Reality Check

When you go to a country, you see the glorified sites. You may see people and their culture, but you don't actually know how their daily lives are affected by the politics, ecomony, religion, and geography. You can know the history and the people inside out, but until you hear the personal account in the place they actually were, you really don't know what life is like.

This week, Career-Israel took us to the Golan Heights. I have been here before. Twice. I know that it was during the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War in the 1960s and 1970s that Israel captured and then defended this territory. I know that this was the 3rd territory that She was fighting in the 60s. I know that Hezbollah is across the border in Lebanon. I know that war was fought. I know that people died. None of this felt as real as it did this week.

On Wednesday, we drove up to Misgav Am, a kibbutz on the ceasefire line between Israel and Lebanon. The guide there gave a brief history of the Six Day War as well as a personal history so that when we asked him questions, we would know where he was coming from.  He is a 70 year old man originally from Ohio. He made Aliyah 50 years ago and served in the army as a paratrooper during the multiple wars that Israel was involved in. He is currently a farmer on a Kibbutz enjoying his warrior life. He talked about how in 2006 he was in the Kibbutz, trying to stay alive. How the missiles just missed the Kibbutz because Lebanon didn't know the exact location of the kibbutz and didn't want to undershoot for fear of hitting their own land. When we were finally allowed to ask questions, he prefaced that he has strong opinions and that if we wanted to argue that was for the bus, not for here.  I actually agreed with most of what he had to say, unlike a lot of the program which goes to show how Right the people on the program are. In addition to Misgav Am, we went to a cemetery where the highest and best soldiers are buried. Right outside the cemetery walls, were 3 memorials for 3 fallen soldiers who had been in the North in 2006. These people became real to me not only after seeing their pictures, but also when the tour guide mentioned that she is best friend's with the cousin of the soldier that died.

On Thursday we went hiking through some old Syrian bunkers. The Israeli knew which bunkers were Syrian because there was a spy. Eli Cohen was born in Syria, but lived most of his childhood in Egypt hence able to pull off being Arab when necessary, as it was in his Israeli-CIA job. The Syrians, at this point, still had control of Golan and it was a hot, humid, and sticky place to set up base camps. Being the "generous" man that he is, Eli Cohen gave the Syrian army Eucalyptus trees so that they would be more comfortable. Now, Israel was able to tell where the Syrians were located so when it came to the Six Day War, Israel knew exactly where to bomb. The Golan heights was won is is as we know it today, Mines and all. During the Six Day War, Syria could see Israel coming so they threw mines everywhere hoping that if Israel captured the land, they at least wouldn't be able to use it. However, they never marked where they are and every so often, there will be a cow in the field that will suddenly blow up. It was obvious as hiked, why Golan was and is such optimal territory. After the hike, we drove to a look out of the Syrian-Israeli border where our tour guide gave us a short history of the Yom Kippur war. He told us about the "surprise" attack Syria planned and Israel had no way of contacting the reserves because there was no radio or tv waves on this day. At the site, there was a group of Israeli soldiers who were being lectured about the samething, but by someone who was actually there. We listened for a few moments, but because he was speaking Hebrew, it was difficult to understand him. After hearing the full story of the Yom Kippur War and then the tour guide pointing out that, there, a few feet in front of us was someone who fought through the whole experience into perspective.

Now that I've been here a month, I've had a chance to re-immerse myself into Israeli culture. I've spoken with Israelis about real issues. What you don't realize is that war is not in the forefront of the Israeli mind, but it's not in the back either. This trip showed the reality of what Israel is. I love that Tel Aviv is the most secular city in Israel and the Jerusalem is the most religious, but Golan is the reality of what Israel is. In America, war is so distant. Physically, it is across an ocean. Emotionally, not many of us know someone who is currently in the army. On average, I doubt that many Americans encounter soldiers. To us, war is something of the past, of my grandparents' generation. The fact that war is such a prominent subject in Israel doesn't deter me from Israel. In fact, it just makes my connection even stronger. Look at what this tiny country can do. Look at how small the army is, at the patriotism. Forgetting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, everyone here feels such pride and passion for their nationality and heritage.

Wednesday after the lecture at Misgav Am, half the group went to an Arab high school to speak with the students there. 100 Jews. 100 Arabs. We were given questions to ask each other so that we could keep the conversation going. Everyone had a different experience. The girls I talked to kept their answers relatively light, but when asked the question "do you believe in G-d?" one of the Jews said "maybe yes, maybe no. I don't know." They were in disbelief. They couldn't grasp the concept that G-d does not have an affect on every little thing we do. One of the 16 year olds said that G-d is everywhere and everything to her. After about 20 minutes, we were asked to switch groups. The exact wording was "...non-Israelis will move to the opposite side of the room." As the facilitator continued with directions, everyone began to pick up their belongings. By everyone, I mean both Jews and the Arabs. This was then clarified by saying "our visitors". That whole moment, though, was very interesting, especially since the next question was "do you know all the words to Hatikva?" These 11th and 12th graders were interesting to talk with. We didn't have to talk about the questions we were given so we talked about music, the village we were in, what they were doing after high school, etc.

The week in Golan was fun, but intense not only because of the whole subject of war, but also because it was time to say goodbye to my friends in Tel Aviv. Now that I'm in Jerusalem, I will not be able to see my closest friends from the program as often as I did. There's only 30 of us in Jerusalem and while I'm sure we'll all become good friends, we have all made our core group of friends who all happen to live in Tel Aviv.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/112163354927968040752/GolanHeights?authkey=Gv1sRgCLXMhK3poZj_nAE#