They do not live their life in fear. They live life.
When Israelis engaged me in conversation they would always get around to asking me how long I was staying, to which my reply was, “I am going home tomorrow”. But to that they would reply, “You are going back to the States; home is here.” And now that I am “here” I know I have left part of me in Israel. My previous trip was 10 years ago my next trip G-D willing will be just as soon as I can afford a plane ticket to go “home”.
Shelly Lohmann