By Moshe Pollock
I removed my army uniform, grabbed my towel and
trudged off to the shower room. The four other men in my barracks had already
headed for the mess hall. It was the conclusion of another rewarding day of
serving the Israeli army.
Every year, individuals from more than 60 countries come to Israel to volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) under the auspices of Sar-El (the Hebrew acronym for "Service to Israel"). They are not given weapons. They do not serve in tanks. But they do wear uniforms and live on army bases. They work in warehouses, hospitals, kitchens, garages and other places, relieving the load on soldiers. They take over functions that enable the military personnel to focus on the essential duties of defending Israel.
My Sar-El group was atypical in that it served for only week because of the holidays. Sar-El service generally extends for three weeks to a maximum of three months. But our group was illustrative of the persons who volunteer. There were 25 of us representing 13 nations including Israel. Evenly divided between men and women, we ranged in age from 18 to about 70. Approximately 40% of us were not Jewish. There was a babel of English accents and a variety of backgrounds. For example, there were a taxi driver from Belgrade, a Zurich policeman and a nurse from Finland.
We were assigned to the IDF medical supply base. I worked with about a half dozen others of our team in packing thousands of individual medical kits. We counted out the burn dressings, IV catheters, gauze rolls, tourniquets and pressure dressings. We laughed and exchanged stories of our personal histories while we filled the kits. But it was sobering to recognize just what our work product would be utilized for. Repeatedly it was said, "May none of these kits ever be used."
Our group performed another task. We worked on emergency packs to be distributed to victims of earthquakes, tsunamis and other disasters around the world. What we had to do was unwrap the previously sealed packs and remove the alcohol prep pads. Why? The pads had been manufactured in Israel and this fact was printed on the wrapper. If Israel attempted to donate, through a third country or an international relief organization, tens of thousands of these emergency medical kits to a nation experiencing a crisis, they might be rejected.
Certain Arab, Islamic or other countries might not accept the critically-needed kits if they came from "The Little Satan," Israel. To ensure that they will be accepted, the IDF ensures that its medical emergency kits contain no indication that they emanate from Israel. We replaced the mistakenly inserted alcohol pads imprinted with "Made in Israel" with those saying "Manufactured in the U.K."
Every year, individuals from more than 60 countries come to Israel to volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) under the auspices of Sar-El (the Hebrew acronym for "Service to Israel"). They are not given weapons. They do not serve in tanks. But they do wear uniforms and live on army bases. They work in warehouses, hospitals, kitchens, garages and other places, relieving the load on soldiers. They take over functions that enable the military personnel to focus on the essential duties of defending Israel.
My Sar-El group was atypical in that it served for only week because of the holidays. Sar-El service generally extends for three weeks to a maximum of three months. But our group was illustrative of the persons who volunteer. There were 25 of us representing 13 nations including Israel. Evenly divided between men and women, we ranged in age from 18 to about 70. Approximately 40% of us were not Jewish. There was a babel of English accents and a variety of backgrounds. For example, there were a taxi driver from Belgrade, a Zurich policeman and a nurse from Finland.
We were assigned to the IDF medical supply base. I worked with about a half dozen others of our team in packing thousands of individual medical kits. We counted out the burn dressings, IV catheters, gauze rolls, tourniquets and pressure dressings. We laughed and exchanged stories of our personal histories while we filled the kits. But it was sobering to recognize just what our work product would be utilized for. Repeatedly it was said, "May none of these kits ever be used."
Our group performed another task. We worked on emergency packs to be distributed to victims of earthquakes, tsunamis and other disasters around the world. What we had to do was unwrap the previously sealed packs and remove the alcohol prep pads. Why? The pads had been manufactured in Israel and this fact was printed on the wrapper. If Israel attempted to donate, through a third country or an international relief organization, tens of thousands of these emergency medical kits to a nation experiencing a crisis, they might be rejected.
Certain Arab, Islamic or other countries might not accept the critically-needed kits if they came from "The Little Satan," Israel. To ensure that they will be accepted, the IDF ensures that its medical emergency kits contain no indication that they emanate from Israel. We replaced the mistakenly inserted alcohol pads imprinted with "Made in Israel" with those saying "Manufactured in the U.K."
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