Week 1

We had our phone a bit throughout the day during the first week since we’d need it to fill out forms and questionnaires at different stations. I’d jot down quick thoughts here and there and since this is still before I’ve figured out a system for writing this blog in the army, here they are:

First full day on base we Woke up at 5. Immediately had 8 minutes to get dressed. Then 7 minutes to brush teeth. Then were taught how to tidy up in the morning. Tefillah. Breakfast. And now a break.
3 hours of sitting and hearing instructional things from different commanders of the base. Rules and regulations.

Lunch. More instructions whenever we stand. Crazy hot outside.

More speeches from different groups. It’s really just orientation.

Theme of this week: a bit hard being social due to Hebrew barrier. I don’t think it’s an age thing at all. It’s just a bit hard entering group conversations still. These are kids who just came out of high school – the conversations, humor, and even pace at which they talk really reflects that.

I’m  speaking with a lot of ppl on the outside: former soldiers, friends, rabbis. Ive created a sort of cohort of army advisors.

Didn’t sleep at all the second night. Was up all night anxious, worried, thinking about the army, in a new place hard socially, etc. Third night thank God I got 4 hours.

Speaking more and more with the guys. All the people say they wanted tzanchanim, in part, because like everyone in this country, after oct 7 they thought about how they could better serve this country.

Religion is interesting here. One of the guys comes to minyan but doesn’t wear a kippah during the day or even keep shabbat. He told me they’re two completely separate things for him. His family isn’t religious but after he went up to the Torah for his bar mitzvah he started putting on tefillin and continued. But still doesn’t keep shabbat.

Spoke with the Mefaked Mechlaka about my hardships first few days and he was very receptive. Very good to get the thoughts out there and just speak with people.

The army feels like summer camp now. It probably is because jewish summer camps are modeled after the army structure but everything here feels oddly familiar. Obviously we haven’t started real training yet but the guys here seem to be treating it as such, or at least they’re not phased by it at all. Theyre here with friends and people their age, in bunks, doing stuff all the time, and cracking jokes. And that’s absolutely the right mindset.  Also, for most of these Israelis, this is their first summer camp esque experience. I spoke with a friend I’d made about how theyd keep talking an hour after lights out even though we were all tired and he replied, ” of course! Those are the memories we make”

Some screw ups: telling the army doctor no to everything for the medical questionnaire, then getting to the last question, not understanding it, and her realizing I might not have actually understood what I was saying no to. She made me do it all again in English. 
Forgetting one of my bags when we were organizing everything. When asked why I forgot it, I just shrugged my shoulders and said אני לא יודע. I can still play the oleh chadash, not the best at Hebrew card.

A lot of doing things stam to get us in the mindset of what training will be like. Running from place to place. Lining up. Washing hands multiple times. Two ways to think about it: one, they’re trying to run the clock down when we’re busy waiting around (the lines too long for the cafeteria, so they’ll make us line up in three lines and then back to a ח back and forth) and two, it gets us in the mindset of listening to commands that don’t make sense or annoy us. If we start building that foundation now, it’ll make us that much better of a soldier when there are more important “annoying” commands.

Shabbat davening was awesome. Food was great and has been great.