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Honey is Sweet

Teches - 2009-06-10

I'm grateful for: an almost perfect ceremony; a day to rest up (tomorrow); a beautiful country with so many different sorts of terrain that I can get to all in one day.

Lo-ong day. As predicted. TH failed to get up early and go to the shuk. He also failed to remember that he had said we should leave by noon. He woke up at noon. I actually woke up a bit earlier than that, but wasn't feeling good enough to do anything besides lie here and wait to see what happened next. Sometimes it really sucks when the body isn't working.

So TH wanders in here, looking dopey and completely clueless that we are just getting up at the time we were supposed to be leaving. *sigh* I was less than patient with the man. Still, I got breakfast, managed a shower, and dressed in incredibly good time. TH wandered around being dopey a bit, but he did manage to pack food for S2, and pull himself into some fit condition to leave the house.

We drove straight up, stopping only for gas, and arrived just on time for the teches (ceremony). TH spotted S2 as we went in, which was good as there was quite a sea of soldiers there. And their families.

It was at the Museum of Underground Prisoners, which confused me at first, but it was where the British locked up members of the 'Jewish Underground' before the end of the British Mandate. A suitable and somewhat creepy place for the teches. I heard that the gallows was still up somewhere, but we didn't see it. I am not crushed by this.

The ceremony was just about perfect. I don't know how they got it so right, but it seems to be one of the things the IDF worked out and manages to keep on doing. It was a beautiful ceremony, not too long. It started promptly at the time stated - absolutely unheard of in Israel. There were flags billowing in the wind, and a soundtrack which set the mood and made sure no one made it through without at least a few tears. It harkened back to what was, and reminded us that we now can defend ourselves. That we have the right to defend ourselves, not only that, an obligation. Never again.

Perhaps Hashem will decide at some point in the future that the Jews have to be again a stateless people, but until then, we will fight, because we already know what happens when we don't.

The boys and girls standing before us, some of them slouching, some of them leaning heads together to gossip and giggle, didn't look very much like adults who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of protecting our people. Also, the IDF doesn't go in much for 'spit-and-polish.' Rumpled, saggy uniforms is the rule. Standing at attention they look rather like members of the U.S. army at parade rest, or even at ease. At parade rest they don't look like much more than children standing in line at an assembly, with their hands clasped behind their backs. It was beautiful, and sad, and awe inspiring, and terrible, and frightening and wonderful. The pageantry is clearly as much for the families as for the soldiers. It makes an important point and then doesn't bother to hammer it home. ...

Each soldier came forward from the ranks in some order (I couldn't tell what it was), and was handed a rifle, and a tanakh (the Bible, as we wrote it, before any later religions got their hands on it). They either swore an oath or affirmed their commitment - depending on how religious they were. Judaism seriously frowns on the swearing of oaths. I didn't get to see if the soldiers kept the tanakh, but each one held on to his/her rifle.

These are old weapons, not the ones the front line troops carry, and they've been through more than a few swearing-in ceremonies. You can tell. About half of them have stickers affirming "I gave blood!" S2's didn't have a blood-donor sticker, but it did have a smiley face painted on the stock. Serious, silly, or ironic, we'll never know. Whoever painted it is long gone, probably married with children somewhere, possibly still serving in the army in some different capacity, or even (Gd forbid) crippled or dead from some war or act of terrorism.

So my son carries a gun with a bright yellow smiley on it, and goes off to learn how to take bombs apart without (Hashem willing) blowing any bits of himself off. Part of the latest series of young people who are learning the hard way that sometimes you have an obligation to fight. Fighting to protect your home and your family is sometimes the path of lesser violence.

Too bad so many supposedly 'civilized' 'educated' people have forgotten this. If you live in a country with a strong military and that has had no real threat to it's existence for a period of lifetimes, it is perhaps easy to believe that war is unnecessary and all people are reasonable if you only sit down and talk to them. The problem with this is that it flies in the face of all human experience. Even if it has nothing to do with war, everyone has experienced people with whom you simply Cannot sit down and talk reasonably. Everyone knows people who Will Not listen, and who behave badly, harming others and refusing to change their behaviour. And that is just on the small scale of inter-personal relations.

Okay, not lecturing, just thinking out loud. You don't have to agree with me, I don't have to listen to you if you choose to be vocal about it.

At the end of the ceremony, S2 got 13 minutes to visit with us. It really wasn't enough. We sat and talked, and he wolfed down a sandwich that we brought, and drank about half a litre of water in one gulp. It was a hot day, and they'd been standing in the sun for half an hour or more. We held hands and we all told each other that we loved each other. He managed to hug me (I was stuck in the wheelchair) after figuring out how to hold the rifle so it didn't get in the way. Hugging TH wasn't quite so complicated.

We hung out as long as we could. TH and I followed S2 when he got back into formation. I took photos of him standing at the head of his unit (tevet? I can't remember the word right now). He is very tall which helps when trying to keep an eye on one soldier in a sea of green uniforms. He saw us there, and smiled widely, and even managed a wave as they were marched off to the bus to take them back to their base. It was wonderful. And I am so proud of him. And I miss him terribly.

TH and I drove off, taking our time, driving along the coast and looking at the sea. Talking about how nice it would be to live where the beach is right outside your door. I don't know if it will ever happen, but I would surely love it - maybe when the kids are all grown?

We stopped several places, a fruit market to buy some of the produce we didn't get at the shuk this morning, a supermarket for vitamin C and tissues and some chicken wings for supper in the car. The weather was lovely and it was a nice time, but then it was gone seven and we hadn't started home yet. So, we took the long drive home, driving pretty much straight although we made one stop at a rest area for some soda for me.

When we got home the kids helped unload the car, I dragged myself into the house and was jumped by Kitten, who had really resisted my leaving ten or so hours earlier. She's asleep leaning against my leg now, and hasn't left me since we got home except for the brief time it took her to inhale some tuna fish. Silly Kitten.

S1 is feeling better, thank goodness, and S3 is going to spend tomorrow with a friend so I get a bit of a day off. Someone called and asked us if we would 'adopt' six female goats... We're thinking about that, I don't know if it is feasible, but if it is, we would surely love to do it.

D2 is waiting to hear if she is accepted at an apartment she looked at. And I am sick, just about dead tired, and about to fall over. Enough of me just now and good night.

I'm listening to nothing at all. So odd.

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:: Yesterdays : Tomorrows ::

~~~Last Five Entries~~~
Hi and goodbye - 2010-10-15
I'll be moving on - 2010-10-10
Gold membership and stuff - 2010-10-10
Decisions, decisions - 2010-10-07
Days to go - 2010-10-06