2001 - United Synagogue Youth

ShalhevetWhat A Dayby Gayle AbrahamsThe night was quiet, full of stars. Insidethe bunks, the girls curled up in their blankets,trying to keep their eyes open.“What a day,” whispered Talya.She was right. It had been quite a day.Nothing like any of them had ever experiencedbefore. That morning, Group 5 had arrived at theTzahal training base, where they would spend thenext week learning about the Israeli army, not byhearing about it, but by living it through a programcalled Gadna. They were put in a group of17 girls and were under the leadership ofPhoto by Avi Buchbinder.“Hamefaked Aran” (Commander Aran). The mostunflattering uniforms available were to be wornfor the duration of their stay, along with heavy, dirty canteens and olive fisherman hats, which theywere sternly warned to return at the end of the five days.The day had been full of introduction to Gadna, as Hamefaked Aran taught them how to standin a chet, the shape of the Hebrew letter, which looked very much like a square missing its fourth side.Around 10 p.m. the commanders had gathered everyone at the base together for a 6 kilometer runoutside the gates; it was unexpectedly cut short by a “suspect car” detected up ahead.“You know, I bet there really wasn’t any suspect car up there,” Naomi pondered. “It was justtheir excuse to make us run!”However, the run was not nearly as rough as what had preceded it - the food. The meal planfor the week was a choice among the infamous Israeli salad of cucumbers and bruised tomatos, “Tunain a Tube,” corn, or the staple food - bread and chocolate spread. The water was contaminated,without a doubt, and sometimes they would get stuck with the tapioca flavor spread, but they werecompensated later that night with the introduction of the heavenly pop rocks chocolate bar.The girls lay in their beds, each holding a piece of the chocolate bar in her hands. They listenedto the sounds of the night, accompanied by the crackling of the pop rocks in their mouths. It wasamazing how an area full of hundreds of teenagers could sustain such silence.Three of the girls got up and ran to the door, as Hamefaked Aran walked by on his night patrol.“I’m not your friend, I’m your commander!” was his favorite phrase, but they knew he loved them,even after only one day. The girls had already forced him to crack a smile earlier that day when theyjust couldn’t seem to form a chet after numerous attempts. The rule was that they had to stay in thecabins after curfew and not talk at all, but they couldn’t help getting excited whenever the opportunityarose to break an army rule!Hamefaked Aran heard the giggling behind the door, and his footsteps neared the entrance.Talya scrambled onto her top bunk and Gayle and Naomi jumped into their beds. All three had to digtheir faces into their pillows in order to restrain their laughter.16