Israeli Defense Force Experiences
On October 29 I went to an officers inauguration ceremony. At my first shabbat at the Claman's house (for Thank Israeli Soldiers) I befriended three soldiers who are my age. This was their as well as the rest of their units officer ceremony. The ceremony was filled with friends and family of the soldiers. The ceremony was a great thing to experience in Israel.
On October 28 I had the pleasure of once again volunteering with Thank Israeli Soldiers and bring soldiers a nice, home cooked BBQ. When the people who work for the organization told me to meet at 8pm I was very confused - normally we leave at 1pm latest. The way to the base was through the mountains near the dead sea - there was lightening but no rain so the sky was lit. When I arrived at the base there were a lot of people from the organization already cooking but only about 50 male soldiers and 8 gorgeous female soldiers. I was now even more confused. At 10:55 everyone started shouting and running to the main entrance - when I got there I couldn't believe what I saw. I saw 500 soldiers sprinting finishing a 30 mile walk, holding stretchers and each soldier had 40% of their body weight on their back. Now everything made sense. This is who we were cooking for. When everyone walked back to the center of the base there was music and all the sweaty soldiers started dancing and cheering with all their equipment still on. It was one of the happiest moments that I have witnessed. After the officers talked we set up the food and fed these soldiers who in the morning were moving out to Hebron and Gaza - crazy.