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June 1, 2007
Vets get break in Vancouver
Wounded IDF soldiers tour the city with Beit Halochem.
FREEMAN PORITZ
They arrived at Temple Sholom on Friday morning as if jet lag didn't
exist. They were energetic and excited about the first day of their
trip to Vancouver. And they looked good – ready to take on
the world.
Still, as Israel Defence Forces veteran Nimrod Peretz exclaimed,
"You might not notice all of our wounds physically, but we've
all been wounded, at least once, in war."
Peretz was one of eight injured IDF veterans in Vancouver at the
invitation of Beit Halochem Canada – a philanthropic organization
started by Berny and Belle Weinstein of Toronto. On a visit to Israel
more than 20 years ago, the couple heard the story of a young rehabilitated
soldier wounded in the Yom Kippur War and wondered how he had managed
to get his life back on track. The soldier told the Weinsteins about
Beit Halochem, an organization that helped rehabilitate injured
soldiers.
In 1984, the Weinsteins succeeded in registering Aid to Disabled
Veterans of Israel (Canada) as a fund-raising charity. In addition
to fund-raising and supporting Beit Halochem centres throughout
Israel, Beit Halochem Canada also brings groups of IDF veterans
to Canadian cities for tours and to
inspire Canadian Jewish youth. Toronto and Montreal have been hosting
annual 10-day Beit Halochem-sponsored visits for almost 20 years,
and Vancouver started to do the same this past year.
All of the veterans in the city this past week had served at least
three years in combat (infantry, artillery or tanks) and some had
served many more in reserve duty. The veterans ranged in age from
25 to about 45.
Omer Golan, from the Greater Tel-Aviv area, spoke about how his
life changed in an instant in December 2000. Serving in the Nachal
infantry brigade, he was on his way back to a co-operative settlement
in the Jordan Valley for Shabbat. After stopping at a predetermined
place to change buses in the hills of the Judean Desert, he sat
down for a game of backgammon with a co-serviceman at the local
coffee shop. He described the scene: "Here I was playing backgammon
with a good friend, getting ready to enjoy a nice, easy Shabbat
back at the settlement, when someone forcefully jumped me from behind
and exploded himself. The scary thing was that he was there before
we sat down to play. He looked like a nice guy. I was even thinking
of asking him for a cigarette." Golan was extremely lucky to
live. He lost his hearing in his right ear, and his body carries
the scars of someone who has been through a life-shattering experience.
Dan Eli Asulin, a slightly older veteran from the port city of Haifa,
described his days in Lebanon from 1984-1987 as pure relaxation.
"We used to pull up to the border with Lebanon in our armored
personnel carrier, cross the border without anyone noticing us,
drive north 20 kilometres, pull up to the coast, get naked and go
for a swim." He realized only when speaking to the soldiers
who had been in Lebanon after him how much the situation had changed.
Almog Vaknin, from Kiryat Shemona – the northernmost city in
Israel – indicated the change in Lebanon that occurred between
Asulin's compulsory service and his own.
Vaknin was injured four months before Israel's withdrawal from the
security zone in southern Lebanon. On a routine patrol through several
Lebanese villages, Vaknin and his team came under heavy Hezbollah
mortar fire, a regularity in those days. A well-aimed mortar caused
serious injuries to members of his team and propelled Vaknin up
into the air like a Jack-in-the-box. He landed about 500 metres
away, with a broken leg and a broken arm. Because of the constant
barrage of mortar fire, an evacuation team could not get to him
for several hours after his injury.
It was apparent from meeting them that each and every one of the
IDF veterans had faced many intense, high-pressure situations. Peretz,
a 25-year-old from Yavne who served in the Golani Brigade, talked
about his role in Operation Defensive Shield, a full-scale IDF incursion
into the West Bank in April 2002 in response to continued suicide
bombings.
Golan added, "You want to know something interesting? Almost
all injured IDF veterans marry real young." When asked why,
another veteran, Asaf Meitalman, answered, "Perhaps it's because
we desire a stronger connection after what we've been through or,
even more likely, maybe we just really know how precious life is."
Freeman Poritz lived in Israel for three years and served
in the IDF. He is now a Vancouver freelance writer.
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