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December 5, 2008
A truly unforgettable experience
Five Vancouver friends went to Israel in September of this year to volunteer with Sar-El.
SANDY BAKER AND ROBERT DESORMEAU
This past September, five Vancouver friends flew to Israel: Robert Desormeau, Les and Sandy Baker, Jana Timko and Lorne Smiley. We had been there together in the summer of 2005 on a Temple Sholom tour with Rabbi Philip Bregman, but this time was different. We were going as volunteers with Sar-El, the program in which civilians from all around the world can volunteer to serve in the Israel Defence Forces for two or three weeks.
We knew we would be serving on an army base, wearing army fatigues and sleeping in barracks, just like regular soldiers. None of us had ever served in the armed forces and were excited to see what it would be like. Let's face it, we were considerably older than any of the regular troops. Could we handle military life?
It was heartwarming to see a number of young faces among the mostly senior group of about 50 volunteers assembled in Ben Gurion Airport. There, our co-ordinator, Pamela Lazarus, assigned those gathered to one of three different bases. Our Vancouver group had asked to be posted together and we were happy to learn that we would be going to Tel Hashomer, a large military medical base near Tel Aviv. After having all our papers and medical insurance forms checked, we were loaded onto a bus under the care of two delightful 19-year-old soldiers, Dina Hen and Shaked Avisar, our madrichot (counsellors), and off we went.
By this time, we knew many of the names of the 25 men and women who would very quickly become a cohesive group of friends on our base. There was Yvonne from Holland who, although not a Jew, was very committed to helping Israel. Glenn and Adelaide, also non-Jews, from New Zealand and Switzerland, respectively, came to serve. In Adelaide's case, she had been told by her brother that he would disown her if she came to help the Jews – she came anyway. The rest of our group was retired or semi-retired Jews, mainly from the United States. At 83, Sam was the eldest. This was his 14th Sar-El mission.
We all had the same goal: to help Israel, not by donation, but through work. And work we did. That afternoon, we all lined up to be outfitted in our uniforms. Now we looked like Israeli soldiers! Alright, so maybe they weren't custom fit, but they were comfortable and surprisingly cool in the more than 100 degree heat. Luckily, the barracks and warehouses were air-conditioned, so we could sleep and work in relative comfort.
The work week on each base is from Sunday afternoon to Thursday after lunch. Each morning, wake up was around 6:30 a.m., enough time to walk outside to the bathrooms to shower before eating breakfast with the regular IDF soldiers at 7 a.m. During the daily morning flag raising, our group of volunteers stood at attention beside the soldiers as we, many of us with tears in our eyes, sang Hatikvah. Then on to work, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., with a short morning recess and an hour break for lunch.
The task on our base was to put together medical backpacks and paramedic jackets filled with medical supplies. The jackets, when ready, weigh 18-20 kilograms. One of the managers, Amnon, and his soldier assistant, Leora, told us that these jackets had saved Israeli soldiers' lives during the fighting in Lebanon. It gave us a better appreciation for the importance of the job we were doing.
One day, after we had finished filling 200 kits, our team noticed that we had one piece of white shoelace, about four inches long, left over. We knew one of the kits was not complete. After reopening approximately 100 of them, we found where it belonged. We had to reseal all of the 100, then continued on. We could only hope that, after all our hard work assembling these kits, they would never have to be used.
Most evenings were interesting discussion programs led by our madrichot. The ceremony at which Dina and Shaked formally attached our blue Sar-El epaulets to the shoulders of our uniforms saw us all beaming proudly.
Not all the week was work. During our stay, we were taken on a daylong bus trip to Sde Boker, the magnificent site of David Ben Gurion's grave in the Negev. After lunch, we went to Israel's Aviation Museum near Beersheva and then for a dip in the Dead Sea. Weekends, which lasted from Thursday after lunch until Sunday afternoon, were spent off base, exploring Israel. We were transported by bus to Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station and picked up there on Sunday. Sar-El arranged for free hostel stays in the city and made possible discounted hotel rates. What more could you ask?
Many people want to visit Israel. Why not combine your trip with the performance of a mitzvah that is truly unforgettable? You won't regret becoming a Sar-El volunteer.
For more information, visit www.sarelcanada.org, call 416-781-6089 or 514-735-0272. Sar-El's Vancouver liaison is Gerry Lecovin, at 604-733-5001.
Sandy Baker has taught kindergarten at Vancouver Talmud Torah for many years. Sar-El was a fabulous experience for her and she and her husband, Les, plan to re-peat it in the near future. Robert Desormeau is presently employed as an administrator in the aerospace industry in Vancouver. He is already planning his next mission to Sar-El, sometime in 2010.
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