Posted on 06/10/2024 2:03:34 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie
I’m on the El-Al flight to Boston, just taking off from Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv. Here’s my last situation report, and a reminder that you can do this too!
Previous Postings: Week 1 was building 328 new bunk beds in new barracks on an IDF combat training base. Week 2 was building 44,000 lunch meals for troops in Gaza, one of whom I bought drinks in a bar, and had eaten lunches we packed. Week 3 was making 3 meals a day for the Navy in the Eilat heat. Now for a wrap up of the last weekend, afterthoughts , and showing fellow FReepers the opportunity they have to similarly volunteer.
Jerusalem:
Caught the train to Jerusalem, very fast, very cheap. Excellent lodgings and location.
Great Food: If you are ever there, find the restaurant and wine bar “Crush5” on Hillel street. Their 1.25 pound “prime rib” was unavailable, so I settled for the 1.75 pounder they had in stock. I grill the best steak I’ve ever had weekly: prime ribeye 1.5” thick, marinated 12 hours in a custom umami sauce. The steak (a classic steak, not the prime rib we get in America) at Crush5 was equal to my best, and ties for the best steak I’ve ever eaten. Outstanding.
Great Drink: “Gatsby” up Hillel hidden beside an Aroma coffee shop is the best bar in town. I had them make me a Last Word, a cocktail that involves Chartreuse, a green liqueur made by monks with hand picked Alpine herbs, Luxardo cherry liqueur, Gin and lime juice. This is now my standard for a world-class cocktail. I brought some Chartreus home with me, as it is both available and cheaper in Israel.
Religious Overload: I visited the Western Wall (“Kotel”) for the first time, and made my prayers for family, friends, country, and Israel through sobbing tears. There is nothing like your first visit.
Later Friday night around sundown, the plaza was choked with Jews, with two main bunches. On the left were your classic Orthodox / Ultra Orthodox in black coats , black fedora style hats or black cylindrical fur hats, tsitsis, and long curling sideburns. On the right were two large groups of burly young men in white shirts singing and dancing in apparent competition with each other; nearly ecstatic and having a heck if a good time. Dozens of young women were peering over the fence at the young men, in open appreciation of the manhood on display. These people especially, and the young vibrant vibe of Tel Aviv leave one heartened about the future of Israel. Lots and lots of babies and children in both cities.
Tour of The Old City and Temple Mount: Every pair of eyes quickly judges who you are, what your business is, and whether you are friend or foe. Plenty of muslims size you up as a Jew, Christian, or other, and having decided which they think you are, either ignore you or try to sell you something. Jews are watching their 6. Christians are proudly displaying their crosses. Everyone believes this is THEIR holiest place, and everyone else is an interloper. At several junctures and sites, exquisitely crafted agreements among the parties dictate what can and will happen and when. It is clear that if one or the other party were to break any one of the fragile agreements, literal gun-fighting war would break out regionally.
I walked the Temple Mount on Sunday morning. My Judaism being the correct religion in my mind, the al aqsa mosque and dome of the rock shrine are muslim conquistador blights on my holy site. This is Mount Moriah where Avraham prepared Isaac for sacrifice to G-d, with the words, “Here I am!” (Hineni!) This is the site of the First and Second Temples, all of which preceded that bastard murdering child rapist mad mo and his invading colonialist settler arabs. I pray for the day those superiorist blights are removed, and I’d be happy to help. But hey! I’m quite sure they feel the same way about Jews. Here’s hoping our side wins.
If it weren’t for Avraham and G-d, I see no reason for Jerusalem to exist.
Saturday day is a waste of time in Jerusalem. Nothing is open. Go somewhere else unless you’re shabbat shomer and staying in for the day. Saturday night is party time before work on Sunday morning.
Speaking of Shabbat Shomer, I played Shabbos Goy to a couple who needed into the apartment building in which I was staying. The door closed too quickly behind me, and they didn’t catch it. They were observant Jews, and were unwilling to press the buttons they knew would open the door. And they were worried about asking any other Jew to do it for them. After some halting communication and hints and such, it became clear that they were safe, allowed into the building, and needed the non-converted “Jew” (me) to open it for them. So I did, and everyone was happy.
It is hard to overstate how religion drives Jerusalem. For example, my 1:1 private tour guide was on the streets as a photojournalist during the 6 Day War in which Israel kicked out the Jordanians. He gave me street by street battle stories. Here is one of his famous photos of those days, Israeli soldiers at The Wall for the first time in about 2,000 years:
Nothing I saw or heard did anything but strengthen my antipathy for muslims and islam. I hate it with every fiber of my being. Those people are driven by evil, in my opinion. < / rant off >.
Trinkets and Trash: I collected stuff. Sar-El and IDF T-Shirts. IDF Navy ball cap given as a gift in exchange for favors. A small backpack a soldier carried in gaza. A topo fold-up ops map of gaza. A large silk persian carpet for my daughter. IDF Unit ball caps and kippah. A small rock from the Temple Mount. Cool stuff to treasure.
Back to Tel Aviv: Good night out with the half crazy great friend The Major, a special forces parachute rigger. Very fun and funny guy newly dedicating himself to the project of Israel. Oaxacan Old Fashioneds. Huge meat platters on the beach. We closed the best bar in Tel Aviv and stayed up late (early?) at my place with Campari and Pellegrino on ice.
In case you missed it, here is my Pre-Flight Intro:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4237961/posts
My Week 1 Sit Rep:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4239681/posts
My Week 2 Sit Rep:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4241282/posts
My Week 3 Sit Rep:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4242593/posts
If any of these posts have sparked an interest, you can learn more about the organization Sar-El through which I volunteered here:
https://www.sar-el.org/
Here is their mission statement:
“The purpose of Sar-El is to enable supporters from around the world, and at home, to contribute to the security of the State of Israel by assisting on IDF bases in a logistical support role. • Sar-El is a unique volunteer experience fostering new friendships, greater understanding and the creation of a cultural exchange between Israel and the volunteers’ home countries
• Sar-El welcomes friends of Israel as volunteers, many of whom become “goodwill ambassadors” for our country
• We are the only volunteer program that places volunteers directly on IDF bases. working side-by-side with our soldiers”
You can join too! 1, 2 or 3 week stints are available. Indeed, some of the hard core are doing around a dozen weeks per year. The average seems to be about 2 weeks.
Please let me know in FReepmail if you have any questions I can answer that would help you feel comfortable volunteering!
FReep on! Uncle Miltie, Since Nov, 1999, Monthly Donor.
Thanks to kiryandil for the most excellent ping list!
Welcome back!
Praise the Lord that you’re safe!
For your ping lists, kind sirs!
I spent a couple of months at Tel Nof Air Base and was able to extensively tour the country during down time.
Spectacularly cheerful, warm people.
Sadly, it also reinforced my opinion of Pali's being dirty, shifty people.
Tel Aviv is very safe. A fair number of well armed cops and IDF on their days off. M4s in Jews’ hands on many streets keep everyone honest.
IDF bases are very safe. Lots of well armed folks can defend each base unless overrun by a large trained committed force.
In Jerusalem, ya gotta watch your 6, and keep your situational awareness on overdrive. For example, I got purposefully followed by an older (70?) Jewish looking dude, across about 4 blocks, halting and forcing him to go past me, he’d pick up the tail again, etc. Finally, I stopped dead in the middle of of a block and stared him down, hollered at him, forced him to keep walking until he was out of sight, and then I took a whole new direction. He knew I knew he knew I knew. Creep. Had my tactical pen at the ready the whole time. Old City Jerusalem is an armed camp, and the IDF, Border Patrol, and various police are everywhere. Kinda spooky nonetheless.
Uncle Miltie - glad you’re home safe!
I remember Milton Berle as “Uncle Miltie.”
Chartreuse - I was intriqued - drank it once - tasted like turpentine.
I am a Catholic, and I pray for the people of Israel - agree with you on Islam - filthy “religion” that seeks to subjugate the world. - I don’t understand why G_d tolerates it - so much harm to so many people.
Anyhow, glad you’re back.
I believe they Israelis fought many wars to keep their “neighbors” out of their homeland God gave them. I see God’s hand in their numerous successes.
I’m Catholic too and totally support Israel in their fight for survival. I still don’t understand why God lets evil such as Islam, Soros, Pelosi, Obama or Biden walk among us either.
I chose my screen name because of Uncle Miltie Friedman. :-)
God bless you, sir.
If I were younger, I would seriously consider volunteering for a couple weeks to help out for 1, and for 2, a more selfish desire to see a place with so much history, architecture, and culture. I give you great respect for your noble endeavors, and God bless you and the citizens of Israel.
I worked with spry 80 year olds. You do need to be able to walk some distance over broken surfaces and carry maybe 20 pounds. If you can do that, you can make it. Indeed, they’ve had many volunteers in their 90s.
Great report and welcome back!
Ah...that Miltie! I thought maybe Uncle Miltie because, um, they used to say... ok never mind!
Thank you for your service to Israel and these wonderful reports!
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Not so spry anymore. Arthritis sucks.
Congratulations on a successful mission. You’re an inspiration to all. Glad you’re back safely with memories that will last a lifetime.
Ditto that, and neuropathy from mefloquine malaria prophy during JTF missions into Cambodia 30+ years ago…
Unless there’s a role for a long-range sharpshooter (I’m pretty good out to a mile with a homebuilt .300 win mag platform), somewhere I can “hide” in a fixed position and have ice packs brought in for my knee(s), elbow, shoulder, back…
Never thought I’d be this infirm in my old(er) age (pushing 70, but doing SEAL level training up until I was 59); I don’t want to have to sit out Armageddon waiting for a VA appointment for another shot of methylprednisolone or an Rx for more oxycodone..
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