Day 50 - Protection

Another Graffiti Art addition..

Day 50 - Shabbat 3 July 2010

The Hebrew reads:

'Yeled Lo Rotzeh Lishmor Al HaOlam'
'A child doesn't want to protect the world'

This is definitely a political statement against the Israeli Army and conscription - that teenagers and young adults from 18 and up don't want to be protecting the country and the world.

Again this is one persons opinion - and I'm sure is shared by a certain proportion of Israeli's - but I do like to view it as well on the opposite side of the spectrum; in the view of those that see the defense of the State of Israel as our responsibility. There are definitely certain proportions who see this as a natural right and serve with pride..

Just to keep thinking.. and smiling =)

Day 44 - Tzav

Day 44 - Sunday 27 June 2010

So I got my Tzav Rishon in the mail today - which is the first letter you get from the army, usually at age 17, to go for the round of tests and exams which define your 'profile' in the army and subsequently which unit you will go into.

Had a little bit of התרגשות as you say in Hebrew when I saw the letter and read it, but then, felt calm and happiness knowing that the next stage in my plans, and my dream of Aliyah was about to begin..

Keep Smiling. =)

Day 30 - Modern Zionism?

After yet again another crazy shift at work in the morning (crazy from the respect of I'd been working every day night/morning since Thursday) I received a call from the Lishkat Giyus (army drafting office) to come in for a meeting.

Being Israel, they asked for it to be 8am on Monday morning, which I couldn't do, his next response then was, 'OK, can you make it by 5pm today?' I look at my watch, 3.10PM, 'Sure thing' I tell him, 'See you soon.'

Luckily I was finishing work then anyway, so ran home to get changed and scoffed down an awesome Baba felafel on the way home (highly recommended!)

The meeting took all of 15 minutes, but it meant that I now am not having to wait a year for the process to start. And B"H I have my first test and all the medical checks in a month!

I wanted to take a photo of the Lishkat Giyus entrance sign, but wasn't allowed for security reasons. Funnily enough, this image was directly over the road and made me start thinking.

Day 30 - Sunday 13 June 2010

Apart from the fact that I was to be attending my first Zionist Congress starting on Monday, this next part of the graffiti art series evoked some thoughts. Roughly translated it reads:

"Zionism is a plague of death"

Now, this could have been done by an activist from the far left, or quite possibly an Arab Israeli citizen or a Palestinian - the main thing was that it was specifically tagged on a mail box directly opposite the headquarters for the army in Jerusalem.

IT makes one think, is the Zionism of today, what we have turned Zionism into, merely being seen once again as the days of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' when Jews were hated for trying to 'take over the world'? Or is it that in today's modern world, people cannot differentiate between Zionism, Israel, Jew and all become intermingled into one big ball of 'something to be hated by the world.'

I don't for one second believe any of this, from the graffiti art to the thoughts above; but to be a Zionist in this modern world, to be a citizen in the modern world, one needs to think. We are in an age, far after the original enlightenment. An age where we are charged with the somewhat daunting task of having to think. Being open minded and able to question, answer and reason what we believe in and why we believe in it are very important values that we should cherish..

I'm going to call it quits here, because, as I'm doing this a week late, this is starting to verge on another discussion I will be having, come Day 34's photo.

Also, we went tonight to the Australia VS Germany match - from the highlight of wandering the streets in Aussie gear to the feeling of torn hearts at the hands of the Germans some 90 minutes later..It was a sad night..

Hope this wasn't too boring and just keep smiling =)