Week 7 – רגילה

We had a nice, long break from the army this past week. I spent shabbat in the apartment in Jerusalem for the first time. I walked to Gan Sacher on Shabbat (sort of a similar young adult, hangout vibe as Central Park in the Upper West Side on Shabbat) and relaxed a bunch. On Sunday, I worked out in the morning – the army is forcing us to continue working out over the break and are even verifying it by making us send videos of workout and screenshots of tracked runs. I went into Tel Aviv to say hi to coworkers at Aleph and at night, went on a date. Trying to keep as normal of a life as possible on the outside. I spent Rosh Hashana in Chashmonaim by the Snukals and saw other friends who live there. I spent the fast day lazing around. I watched Husband and Wives by Woody Allen in the afternoon and went to Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie One Battle After Another in IMAX at night with Shlomo and Shaun. We snuck in our post fast meals and had an overall great time. On Friday, I went into Raanana to pick up another pair of inserts from my podiatrist and went out to lunch with Shaun. I’m spending Shabbat again in Jerusalem before heading back to base Motzei Shabbat. Overall, a very relaxing Regila. 

It is weird being out for so long. I feel like I have two very distinct, very real realities. Two lives which don’t coexist, know nothing of each other, but are nonetheless parts of my existence and personality. I have the army life; the life with rules, strict schedules, intense workouts, and full of Hebrew. And I have the life on the outside; relaxing, somewhat normal, and full of friends and family. Maybe it’s because I haven’t taken my gun off base yet or because I haven’t been in the army for so long, but the two worlds still haven’t mentally combined for me yet. And the longer I’m out, the harder I know it will be to go back in. Luckily, in another few days, we’re back out for Yom Kippur.