Six years ago at age 50 I served my first SAR-EL Service and had an absolutely great time. I thought it couldn´t possibly be topped but my second service proved me wrong. In October 2014 I started my second SAR-El Service and once again a great adventure started.
I had just stepped out of the airplane when I was already welcomed by SAR-El at the Ben Gurion Airport which gave off a great first impression. Then within a few hours we were assigned, well over 300, to different army bases. And Here I was sitting in a coach travelling to a base and meetingt many new people in my group. We were all guided by our Madricha who was in charge of us at the camp and assisted us in doing our service.
Work was a very fascinating experience; we were checking the rucksacks of the soldiers among other things. It was a bit of a challenging task because we had to learn what belonged into the rucksack and what was missing. I was very fond of this task because we were working side by side with actual combat soldiers who had to perform the same task after training.
My second base was located in the Negev. Our job was to collect and scrap metal parts from army equipment to help recycle resources. It was a very special work, knowing that it directly benefitted Israel.
When my service was over I left with the hope that one day my children will follow my footsteps and come to Israel to be like a Zionist like me. My second stay was just as great as my first and I got the chance to meet many awesome people. I want to give special thanks to SAR-EL, the Madrichot Inbar and Hadar who does an incredible job coordinating the organization.
By Yitzhak Feuerstein
