An Important Day for the IDF: The Return of Gilad Shalit

In 2006 Hamas captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Today at 6am, October 18,2011, he has been released.

1941 days he was held in captivity. He's back.
In exchange for Gilad, Netanyahu agreed to releasing 1027 convicted terrorists. All of whom have murdered Israelis.
The families of the victims have sent many failed petitions asking not let these terrorists go free.

This is Gilad with his new rank and in the arms of his father and Benjamin Netanyahu(Israel's Prime Minister).

Going to bed last night you could feel the difference in the air. It was filled with anticipation. We were all wondering what would happen. Would everything go as planned? Will he really be coming home? 

There was also fear. Now that 1027 convicted terrorists are free- what will happen? What will happen to these families? What will these terrorists do? Hamas said that they would return to their struggle. 

The only thing that can be done now is to wait. To wait and see what happens. How many will live? How many will die? Who will attack again? When will they attack again? We know, we feel it that they will attack again. They swore their lives to the destruction of Israel.

As happy as I am to know that Israel does not leave a soldier behind and that Gilad is home and safe- what will happen to us? Was the correct choice made?

I personally have mixed feelings because I don't know whats going to happen. Im happy he's safe- but what will the terrorists do?

Here are some websites covering Gilad:

His first interview on Egyption TV

The Guardian(UK website) full coverage and timeline of the past 5 years

The start of today

Now we wait and pray for the best.

(תודה אלדד) :)

Mahal IDF: Signing Up. My Firsthand Account.

Hey guyssss!!!! What's up?
Okay so I've been saying Im a Chayal Boded. And people who send me messages on facebook and in person ask how exactly I came to do this. As a result Im going to write about it in a blog post :)
This is the actual steps I went through. People my have different experiences. For one most volunteers are men. Me, Im obviously not. So this will be different then what most volunteers go through. Please don't think that it is always like this.
Firstly I studied the Mahal website (http://www.mahal-idf-volunteers.org/index.html) like there was no tomorrow. For months I did research... LOTS of research. I was going through website after website. Talking to so many people. I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. I HATE doing things blindly. I can be impulsive and like to do things without thinking it through but this was just too big to mess up.
So after reading the website for a final time BEFORE filling out the email registration form I thought long and hard for about 2 or 3 days. Literally. I left my computer on day and night so I wouldnt have to keep filling it out.
The email registration form isn't actually an official registration, it only says that you are interested. Within a day(Much quicker then i was led to believe) I got an email back explaining the qualifications and if I qualified. I did. Then I got another email with a bunch of steps. I had a medical form to fill out. I had to get a proof of Judaism letter that was signed by my rabbi. I also needed my birth certificate and my passport. Your passport has to be valid for at least 2 years after the desired enlistment date. On the top of the Procedure Email I received it had the dates for an enlistment with Ulpan and an enlistment without Ulpan. I chose with Ulpan. Its May 5.
I went to my doctor and him fill out the medical form. Easy enough. Getting the letter was slightly difficult. The temple in my town keeps changing rabbis. :( Frustrating. I sent an email asking if I should get an email from the present rabbi or the one who knows me best. I was told to try and get the letter from Rabbi Sternstein, the one who knows me best. The problem with this would be one he lives in Upstate New York and its January/February.... middle of blizzards. Even sent overnight it took 4 days to just get to his house due to the stormy weather conditions.
So, unfortunately I didn't get the letter until a week after my meeting with Mahal.
I had to leave for Israel. I made my appointment with Mahal and a few days before I left I realized I couldn't find my medical form! Ahhh!! The drama. My mom said she'd send it with the Jewish letter. I got it a week later so it was okay.
I finally got my meeting with Mahal(You have to schedule the appointment yourself). It was VERY nerve wracking to say the least. The soldier in charge of Mahal accidently told me the wrong room. woops. No biggy. He was on the phone for a looong time anyway. So we talked for a little bit. He told me a bit of whats going to happen. I will most likely be in the troop Nachal (http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/units/forces/ground/infantry/nachal/default.htm). The army will find me a place to live, most likely an apartment, and after a year I get to go back to America for a month. He also talked about the benefits of Chayal Boded. He gave me official forms to sign and photocopied my passport. Silly me marked the wrong track. I accidently checked the Short Term Haredi Path. Thats for only religious men. Not me. At all. But its okay he fixed it.
Then Shaked( Yeah by the way thats the soldier in charge of Mahal) printed out my visa extension permission form and gave me a paper with more steps to follow. When I received my Medical form and Jewish Letter I had to go the Jewish Agency. At the Jewish Agency I had to get my Jewish Letter signed. Sounds easy enough. The person I needed to sign it didn't speak english. She spoke spanish. You would think that the Jewish Agency would speak english also. Guess not. But I was thanking my lucky starts I took spanish classes in middle school and high school. I've been forgetting it since coming to Israel and learning hebrew. Im glad I was able to remember some of it.
After the letter was signed(the process took about an hour maybe less) my next step was visa extension. I went the next day. I found when going to the Ministry of Interior, it's best to go an hour before it opens. So 7 am gets you a good spot online. I waited for an hour then finally got in. I was the first person to be helped but the person next to me needed help. So they helped her since she was fussing and they figured it'd be better to get her out of there. After 5 minutes of my actual process I had my visa extended for 2 years. I thought it was awesome since they extended it for free! FREE! So cool. Usually a student visa for one semester is 150 shekels. For multiple entry student visa its 300 shekels. I got this 2 year extension for free. Love it.
After I finished the visa and letter, I photocopied the visa and faxed everything over to Shaked. I didn't hear back from him, so I called him and was like "whatsa goin on?"(not really. i just asked if he got it) Turns out he lost it. So that set me back a week. I faxed it again immediately after talking to him, called him again this time he said he got it. I was about 2 minutes late for my midterm. Now alls I had to do was wait for a phone call from someone named Ofer. So almost a month has passed and nothing. The Mahal Email isn't working. They aren't answering their phones. Fun. Great. Just what I wanted. Well I finally got in touch with Shaked today. Only took like forever. He was shocked that I haven't heard from Ofer yet so now I'm waiting for a phone call from Ofer. So now that's all I can do is wait. If I dont hear from him by Sunday Im calling again on Sunday. I also found out that they don't give me a place to live until my draft date. So far Im good. I have the dorms. Im set until then. My enlistment party will happen before I even find out when my tests are told!
My Enlistment Party is on Friday!!! Im so excited. Im also very nervous. Yesterday David said he might not be able to make it due to the army. Bummer dude, seriously. He said he is going to do what ever he can to come. I really hope he can make it. I'd love for him to be there with me. He will get to meet the friends I have at Tel Aviv University and my other Israeli friends. His friends- who are super cool by the way- are coming. Im excited. They are awesome. I will post pictures from the party on a blog post specifically for the party.
Till then dudes, I need to make some food. Im hungry.

Day 2 of the South Trip: Bedouin Tent

Hey guys! How are you?
Now as I said before the second day of the south trip I didnt do. They went to Ben Gurions Grave. When they came back we all went to dinner at a Bedouin Tent. It was very very cool. I didnt take pictures of this so I will show pictures that my friends took.
I also have hiking pictures from the first day of Ha Maktesh.

Okay so this picture to the left was at the very start of Ha Maktesh. It was taken by Lauren.
 This one I believe was taken by Rebecca. (No silly not me) I am the one in all black with a hood on my head and I have a black back pack.
Okay now onto Bedouin Tent dinner.

This is my friend Nate and I. This was taken by Lauren but on Nate's camera.

GROUP SHOT! I think Laurens camera. Im not sure. I dont entirely remember.

L-R Top: Mackenzie, Blair, Me

L-R Bottom: Celia, Rebecca, Lauren, Nate

Okay so these photos are from Lauren. The group shot is from Laurens camera. Just checked.

 This was our dinner. All the tables were on the floor and we sat on giant pillows.  Tea, Grapefruit juice and I think coffee.

 Okay this was the man in charge. my table took to calling him Big Poppa Bedouin. He set this dinner up for us and at the end told us all about the Bedouins including their new camel named Toyota. Hes from Japan and doesnt need to eat and drink all the time. 

The bottom image is of Big Poppa Bedouin when he was talking about their ways and history.  The wooden machine on the floor left of him is a Tradition Bedouin Coffee Maker. It also makes noises that have different meanings like when a guest is coming, a guest is here, there is a party, etc...

Cats

Such a cute kitten. I loved him so much. My first room mate found him and wanted to adopt him but we couldnt so we gave him away.






Okay so many of you might not know this small trivial fact but if you ever come to Israel it will probably be helpful to know. Israel is filled with cats. You know how America has squirrels? Yeah, well, Israel has cats. LOTS of cats.
They range from all over.
Here are some cats from The Lowest Point on Earth: The Dead Sea.
This here is a little buddy of mine. he delayed me from entering the Dead Sea Shop. He was just so interesting to watch and photography. He was playing with the plants. So cute.
When I left the store I was surprised to see his buddy there. I took a series of pictures with both of them. They seemed to be pretty tired so I just let them be for and went back to my group(I was on an OSP Trip. The annual South Trip. Happens every semester.).

(The gray one)







This cute guy is a Ramat Aviv Resident. He showed up across the street from Mega which is a supermarket. This is the same photo I used for my poem called The Cat and The Butterfly. He looks like one of the Tel Aviv University cats.




These are just 2 of the Tel Aviv University cats.( Starting with black cat next to the silver pole)





And these cuties are from Jerusalem. Dont worry the one curled in a ball is only sleeping. Such a cute kitten.






Last but not least for cat photos. Me in Jerusalem with a Stray Cat who was very friendly and just sat on me.




ahh sorry how this turned out. Im not too sure on how to do the photos. Ill keep practicing to make it better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOkqH1aSjCY click on the title and see a funny video about a cat! you have to go a minute or two into it but if you want to laugh i highly suggest it!!!

Aunt Marylou

My Aunt Marylou is obviously my aunt. :P

She is such a strong wonderful person. I am so happy for her. She has beaten cancer. She has just told me that she underwent surgery and it was successful!(you can read about it in her blog ;) Here is the link. http://web.me.com/marylou.stewart/Wellness/Blog/Blog.html read it you will definitely enjoy. There is a picture in almost every post.) During the surgery they said there was no tumor there even though in the scans there was a slow growing tumor!

I am so happy that she has beaten this.

Aunt Marylou is a professional photographer. I like to think I follow in her steps. I hope I can be as good as her one day. As long as I can remember she has always been photographing everything. Everytime I saw her there has always been a camera in her hand. She has a picture for every occasion, every day, and every year. She has more then just one picture, she has tons.

Her pictures helped me when I was down. After coming to Israel I felt very alone and isolated. I felt like I had no one. None of my family was here. Of course I had my boyfriend, his friends and family, and some people I met in the program but I didn't have my friends and family. I didn't have the people who have known me since diapers and dare I say knew about me before I even knew what I was.

I asked her for just a few pictures of her and my cousins, instead I got so much more. They made me so happy. I got so many pictures. Pictures of my family I have never seen before. Of my Grandpa and his Dad! That was a wow moment. I never knew what he looked like. I had pictures of my father and uncle, both of my grandmothers, all of my aunts and cousins. I also got birthday pictures from when I was young.

I still have all of these pictures.

I showed my boyfriend a photo of my uncle in his army uniform and his reaction was priceless. I think that was the best reaction I've ever seen to someone in my family. His jaw dropped and said "Woah so hes like a major major general. I dont want to mess with him. Hes an army god." To me hes my Uncle Tom an extraordinary man who has done alot. Him and my Aunt Marylou are a huge inspiration to me. They are both my heros and people I look up too. Im very proud to be in their family.

Im thrilled that my Aunt has beaten cancer. I hope I can see her soon.

Hopefully this time I will have some photos for her.

Here are some photos of my family that she sent me.

This is my uncle and my grandfather. They were both in the army. This was during the Kings Park Memorial Day Parade.



This is my brother and I at the Memorial Day parade when we were really young.



This is my dad, great grandmother Omi and I.



This is my Grandma and my Omi. They both came over from Germany because of the holocaust. Grandma I think was only 12. They are mother daughter so this is of me with my Grandma and Great Grandma. They are from my moms side. I never got to meet Aunt Marylou's mom.



This is my father and Aunt Marylou. Aunt Marylou is holding me.



I have more photos so I think I will do another post about my family. :)

You know I must say Im rather glad I started this blog now I have something to do. My Passover Break or back in America SPRING BREAK! has just started!
NOTE! if you click on the title of this post it will take you to my aunts blog.
Its all about her life and her struggle with cancer. This blog was created a few years ago. It is an excellent blog. You can really see how strong of woman she is and how great she is.

My First Post

Hey everyone!

My name is Rebecca but everyone calls me Becky. :) This is my first blog ever so sorry if its a little rough around the edges at first. Ill get the hang of it. Well I guess I'll start off with a little about myself first.

My name is Rebecca.

I am from the United States. From Long Island, New York to be more precise.

I am currently 19. I was born on June 6. I am Gemini ;)

I have a younger brother named Robert who is 18 and just left for the Marines.

My best friend in the whole wide world is Bonnie. She is like my sister. Blood couldn't make us anymore closer then we already are. I never would have gotten anywhere with out her.

My mom's name is Judy. She is a very strong woman. I admire her strength and resilience. I don't know how I'd act if my first born and only daughter said "Hey Mom, Im gonna go live in Israel."

I have the most amazing boyfriend ever. He is such a great person. I love him a lot. His name is David. He is one of the most important people in my life.

My favorite color is purple and my favorite animal is the giraffe. I love the band The 69 Eyes.

Right now I am studying at Tel Aviv University. I am in their Over Seas Program as a year student. I have been in Israel since July 28,2009. Almost a year. It is March 23, 2010. Just a few more months. (I will write about it later.) But what makes this blog different from all the other blogs is, is that I joined the Israeli Army. It is known as Israel Defense Forces or in its abbreviation of IDF. I have no family here at all making my a Chayal Boded. A Chayal Boded is a "Lone Soldier". Lone Soldiers have no immediate family(as previously mentioned above) in Israel and are living by themselves with no support from parents or siblings. I have my boyfriend and friends. And of course I have music, books, photography, and my wonderful stuffed giraffe Renee that I made at Build A Bear ;)

I will post more later considering its almost 1am here and I have class at 745am.

Here is a photo of me from one of my school trips up North. We were on a hike. I think this trail was called Little Switzerland. To be honest I dont really remember. It was up near Haifa and Carmel.

My Title picture is of me at the Bahai Gardens in Haifa.

I will share with you my photography, poems, adventures, thoughts, and stories.

Lilah Tov everyone. :)