I did a week long program on an Israeli army base called Gadna. Gadna is the program that Israeli high schoolers do to give them a taste of army life because most of them will have to serve for a few years when they graduate. It was really hard, but also very rewarding and fun. We dressed as soldiers, lived in barraks and spent the entire week running, doing push-ups, learning about how the army functions and how to behave in combat situations. I was chosen by my Mifakedet (commander) to be alef minelot, which basically means the right hand man. I was responsible for my group (the girls of the ulpan), for their behavior and for enforcing the expectations, as well as responsible for their well being. It was my job to make sure all the girls had everything they needed and to speak to the mifakedet or the samelet (the commander ahead of the mifakedet) if anything was wrong or missing or broken. At the end of the week my commander asked me if I knew why she had picked me. She said that when I spoke everyone listened and wanted to hear what I would say, she said it was a beautiful thing to see. I think that is one of the nicest things that has ever been said to me, and I really really appreciated it.

Besides all the army suff, we also had a couple of really interesting moderated discussions. We talked about what it meant to have a weapon, and how it becomes an extension of yourself, and so you are responsible for everything concerning it. If you lose your weapon or it gets stolen while in the army you can go to jail for up to 7 years. They used the same line as the NRA "guns don't kill people, people kill people" but meant it in a different, and much more sensible way.

We also talked about what the most important thing to us was. Not like your family or something tangiable, but really what you need to survive. People gave incredibly interesting answers, and because it was towards the end of the week, we had really bonded as a group and people who are usually very reserved and quiet spoke about things that they cared deeply about. One of the Japanese guys on the Ulpan, Eliyahu, was born with some sort of disease or birth defect and has little to no muscle on his lower legs. He has braces on his legs and often walks with a cane. At the beginning of Gadna I couldn't figure out why he was there, he had trouble walking and I couldn't imagine how he would manage the week. He was incredible. Even though he always got places last, he ran as best he could and he did all the exorcises and never quit. He was so inspiring, and it was great to see that everyone at one point or another helpled him out. He said the most important thing to him was God because he couldn't walk until he was 6 years old and all the doctors said he would never be able to. Through God he was able to find the strength to walk and everyday God helps him overcome every obstacle.


We were at camp Jow-Ara...here we are posing next to the entrance on the last day just before we left (note our wide smiles of satisfaction and pride)



We were always either in 2 lines or in "chet formation" We lined up like the letter chet.


We did sooo many push-ups. It was very very hard at first to always have to run from place to place and do push-ups and sit ups and planks, but by the end of the week I could do it all, and that was an incredible feeling.


we did push-ups everywhere...


We were in "sevat shalosh-essrey" or unit 13. It was combined guys and girls, but we slept seperately. There were only 4 girls, so we had extra space and it didn't smell nearly as bad as the boys barraks.


unfortunately there was no heat, so we were really cold. (this is the saddest picture of Hannah I have ever seen)



We did a day of in the field training. We covered ourselves in mud as camoflouge. We learned the different ways the soldiers did things depending on if they were doing urban combat (like in Gaza) or combat in fields and woods (like in Lebanon). There were different crawls and types of walks. The crawls were so hard and painful because they were over rocks and potholes and it was raining. We did granade drills and leanred the different signals soldiers use to communicate when they have to be silent in battle. The day was so exhausting and difficult, but I can't even express how good it felt when we were done and I was muddy and wet and exhausted and knew that I had completed every difficult thing put in front of me.



There was a competition between the Sevats to see who could prepare the most appealing plate with the rations given to us (canned tuna, canned fruit salad, a little bit of frsh fruit/veggies and bread)


this was our presentation





On the second to last day Nava (house mother) Karen (director of ulpan) and Limor (one of the teachers) came and brought us pasteries and chocolate milk and other delicious and very welcome sweets.


The second to last day we did a series of exorcises and games to test the things we had learned, and our ability to function as a group.
We had to race the other groups to cary the log around a curcuit as many times as possible in a certain amount of time, switching people every circuit.


relay races carrying strechers with jerry cans full of water to weigh them down


and relay races where you had to dissasemble and re-assemble an M-16



On the last day we went to the firing range and shot M16s


At the end we got to take off out uniforms, and our commanders came, told us their names and spoke to us in a non-commander capacity. Our Mifakedet, Rafaella, was incredible. She was so poised and so good as motivating us without being too harsh. She was incredibly mature for being only NINETEEN!

Sebastion and I were the two Alef minelot (him for the guys, me for the girls). This is our Samelet, the commander above our mifakedek that we reported to.


The girls with our Mifakedet, Rafaella


Sevat 13!!!!



There are a million more stories and great things we got to do, midnight hikes where we pretended we were moving into enemy territory and had to walk silently and crawl and make it back to the base safely and other great discussions, but this is already wicked long. The last thing is, our group won the award of Sevat Achi Tov (the best unit) because we worked so hard. :)

The Ulpan took a trip to Jerusalem a couple of weeks ago. We started at a beautiful look out point to get an idea of the entire city.



From there we went to this old aquaduct that was built when the city was being attacked (by the romans...?) Anyway, there was fear that the water source would be cut off, so an aquaduct was hastily dug through the mountain so the water could be diverted straight to the city. Now it is totally dry, but we got to walk through it. It was about a mile long and completely pitch black. About every third person had a flashlight, so it took quite a while to get through as we all tried not to hit our heads when the cileing got low or trip over the sudden dips and twists. The pictures are decieving because it was a very strong flash, but we pretty much couldn't see. The tunnel was very narrow for most of it and at some points we had to turn sideways to fit through. It was very cool, but slightly panic inducing.







We went to Mount Herzl, where Throdore Herzl, the father of modern ploitical zionism, is buried. It is the National Cemetary and many other famous Israeli leaders, including Golda Meir and Yitzak Rabin are buried there as well.


Herzl's remains were moved here after the State of Israel was created.





Many soldiers are buried here. All of the soldiers' graves look exactly the same, regardless of their rank in the army.



Our teacher Limor led us in singing "Jerusalem of Gold" in front of Rabin's grave. There was a guy working on construction near by. He stopped what he was doing and came over and sang with us.


We entered the Old City through Zion gate. I love the Old City, I could walk around all day just running my finger along the ancient walls and sliding my feet along the stones that are now worn completely smooth and slippery. I cannot wait to move to Jerusalem in March.






We went to the Southern wall, where people used to enter the Temple Mount from. The stairs up to the wall are unevenly spaced to make you think about the steps you are taking, so that you are very aware of the fact that you are approaching Temple Mount.



This is the view to the right as you climb the steps (you can see a bit of the mount of olives)




Around the corner from the southern wall are the souther wall excavations. This used to be a street in the time of the Temple, you can see where the Robinson Arch collapsed and crushed it.




These are the people that I love...Ezra, me, Matt, Ben, Hannah and Jacki. In this picture we could totally be a 90's sitcom.



a trebuchet



a cool mural of what the area was like in the time of the Temple. Jacki and I are pretending to be part of it...






We went to the Kotel just before sunset. Going to pray at the wall never fails to move me. It always helps me to remember how lucky I am for all the people in my life that I love so much. I feel like it is the one place you are guarenteed to have God's ear and I always want to say thankyou for everyone and everything that I have, and just attempting to do that, and to pray for everyone I know needs love and protection, makes me feel so overwhelmed, and grateful.






For dinner we went to the Makoya House. There are three Japanese guys on our Ulpan. They are from a sect of Japanese Christianity called Makoya. This sect is completely zionistic and they highly value the ability to read the tenach in hebrew, so every year a few students come to Israel to study in Ulpan or in University and then they live at the Makoya House in Jerusalem and study the Torah. They made us an amazing Japanese noodle and veggie dish that I cannot remember the name of now and showed us a video explaining their sect's mission. Its really interesting, but a little cult-like. However, they hold huge pro-Israel rallies and parades in Japan, so I am a fan.


aaannndd we were bored on the way home...

Hannah


Victor, Suku, Sebastian


Jacki and Jake

My friend Matt volunteered at an amazing place called Yemin Ord before he came to the kibbutz. It is a youth village for children have been orphaned or come from dysfunctional homes. It started as a place for holocoust orphans but since then has been home to the many refugee and immigrant children and teenagers who come to Israel. Right now the majority of the population is made up of Ethiopian, Russian and Brazilian Jews. Instead of Thanksgiving this year Matt and I went to Yemin Ord and celebrated an Ethiopian holiday called Chag Ha-Seigd. Many of these kids came to Israel from very small Ethiopian villages and had to get used to modern facilities and technology. For this holiday they recreated the way it was celebrated in their villages. On the Yemin Ord campus there is a replica of a traditional Ethiopian hut. The large chair is the one that the traveling Rabbi (I think he is called a Kes) would sit in. On the walls are traditional clothing and pictures of the villages.








For the holiday the head of Yemin Ord spoke about the importance of keeping the culture alive and not forgetting your past. That is one of the things I like most about this youth village. They don't just try to assimilate these kids, they teach them to be proud of where they came from, even though it was so hard to live there. Next the kids spoke about the holiday and blew a traditional horn (like a shofar). Some of the kids dressed up as the Rabbi and the other important men of the village who would be part of the holiday procession.












Some of the kids did Traditional Ethiopian dancing. The week before a guy from the kibbutz who is from Ethiopia and teaches traditional dancing tried to teach us (the ulpanists) some moves, so it was really great to see the kids doing it (MUCH better than we were able to)



After the dancing there was a procession to the Synagogue. There was essentially a singing, dancing mosh pit preceding the Rabbi the whole way. It was great to see how much the kids got into this. Matt said he had never seen all the kids so enthusiastic and engaged before.



There was a short service outside, and then a longer one in the synagogue.



This is the cover of the prayer packet for the holiday.

After the service we ate a traditional Ethiopian meal in the dining hall. The plates were covered with a spongy bread and then you put the food on top of it and ate it with that bread. It was really good, but really spicy. After the meal they erupted into sponataneous "balagan". The kids strated singing and dancing and jumping around.

This is Matt and Chen. He ran all the way to Israel from Sudan. He said when he got to Egypt they tried to send him back to his abusive father in Sudan, so he just continued running until one day he saw lots of jews and figured out he was in Israel. He told me that we should get married but that I would have to take the piercings out because they don't like them here, but once we got back to Africa I could put them back in because they love them there!




Yemin Ord is amazing and I am so glad that I was lucky enough to see and participate in this holiday. I know money is tight for everyone, but if you are looking for a good place to give money this holiday season, please look up "Friends of Yemin Ord". They do amazing things for kids who really need it.