FReeper Uncle Miltie Returns from Service in the Israeli Defense Forces: It’s a Wrap!

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.

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.

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.

If any of these posts have sparked an interest, you can learn more about the organization Sar-El through which I volunteered here:

“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!

Look, I know I can be an ass. I am sorry about that crack yesterday. Will you please watch this description of how Russia pulverized Ukraine today?

The Russians did exactly opposite what the IDF has been conditioned to expect. Rather than first going to the barrage of cheap throwaway missiles and drones to identify your air defense assets, they went strait to the ballistics and hypersonics. FRiend, the iron dome can’t touch them. The iron dome can deal with everything else.

This time, the Russians, in Iran, will launch today’s attack against you, hypersonics and ballistics on your identified air defense assets FIRST. After that, EVERYTHING gets through. They need only one night before the U.S. can clean it up and you’re screwed. Man, wrong time, wrong time. Good Luck!

https://youtu.be/NSiDS9Xo0K4?si=DnB3DCIeJw4HcWri

One more thing and I’ll leave you alone.

Has Hezbollah ever been clumsy enough while preparing for their greatest attack to date to give Israeli air defense time to activate? How many missiles and drones did you shoot down? What percentage of your air defense was exposed in doing so?

Isaiah, 6:8

And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am; send me.”

חוָֽאֶשְׁמַ֞ע אֶת־ק֚וֹל אֲדֹנָי֙ אֹמֵ֔ר אֶת־מִֽי־אֶשְׁלַ֖ח וּמִ֣י יֵֽלֶךְ־לָ֑נוּ וָֽאֹמַ֖ר הִֽנְנִ֥י שְׁלָחֵֽנִי:

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