Why we Fight

For those of you who know me well, you know that I always say that you should fight for what you believe in. This was among the many reasons that I decided to come to Israel in the first place, to see if I had the courage to truly fight for what I believe in. In amongst this decision I had another choice to make, which in the end ended up being the harder one to make by far. I had to choose whether or not, I wanted to be in a Kravi (Combat) unit in the army.

This past Shabbat the garin went together to a Holocaust museum in the Golan called lochme Ha’ghetteot (The Ghetto Fighters). Unlike Yad V’Shem and other holocaust museums Lochme ha’ghetteot has a very special story. Founded by survives of Poland Ghettos, these heroes took it upon themselves to tell their story, and the stories of others like them, so as to not only preserve the memory of the ones they had lost, but to tell the stories of those who had been saved. Most of you I’m sure, have seen the movie Defiance, but as an aside I will explain a bit about it. It is the story of The Bielski Brothers who, after their family is killed start a camp/resistance in the forests of Belarus. They create a camp, fight the Nazis, rescue more people from the Ghetto and in the end save over 1800 people from the death camps. These brothers made a choice in this movie, a choice to fight against the forces trying to exterminate their people, to keep the people that were still with them alive. They decided it was better to fight for what they thought was right, rather than give up as say that all had already been lost.

I have been thinking about this decision of mine ever since I decided to come to Israel, it has easily dominated my sub-conscious and conscious mind for the past five months. However in the end my decision came down to a few simple ideas. Firstly, the reasons that I came here in the first place: I want to serve this country to the best of my ability, both for the betterment of the country and of myself. I want to be challenged and fight for what I believe in the best way possible. Lastly, I wanted to have a meaningful service with a team of guys that I would emerge with from my service as family. Each day I went back and forth between combat and non-combat, always doing my best to keep an open mind and have the most information possible to make an educated decision. I talked with EVERYONE about this decision. Israeli’s, non-Israeli’s, old people, young people, friends, strangers—each person offering a different perspective or opinion. In the end with some help from both my Israeli mothers Rain Wieselman and Iris Bar I came to understand that after all is done, this will be 2-4 years of my life, in which it is up to me to accomplish the tasks asked of me and to live the life I want to live. To progress towards the person I want to be with the character I want to emulate. In the end I had to look past everything else, much like when driving in the rain—looking past the rain droplets on the windshield to see the road ahead, in the end it was my road and it would be my decisions that determined what lay ahead.

I am an adventurous soul, constantly wanting to be on the move, so that I may experience the world, and share whatever I can with it. A part of this is taking every opportunity given to me, I can’t say no to anything new, it just is not a part of me. I also feed off challenges. When I am faced with something that is outside my comfort zone, I want to experience it. This is not to say that I blindly do anything that is presented to me, I obviously think about my actions and each decision before I make it, but when it comes down to it, if I am not doing something because of fear I take that leap of faith. I prefer to bear the consequences of a conscious decision, rather than bear the ones of indecision. At least in this case I know that I was present in my own life, still making my own decisions.

That is what it came down to in this decision, a conscious decision, for myself, that demonstrated the reasons and ideals that I came for. It is with this prologue that I have the great honor of telling you that I have chosen to serve in a combat (kravi) unit in the Israel Defense Forces. I know this is probably not the decision that most of you would have made for me, but that is because you worry and fear for my safety and as much as I understand that this was one time in my life where I had to do what was best for me.

I am excited, frightened and apprehensive about my decision, but I am happy with it. I am proud to fight for what I believe in, to move one step closer in becoming the person I want to be, and to do my personal best in the service of this country. I realize that this might cause some hardship for you( my friends and family) but in my mind that is the price you pay for being in my family. This country is my life and by being a part of my life, you are sacrificing too, so from the bottom of my heart let me say thank you, both from myself and from this Eretz Yisrael.
As you have probably realized by now, I am not a particularly gung hoe or violent person but I finally come to understand that there are times when after all other options have been exhausted, there are times when weapons are necessary to defend ourselves and the people of this country. Although keepin the fact that I am not so “gung hoe” in mind I have my sights set on the elite unit 669. It is an Airborne Rescue and Evacuation unit that is part of the Israeli Air Force. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_669) I have attached the link to let those of you who are interested read more about it but it is an amazing unit. In war time its missions include rescuing pilots and other soldiers who have fallen behind enemy lines, and in non-war time its missions include a lot of civilian related work, people that get lost in the desert or fall into the ocean or any other such emergency. As it is such an interesting unit, it is also EXTRODANARILY difficult one to be accepted into. I have to pass multiple physical testing days, about four levels of them actually. The first round of these tests is Yom Sayerot a try-out day for all the elite units, which B’ezrat Ha’shem I will have in the second week in October. If I succeed there I will have to be offered Gibush Matkal (basically the try out WEEK for the most elite commando unit in the army) *Sayeret Matkal is the most elite unit in the Israeli military focusing on deep enemy territory reconnaissance and counter terrorism. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayeret_Matkal) IF, and it’s an enormous IF I pass that six day mental and physical battle of a lifetime I will have to be asked to try out for 669. At that point I will have to pass a one day “pool day” which I am sure would be one of the hardest things imaginable, and only then would I qualify to be INTERVIEWED for the unit. As you might have guessed these units require a full background check so even if I make it all the way there I could be turned away because of a security problem. Regardless, I will do all I can to make it as far as I possibly can.

On a bit of another note this week we had our Garin “coming-out ceremony.” It is a profile of sorts of our garin, in which we created the entire evening from programming to food, and presented it to our friends, family and the kibbutz. It was enormous success and I have the honor of telling you all that we named our garin, Maayan, after Elaine and Mark Rothenberg’s son. (for those who are starting to read just now I wrote about him in an earlier post, but here is the link to his website) (http://maayanrothenberg.com/). Maayan as you might know means spring or fountain, it is a word that conjures an image in your mind, an image of growth and progress, both things that were important to everyone in the group. I want to take this time to thank Iris, and Gal Bar for trekking up from Tel Aviv for the Tekes and of course Daniel Belik for making the journey was well.

After an incredible night of celebration Daniel and I made our way down south to a kibbutz near Eilat called Ktorah. The six hour journey was more than worth it. After travelling the entire distance of Israel, we were greeted by friendly faces, food, and a day at the pool. What a way to end such a dreadful trip. It was a wonderful Chag in the desert and as always Daniel, Ariel and I had the time of our lives, trekking, eating and dancing all day long.

For Shabbat I am back in Tel Aviv with the Bars, looking forward to some training and relaxation before Sunday, which is the day I officially becoming a soldier of the Israeli Defense Forces. (Although I become a soldier on that day I don’t actually start my service for a few more weeks).

I want to wish everyone Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom. May this writing find you with happiness and health in your life.
Unimaginable love from the holy land,
אנדרו