The beginning of this saga might read as though it were being written by Phil Morris (He’s the man who played lawyer Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld.)

Was it serendipitous, fortuitous, propitious, prescient, or merely omniscient on her part that Bernice knew that I would forget to purchase a diary for my “Volunteers for Israel” adventure? I don’t know the answer, but then she looked so beautiful on that day, when she gave it to me as a gift, so, therefore, these notes.

I also remember that when I was at Far Rockaway High School, some of our English teachers told us that some stories began “in medias res”, but since I am not one of those who have that skill, I’ll start at the “real” beginning.

It was in October of this year that Gil Katz sent me a “clipping” from a newspaper in the Berkshires that told the story of one of our friends, Marty Silver, who had been at Fort Schuyler with us. Marty is an interesting guy, a great skier, and someone who had “delivered” immigrants to Israel during its formative years, as well as having many business and other relations with Israel, even now. The clipping showed Marty’s picture and told us that he was embarking on a two or three week trip as a “Volunteer for Israel”.

Since it is my nature to sincerely believe Hillel’s adage, “If not me-who? If not now-when?” I decided to investigate. (And a change in my life resolved the “when” by making it “now”!)

But before I relate my “exploits” (or to make it seem more exotic, some of my “exploits”), I’ll tell about Sar-El, “Volunteers for Israel”.

Sar-El, the National Project of Volunteers for Israel, was founded as a non-profit, non-political organization providing world Jewry, and others, as you’ll see later, with the opportunity to participate “hands-on” in helping Israel. It began in 1982 in response to a manpower shortage caused by the war in Lebanon. That year, the first group of 650 volunteers responded to a call to work in the fields and orchards of the Golan Heights. These volunteers felt very strongly that they were participating in rebuilding Israel, and subsequent to their experience, expressed a wish that the program be perpetuated. Since that time Sar-El has grown to become active in 30 countries world-wide offering year-round opportunities to be involved in supporting and strengthening Israel in a variety of ways.

As of October of 2002, over 92,000 volunteers (quite a few Christians included, as you’ll read later) had participated in Sar-El, and this includes many who repeat the program. Thousand of volunteers have made “aliyah” and have become Israeli citizens, or extended their stay in Israel for studies.

Most of the volunteers are between 18-65 years of age, and work in IDF (Israel Defense Force) on service bases, or in geriatric hospitals. Most volunteers work alongside and under the direction of soldiers and perform such duties as packing food rations or medical kits, changing spare parts, gardening, or painting.  Volunteers thereby reduce the military demands on Israeli reservists, and allow them more time for civilian life with family and careers. Now back to my trip.

So that evening (the one in which I received the diary), I went to a new phenomenon in the United States, a “holiday” party (which is the new politically correct way to refer to what used to be called a “Christmas” Party)- except, after being at one for about twenty minutes, and having some hors d’oeuvre and wine, I discovered that I was at the “wrong” party, so I left and went to the “right” party (about half mile away) had some Absolut and went home to think about packing for my trip.

I picked this particular trip because it would entail me leaving on December 22 and returning to the United States on January 10.  Things are usually slow in many businesses then, and, why not. I told my son Steven about the trip the day before I left, but not my daughter, Sari, because she was on holiday in Puerto Rico, and why give her more anguish while in Puerto Rico?

Caring friends sent emails, all saying, in effect, “Be Careful” I thanked them of course for their good and kind wishes but my thoughts were with Ecclesiastes- 1,2 “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven: A time for being born and a time for dying,….” And 7 “A time for silence and a time for speaking” What better time than now?

Flight 90 of Continental Airlines left Newark Airport at 10:50 PM  Sunday,  December 22, 2002 after the checked and carry-on luggage were inspected more thoroughly than I have ever seen before and my “E” ticket was issued. The flight to Tel Aviv was uneventful and the 777 seemed to me to be a “tad” roomier where I sat with the “proletariat” than the El Al 747, I usually take. I slept for a good portion of the trip. We landed at Ben Gurion Airport at 4:15 PM on December 23, and after getting my luggage, I found the Sar-El program coordinator Pamela Lazarus together with a young female soldier formerly of Kharkov, Ukraine and a group of people who would be with me for the next 18 days. Other volunteers had arrived before and still others would arrive later. We then boarded a bus and proceeded to Ramle, where our base was (Ramle should not be confused with Ramallah which is an Arab city in Judea, referred to by some as either “the West Bank” or “Occupied Territories”- one may equate this to someone here who refers to Texas or California as our occupied territories!).

The name of our base is Batzap and it is part of a larger base camp Pikud ha Oref and is a base of the “Home Front Command”. The main purpose of the base, I was told, is to fix and distribute electronic transmitting devices to be used in Judea and Samaria.  When we entered our ‘inside’ base, we were greeted by the sign (see picture #) “Baruchim Habayim” (Praised-Blessed are you in coming) - The sign when one leaves (“Tsaytchem l’shalom”) (see picture #) is ‘leave in peace’. After meeting with our “Madrichot” (the singular is “Madricha”), the soldiers who were in charge of our group we were given the following schedule:

5:50 AM- Calisthenics-then run, walk

6:45 AM- Roll Call

7:00 AM- Breakfast (about 6/10 of a mile from our barracks)- walk, of course

7:45 AM- Roll Call and News

8:15 AM- Flag Raising

8:20 AM- Work to 12 Noon

12:   Noon Lunch

1-5  PM- Work          

6:00 PM- Dinner

7:30 PM- Lecture or other evening activity

We then had our first dinner which consisted of omnipresent persimmons, oranges, gvina (cheese), humus, (which is pronounced “chumous”, the same “ch” as in challah) bread and the ubiquitous tea. We were told by our Madrichot, Avigail and Natalia that in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), the main meal is lunch.

After dinner we were assigned to our barracks. Mine housed six men, two double-decker beds and two singles. I had the bottom bed in one of the doubles. Our barracks there consisted of a man from South Africa/Cyprus (both places), one from Brazil and four from the US.  Each barracks housed only a single gender, so that husbands and wives on the base had to stay in different rooms.

Tuesday, December 23. We were each issued uniforms, consisting of trousers, shirts, sweater, boots, a parka, and a hat. (Picture #) and were told that each week we would get newly washed, clean gear” The uniforms had been “broken-in” by other soldiers (reminded me of the “previously used” ads for automobiles).  Most of the uniforms fit OK and then we “turned-to”.  Some of the jobs were as mentioned above. We helped maintain army trucks, painted, maintained the base, (cleaned and landscaped) etc. We also refurbished helmets, cleaning them and replacing the electronics-piece by piece and then they were tested by the ‘regular’ troops. (Of course, after we were given instruction on how to repair and reconnect). I worked with antennas to refurbish them. We found out that the helmets and antennas were for use near the Gaza strip and they were needed for communications so their proper recycling could save lives. The antennas were used in tanks and armored vehicles. and would be used as replacements for those damaged. In my antenna group were a dental surgeon from Pittsburgh, his wife, and another woman from Pittsburgh whose main activity was to check out certain men she would meet as a result of “JDate” on the internet. In the evening we had a lecture by a man who was an attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina, but who made “aliyah”. He told us about his life and that he was the fourth president of the “AACI”. (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel). After his talk I asked him if he new my friend Murray Greenfield, who was the first president. He said that everyone knew Murray and Hana.

December 25- Wednesday. We left for another base- “Mazon” after a breakfast of pickles, olives, eggs, bread and tea at our base. Our entire group, which had about forty people when we arrived had about six Christians, one a minister, a couple from Royal Oak, Michigan, (the home of the anti-Semite priest, Father Charles Coughlin), a farmer from the state of Washington and his wife (Truck Farm and  Sheep Ranch) and another Christian man from Canada. At “Mazon”, we, and a group of soldiers, worked on an assembly line and loaded fifteen thousand food packages for “orphan” soldiers who had no place to go on the weekends. These packages provided ample food, so even if the soldiers were invited into someone’s home on their liberty, they would not burden the family, as they had their own food.  The Christian volunteers had never “celebrated” a Christmas like this.  We were ‘on the go’ from 7:00AM and returned to our base at 8:00 PM. It was tiring, boring work and one can now empathize with an assembly line worker.

December 26, Thursday. For the fourth day we had cold rain. It was cold as hell, (now, how would I know how cold “hell” is?), but Israel needs the water. We each returned to our former activities, antennas, helmets, trucks and maintenance. We had a lecture in the evening and then I went to bed. All during the stay at the base, I “slept like a log”, even though each of us had a hard bed with a small spring and mattress.

December 27, Friday. We had our first liberty although we first stopped at David Ben Gurion’s house in Tel Aviv. It was extremely interesting, and, in some strange way, it reminded me of the Churchill headquarters under the War Office in London. Then Dana Seidner, a young actuary from Chicago, and I were dropped off in Tel Aviv. Since we were near the Dolphinarium, the club in which about twenty young people were killed about a year and a half ago by “suicide murderers”, I showed Dana the sign that the families had put up after the bombing “We will not stop dancing”. (See picture #).  Then Murray Greenfield picked us up and took us to his house in Tel Aviv, where we met Hana and we drove to Jerusalem. We dropped Dana off to meet her hosts, and then we went to Murray’s new home in Jerusalem which is also the office of his son’s business Gefen Publishing House (picture #). As you can see it is a great place and wonderfully situated. After using the internet in the Gefen office we went to Murray and Hana’s daughter’s house in the Gilo part of Jerusalem. This is an area which had been shelled last year by terrorists from Bet Jallah, but no longer. During the Shabbat dinner I met Meira and Michael’s four daughters, each of whom is beautiful. Sharona is in the Army and deals with the foreign press. She told us of some of the correspondents who are unfair to Israel with “biased” reporting. Israel is treated unfairly by CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and BBC and most newspapers, she said but the London Times is fair, as is the new NY Times writer and some others. I slept at the Jerusalem House.

December 28, Saturday – In the morning we went to the Kotel (Western Wall), and then went to the Conservative Synagogue where we saw Donald and Betsy Landis. The rabbi, Dr Avraham Feder, gave an interesting Drosh telling of Exodus II: 12 where Moses “turned this way and that way, and seeing no man, he smote the Egyptian”. The rabbi explained that when Moses saw no “other” man he realized that he, Moses, was the man, and he was the one who had to do the job. That is a very interesting explanation of a difficult part of the Torah. Each of us, when a job needs to be done, must take it upon ourselves, to be the man, and do the job!  Later we went to Hadassah Hospital and visited Abe Greenfield who said that he was “stabbed by a fish bone” Abe is still the same. He “scammed” an extra Shabbat meal. Abe is looking old, is bent over and uses a cane. That evening we went to a dinner at the Progressive Synagogue of which Meira and Michael are members. There I met a woman who had been in Far Rockaway High School with me. (I’m sure that Annabel could see that I looked younger in 1944).

December 29, Sunday. After going though security twice (“Are you carrying a weapon?”) at the Central Bus Terminal I took the 8:15 AM Express Bus from Jerusalem to Ramle. (# 433) The bus was filled with soldiers. On our liberty, we were not permitted to wear our uniforms, so each of wore ‘civvies’. Because Sunday is a workday, I again worked on antennas. We had a lecture on how a Shaliach works and how the Russian immigration helped both the people who came to Israel and those who were already there. They are hard working people who brought many good qualities and some problems also. “J C” the volunteer from South Africa/Cyprus left after being at the base for three months.

December 30, Monday. Did the same job as yesterday. The President of Israel came to visit the base to meet with our Christian volunteers and thank them. (The Jews didn’t object to that). In the evening we had a lecture on “Holocaust Denial” and how to properly and honestly answer that nauseating calumny.

December 31, Tuesday. We finally received our “insignia” which were affixed to the epaulets on our uniforms. Following the IDF custom, as each of us affixed his/her insignia, the Madricha would count Achad, Shtayim, Shlosh (1, 2, and 3) and then each received a heavy slap/shove on the back. We each were appreciative of our new insignia.

After work, in the evening (New Years Eve, “Sylvester” in Israel-I’ve forgotten why, but yesterday evening, January 20, at the film “The Pianist”, the Germans referred to it with the same term) we donned our civilian clothes and toured part of old Yafo (Jaffa) and then we went to Tel Aviv by our bus. Most people went to eat but I eschewing that, went to an ‘Internet Cafי’. It was a pleasure to use an internet that worked and also was as fast as mine at home. (The connection to the internet in our camp is an abomination. It is very slow, the mouse goes where “it” wants to go, which doesn’t always coincide with where you want it to go, and each person only had twenty minutes. It could be a ‘scheme’ by the phone company, because after a bombing in Tel Aviv at the “old” bus station, I called New York, and not only because of the internet). At the ‘Cafי’ I cleared all my unread messages, sent some out. It only cost nine shekels (about $1.80). I then bought some classical CDs and we went back to the base and I then ‘sacked out’ substantially prior to the year change.

January 1, Wednesday. Many of us went to a different base, Matan.

Our job there was to recycle gas masks. I volunteered to carry the heavy boxes around and unpack the cartons carrying the gas masks.  We then check the numbers and gave it to our “detail” and to others there who rechecked the masks and put in new chemicals.  (Atrophene, I believe). One of the young women on our trip, Shana Alexander, took a picture of me wearing a gas mask standing next to a soldier who came from Ethiopia and our new Madricha Netania. Netania had replaced Natalia who was gong to ‘Officers School’ for further training in intelligence. All in all, that day we opened more than 2500 gas masks and fixed them for potential use. While we were doing that, we heard and saw some F 16 aircraft maneuvering above. It was interesting to see some civilians working alongside us as volunteers. We returned in the evening for a lecture.

Thursday, January 2. We toured some areas of Jerusalem, the Supreme Court building (beautiful) and visited some of the court rooms. Then we went to a mall where each person had to be checked (as in virtually all buildings open to the public). It was a very cold day. We then went to Mishcanat Sha’anayim” to the Konrad Adenauer Conference Center, and also to Cinamatek where the Israel Film Festival is held, and is nearby. It is near ‘the windmill’ which is well known to all visitors of Jerusalem... Later I was dropped off near the Central Bus Station where I took a taxi to the Emek Refaim area to visit my gracious hosts, Don and Betsy Landis, who have a new home/apartment  there. Don and Betsy have a beautiful apartment with their own private elevator.  I was a guest at their home for the weekend. The first two restaurants at which we tried to make reservations were ‘booked’. That was good news. (The economy!). We had dinner at “Gold Fish” which is across from the Inbal Hotel (Laromme). We also had a guest who knows my friend, Leon Levy. I had my first St Peter’s fish in a long time.

Friday, January 3. After I sent emails on the Landis computer to Steve and Sari to remind them to call Uncle Joe for his birthday, Betsy and I went to an interesting bakery. People seem to know where it is by following the “aroma” of challah etc. (That’s how Betsy found it, even on a rainy day!) It was one of those eclectic, esoteric and only known to the cognoscenti (Jackie Chiles, again!). We bought challot for Shabbat, and then Betsy went for her Pilates exercise. In the afternoon Don and I did some errands including purchasing some good wine for the hostess of our Shabbat dinner. When went to the Kol Hanshama Synagogue (All Souls?) where we met Charles Bronfman (Seagram’s, et al) and also Howard Wasserman & his wife (from UJA- the Brooklyn “J”) who had been on a trip and had arrived from Moscow. For our Shabbat dinner we were hosted by Joyce Klein at her “flat”.

Joyce, who was a teacher in White Plains, NY produces “Theme Plays” in Israel. One of the young women at the dinner knew my Madricha, Netania.

Saturday, January 4. We went for services at Hebrew Union College. It was a Reconstructionist service at that venue. Then we had Shabbat lunch at Laurie Heller’s apartment. Laurie is an employee of the UJA/Federation in Jerusalem.

In the evening we were invited to a friend’s house in the Yemin Moshe area of Jerusalem. It is an exclusive neighborhood and my old friends Myron (Mike) and Gloria Kramer invited us and the Greenfields for a party. Don was unable to come as he had some business that had to be completed by that night. Mike and Gloria were wonderful hosts. Although we had not seen each other in thirty years, it was fun seeing them again and also their wonderful residence. We spoke about a mutual friend whom Mike asked me to check on, as he was ill. (As this is being typed, I just returned from the funeral.) Mike said that he had five children and many grandchildren. It was a great evening, and, perhaps Betsy will have a new friend in Jerusalem.

Sunday, January 5. I took the same bus #433 to Ramle, and when we arrived at the Ramle bus station, we found that our transportation back to the base had a problem, so we walked. When we arrived at the base, we had to wait outside for about an hour as the President of Israel was there, and there was extra security.  Although this was Sunday, it was a work day and this time I worked on the helmets. Some had bullet holes in them and others were damaged in other ways. One person said ‘remember there is an Israeli Soldier under each helmet – so be careful when you clean them and then put in the electronics’. In the evening we were to have a lecture by an IDF man who had been wounded in one of the wars.  He was there with an eye patch, a large pistol strapped to his belt, and an arm with a prosthetic. He could have starred in a war film, because he looked like (and, no doubt, was) a swashbuckling hero. Just as he was about to begin his lecture, we heard about the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, and he was called and had to leave.  I then telephoned New York to say that I was safe.

Monday, January 6. As I walked from breakfast I was speaking with some of the Christian volunteers. The three I was with were ‘Christians’ in the true sense of the word. I worked on helmets that day and with the electronics (Picture 18 etc). I haven’t written about our bathroom (picture). It was about thirty yards from my barracks or the shower (picture) about fifty yards. It was a community shower and a community bathroom for men. The women had their own, with privacy, of course. The evening lecture was about entry into the IDF and about the many tests given, physical, psychological and mental to find out to which branch of the IDF the person would best be assigned. The IDF needs, and ostensibly gets, optimum placement.

Tuesday, January 7. Worked on both helmets and antennas with our group and, also, with David, a volunteer from Germany. In the evening we had “Rami” who came in a wheelchair. He was wounded in Lebanon and needed the wheelchair in which to get around. He is now a volunteer for Sar-El who went to University, married and has three children. He says “to serve is an obligation – and a privilege”. He told us that he was on Israel’s ‘wheelchair basketball team’ in the Olympics.

Wednesday, January 8. We worked on antennas again. In the evening we had a film showing how important were the volunteers. The commandant of the base thanked us for our devotion and work. They repeated how much they appreciated the work, and thanked us for doing it-‘it’s not a vacation!’ It was good to hear “your work saves lives” and “The work done at this base would be nothing without you!” That evening the IDF took any extra mattresses (I didn’t have an extra) because they were needed for maneuvers. Each of us was given a certificate, a pin etc and we had a good bye party with pizza and falafel, salad and Coke.

Thursday, January 9. We worked for a while, packed, took some group pictures, and turned in our uniforms. Those flying back were dropped off at Ben Gurion Airport. The bad news was that I had to wait about 10 hours before I would be allowed to check in, but the good news was I had enough time to finish my book, David McCullough’s “John Adams”. (Finally!!!). The flight was uneventful and fortunately, I slept most of the time.

Some conclusions.

1. Was it worthwhile? Certainly!
2. Was it efficacious? Sure, both for Israel and for the volunteer, who gave his/her most valuable asset, time.
3. What kind of people volunteer? All ages and occupations. A woman 79 years of age who was on her fifth Sar-El, a husband and wife from Los Angeles, he an obstetrician, she a psychiatrist, a dental surgeon from Pittsburgh and his wife, a young actuary, a beautiful freshman from the University of Maryland, a woman ‘between jobs’, a farmer, a woman who was one of eleven offspring of a marriage of a Jewish mother and a Baptist father, and the only one brought up as a Jew. She works in military sales at bases in the US. A woman who became a “Jew by choice” when she was in her late forties, a cigar smoking couple from California. The husband became a Jew at his marriage. A film producer from Australia and her husband who was born in Holland and had also lived in Israel before Australia.
4. Were we thanked enough? Every day, in every place, we were thanked, praised, blessed, etc.
5. Would I do it again? Well, I’ll answer this way; this is what Ponce de Leon was really looking for! Without doubt.