by Jon Schwartz
For those of you who are not familiar with Sar-El, it is a volunteer group founded by retired Israeli General Aharon Davidi. Davidi, as he likes to be called, was the former head of the IDF paratroopers and infantry corps. Sar-El incorporates both Jews and non Jews of all ages (and I mean there were volunteers as young as 22 and as old as 77 in my group) from across the globe are placed on army bases throughout Israel to perform non-combatant work duties. Volunteers live in barracks on the base, and are provided room and board. For example, on my base, which was located in Rishon Litzion, I helped to mix cement to pave roads, loaded magazine cartridges with ammunition for the soldiers, refurbished fire extinguishers that are used on tanks and the job that never ended, cleaning up after the soldiers in the mess halls.
However important these laborious tasks were, the most important job I had on the army base was standing side-by-side with these young, Jewish, Israeli soldiers. There were two other “younger” volunteers in my unit and because of our relatively close ages, the soldiers were immediately drawn to us. All of us having been American brought about an even greater curiosity.
As we were standing in line to get our uniforms from the quartermaster, a few of the soldiers came over and asked us “why are you here on this base doing this stuff?” “You guys took your vacation to do this work?” “What are you guys crazy to leave America for this?”
At first, I must admit, I was a bit taken back. I thought to myself, these guys must think we were a bunch of do-gooders here for a few days. They probably assumed we were here to save the world and after a few days, we would leave and forget about them. My thoughts were to be proved dead wrong.
For my first work assignment, I was placed with three Israeli soldiers and two civilians. Moses was my boss. His nickname was Musa due to the fact that there were so many Moses’ on the base. We met, shook hands and I was immediately given a shovel to start to mix cement. The cement was to be used to fill the potholes on the base. We were to make the base look as tidy as possible because the Army Chief of Staff was due for a visit the following day.
As luck would have it, one of the soldiers that I was working with, Omri, spoke fluent English. After a brief introduction, we became instant buddies. While working, we spoke about American movies, him becoming part of the army just after high school, American girls, Israeli girls, and, well, more girls. For lunch that day Omri insisted I eat with him in the soldiers’ mess hall. He introduced me around to the others and again, we became instant friends.
One of the other soldiers I worked with did not speak a word of English, and for some reason, he did not understand a word of the broken Hebrew I tried to lay on him. Omri was no where to be found so I had to be creative. I started to rap to see if he could understand that. Well, Ruven rapped, but in Hebrew. So then I started Hatikvah. That peaked his interest. He then started to sing Mayim l’David a melech and I started to dance. Ruven was cracking up. Well, he must have told some of his soldier friends because from that day forward, every time I saw him outside of work, or one of his friends, they would start clapping and singing Mayim l’david a malech. Even the commander of the base caught on and shouted it out when he saw me.
The army also provided field trips for us one day a week. Our first trip was to Jerusalem. We were to leave early in the morning, tour the old city and meet at another army base in Jerusalem for lunch with some other soldiers. The army provided us with two soldiers to guard us while on the tour. Ruby was one of our guards. He sat near me on the bus to Jerusalem and was very eager to speak with me about, yup, you guessed it, American girls. He then proceeded to ask me about the NBA, and many American pop-culture questions.
Our first stop in Jerusalem was the Kotel. It was my first visit there. Words can not describe my feelings as I approached the holy site. To add to the emotional intensity of the event, Ruby grabbed me by the arm and took me right up to the wall where we dovened together. There we were, standing side-by-side, two Jews from two completely different places on the globe, standing at the wall praying together in solidarity. After the prayers, Ruby asked me how I felt about Israel and I simply said, “Am Yisroel Chai.”
My last day on the base was extremely difficult. I had to say farewell to all of my new friends. Ruven (Mayim), lifted me up off of the ground and said to me in Hebrew that I was like a brother to them and needed to return soon. Omri, the English speaker, prepared a small momento for me to bring back to the States. I could go on and on about the relationships that I formed while on base.
These soldiers were so moved that young American Jews actually took the time to work with them. The truth is, these young men and women feel very alone in the world. It was a real breath of fresh air to know that people, more specifically young American Jews, are concerned about the survival of the state of Israel.
Why was it so shocking to them that we were there? Well, according to the statistics (Rabbi’s sermon remarks), in 2003 there were 4058 Sar-El volunteers, 3545 were Jewish. However, in 2004 there were only 3772 volunteers, 3367 being Jewish. Even more astonishing were the number of American volunteers. In 2004 there were 1200 French volunteers and only 850 Americans. In France, the Jewish population is at around 600,000 and in the United States, roughly 5.8 million.
It may
also have to due with what was recently reported in the Jerusalem Post.
According to the National of
Study of Youth and Religion, a four-year survey conducted by 133 researchers and
consultants, American Jewish youth are significantly less engaged in their faith
than their peers in other religious groups.
Only 44 percent believe in a personal G-d who is involved in peoples' lives today. Thirty-four percent said they never pray alone, and only 17% attend synagogue services on a weekly basis.
As far as the safety issues, I must admit, the first day in Israel I was a little apprehensive. Shortly after, my fears subsided after watching all of the Israelis carry on with there every day lives. I road the buses, took cabs and even went into parts of the West Bank. The Saturday evening before I left I was staying just off the Promenade in Tel Aviv. I patroned a couple of local bars in the area and ventured off into old Jaffa.
My message to you this evening is to ask you to do whatever you can as parents, grandparents and in some cases, great-grandparents, to encourage your loved ones to make a trip to Eretz Israel. Let the Israeli people see that we care and are standing with them in solidarity, unconditionally.
Whatever one’s personal, political or religious ideals, there is a program or a trip for them all. Although we may agree or disagree on issues such as the importance of the separation fence, the disengagement plan or even the way in which one practices Judaism, please keep in mind that at the end of the day, when all is said and done, we are all Jews. We can not afford to let Israel fight her battles alone.
Again, thank you for welcoming me into the Temple Anshei Shalom family and for allowing me to share my experience with you all. I would like to extend a special thanks to the Rabbi and Cantor Levi. The Rabbi stood before the congregation before I left for my trip and said that he had hope that my trip to Israel would renew me spiritually. It certainly has. The Cantor had given me special tefilin to accompany me on my trip. That set of Tefilin was with me when I dovened for the first time at the Kotel. I was never more proud to be a Jew.
Jon Schwartz
Florida, USA