I am a reservist in the Israeli army. I guess I'm a bit of an anomaly; most guys my age have long been released. Unfortunately, reservists are fast becoming a rare species in Israel. Once it went without saying that men in their 20's, 30's and 40's did a month or more of reserve duty every year. Not so nowadays. They say maybe only a fifth of able bodied men continue to serve the nation on into civilian life.
Recently my battalion was sent to a stretch of disputed real estate along the so-called security fence built to shield Israel's heartland from the Palestinian badlands on the West Bank. The fence was conceived as a solution to suicide bombers, and born as a compromise between the desire to end the occupation of Palestinians on one hand and the reluctance to evict the Jewish settlers living in the West Bank on the other. Nobody really loves this lovechild of shortsighted politicians and impatient popular opinion, but too much has been invested in prestige and in cold hard cash to disown it.
There is a surrealistic aura to this particular frontier as it is only a quarter hour's drive from the greater Tel Aviv urban area. Theoretically our mission was to ensure the security, or at least the sense of security, of Israeli citizens living in and passing through our sector, but in practice we busied ourselves by regulating the Palestinians crossing the fence and chasing down those seeking work in Israel. As one born in working class America where freedom, hard work and putting the bread on the table are close to sacred, I couldn't help feeling that our duties rubbed against the values I'd been raised on. And I'm sure that the irony didn't escape and most likely incensed the locals. Visits to neighbors and trips to work that once they didn't think twice about now involve security checks including X-ray machines and metal detector gates that would be the pride of any international airport. Family men that at great cost to safety and comfort seek work for peanuts in black market jobs are treated like criminals. I'm a reservist with reservations.
One morning my company commander and I were musing how we had been cast in a Kafkaesque comedy, acting out a script patently insane. I mean, our particular situation aside, when did the army replace the Interior Ministry? Since when does the military deal with employment, legal or otherwise? And even if so, how is it that an artillery battalion such as ours is saddled with duties suited at best to border police, at worst to infantry? It seems as if someone up there is jerry-rigging an improvisation of half baked half solutions that are so absurd that they'd be comical if only real people weren't involved.
My commander wondered aloud if perhaps those of us at the bottom of the political food chain aren't somehow responsible for the mess our leaders have made. Does our eager acquiescence to the dictates of our leaders not enable them to make bad decisions? Do our inventive solutions to the impossible dilemmas we face not perpetuate mismanagement of the country? And is it our fault that 80 percent of the country is busy making money or just goofing off while reservists carry the burden of national defense? Could it be that good citizenship means refusing to "make do and make it work"? If our leaders are too lazy, too corrupt or too cowardly to find real solutions, is it our duty to force them to do their job by not doing ours?
My commander was saying something revolutionary, in both senses of the word. I was a bit taken aback. In civilian life he's a mathematician; and when you think about it, what he says adds up.
Is the solution revolution?
I'm reminded of the account of how Moses comes down from the mountain with the stone tablets only to be greeted by the sight of Israel partying and their leaders worshiping the golden calf. In the face of society that has totally fallen apart he smashes the tablets. The tribe of Levi rallies to his banner and only after slaughter and the destruction of the calf is order restored. I guess there are times when there is no choice but to literally wipe the slate clean and start anew.
But then we are told of how Israel wandered through the wilderness. When they broke camp, the tribe of Judah was always the first to set out. They didn't look back to see what the other tribes were doing. They saw the pillar of fire, they believed that it was the right way to go and they just went there. And you know what? The rest eventually followed.
I'm a reservist with reservations. I admit that I like the army life and the company of the men I serve with. I believe in what we're doing, even if I don't always agree one hundred percent with the mission. I hope that by trying to be polite and when possible pleasant I made a bad situation better for both my friends and the Palestinians we dealt with.
Messiah comes from Judah, not Levi. I know there are a lot of things are wrong with this country. I suppose sometimes things can be so bad that you need to shake it up, but I hope I never live to see a revolution. For now, if I think something is right, I think I'll do it. I know that others are partying and that our leaders worship the golden calf, but if enough of us are willing to set out, perhaps we will find our way out of this wilderness. So if I see the right way to go, I'll go there. And I hope there will be others with me, but I won't look back. Cause you know what, if we follow Judah we might just find salvation.
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