10/21
I woke up at 4:45AM after 3 hours of sleep. I took a shower,and 4 of us went to the bus station to take the bus to Tel Hashomer, where the Sav Rishon testing is done. We got there around 7:30 and waited for A.Y. who helps us out with everything since we came to Aish. First we were given barcodes to scan in for all the tests for the day. We started off with an interview in Hebrew where they ask questions about you, where you live , how many people are in your family and a bunch of other ones. Then there was a reading test which was harder. You have to translate hard Hebrew into simpler Hebrew. I only got 1 out of 4 right. Then the writing wasn't too hard and I got all of that right. After my tester told me to go to the next room. I scanned my barcode and started the next interview, it was 5 minutes long. I waited outside and then did the longer interview. It was like 30 minutes .I did good on it!! Passed The Hebrew Test!!! Thanks to Aish Machal. I then went upstairs and scanned my card for the medical tests I waited an hour then they told me to go to a different place first. Did the medical tests, and next I went to take the IQ test. It was a bunch of circles and squares and you had to pick the one that corresponds with the other. Not too hard, but this also determines how high of a position you can get in the army. That took 20 minutes and I still didn't eat all day. Ended up with a 97 profile, the highest you can get and a 7 out of 10 in Hebrew, again all thanks to Aish.
On the way back to Aish to get ready for our 25 mile hike. I ended up eating 2 shwarma sandwiches and went to the bank to sign a bunch of papers since I opened the account when I was 17 and now I'm 18. I got back to the room and packed for the hike. Everyone is coming no matter what. I popped a huge blister on my hand with a knife. I burnt the knife first to clean it. I put some neosporin, toilet paper and duct tape around it so it won't get infected. It's annoying but I needed to. They changed the time we were supposed to leave from 6 - 8PM. Took a short nap so I'd be ready to go.
Now for the crazy, messed up story. We ended up leaving the Jewish quarter around 9:00PM and we all packed stuff for a long hike. We started walking . We ended up in a small field ..it was like a 15
minute walk. The first thing we did is made a chet. AY then threw a "grenade" and we all had to jump down on the ground and were spoken to by the mefakdim. They told us what is going to happen tonight is going to be very dangerous , so we must pay attention. First thing he told us is that 30 minutes ago a soldier was kidnapped on the Lebanon border (not true don't worry) . Now he passed around a paper it basically said they are not responsible for anything that happens to any of us tonight what so ever. People were kind of scared now. Some people said they are not siging it but the rest did. I signed it.
They then asked if anyone was claustrophobic. I am extremely claustrophobic. He told me to come to the side. The mefaked asked me what would happen if he tied me up and threw me in a trunk. I said I really don't know but it would be bad. I got stuck in an elevator for 5 minutes and went crazy once. Now they called everyone one by one.They called me first and tied my hands behind my back and told me if you want any of the torture to stop anytime in the night say "243" . Now they were about to blindfold me and since I'm extremely claustrophobic all I was thinking of was being put in a trunk and having no way out. There was no chance I would be able to do that so I had to stop. 3 of us didn't do it for different reasons. They tied everyone else up and blindfolded them. There was a bus waiting for all of us and I punished myself for not doing it. I carried all 21 hiking bags to the bus in 4 trips. Now everyone is sitting on the floor . Some are shaking , some very tense and some other things. The mefakdim told me what's is going on for real.(You will find out soon) Whoever wasn't blindfolded was the enemy. We walked all the people we "kidnapped" to the bus.
On the way to the van I walked everyone there and hit them and pushed them in. They were seated . The van was playing Arabic music and the driver and the mefakdim were all speaking Arabic and screaming at everyone. Our jobs were were also to scream in pain as a joke so everyone thinks we are getting really hurt. We were banging on the window on the bus and everyone was just quite and scared. The bus
driver closed the door and me and some of the mefakdim followed the car. People that saw this happen in the middle of the street were screaming "mishtara"!!(Police) they thought it was real. The driver pulls off and Rami ,the krav maga trainer that beats us came on the bus, he was hitting everyone. As I saw the van pull off it looked like this ....20 kids sitting down with their head down hands tied behind the back. It looked so real. The mefakdim were screaming in Arabic at everyone. Some people got fake tazered and we made noise
to make it sound real. People were really scared.
We followed the bus and we parked in a restaurant's parking lot. We got there and each person was brought into the restaurant and they got their blindfold taken off the first person opened his eyes to a whole
table for us!!! Unlimited meat and food from a restaurant called Zion Gadol. Every time we brought a new person in the people that were blindfolded were in on it. So they were all screaming in pain as If something was actually happening. They threw some people on the floor started beating him . Ripped their blindfolds off and said mazal tov!! and they saw the food! Now after everyone went the last person was Danny!! He walked in everyone started screaming in pain! We all pulled him, pushed him screamed , he ripped his hands out of the rope swung his fists ,knocked things over in the restaurant and ripped his blindfold open.
The look on his face was priceless.
Almost everyone was scared and had a face like that but we saved the best person for last. All the other people in the restaurant were quite and watching! Even though I wasn't blindfolded I was even scared
before I knew what as going on because I was way too claustrophobic. We all learned something about ourselves and they messed with all of our heads really good!! Everyone was in shock , but happy at the same
time, including me.
The first day of the program there was a small "French kid " who "broke " his leg the first day of training . We never saw him again, Until tonight... He ended up being in the army already and being in
the same unit as one of out mefakdim!! Everyone was in shock again. He told us a story how they were on base once and his commander was on the phone walking around and 4 Arabs attacked the commander and they all saw and ran at them. Basically they saved him. Not getting into details. But that is what happened to everyone tonight!! Everyone was "kidnapped".
We all ate a lot and celebrated finishing Aish Machal! Chaim and Rammi were there. The first time we could actually talk to some of the commanders and not get hit!! And they told us their real
names. We popped a bottle of champagne over everyone!! We ate a lot and drank a little. Some people got up and said a few words. We said goodbye to the commanders that we weren't going to see after tonight.
Tonight was an amazing experience. We learned what it would be like to be kidnapped. and how we should be alert and handle mental abuse we will receive. We went from a 12 hour hike to a 2 hour kidnapping that was more mentally abusive then a 12 hour hike would be on your body.
We got back to the room . Everyone was happy . I think this program was the one of the best things I've done in my life. We are all prepared mentally, physically, emotionally and every other possible way we can be prepared for the army. Without Aish, I wouldn't have been able to pass the Hebrew test. I wouldn't have a clue on what unit to go to. I have a much better knowlege of the country and what we are fighting for.
We will be more prepared then any Israeli that we will be drafted with.
I want to thank AY, Baruch, Mefaked A , Mefaked B , Mefaked Hasamal , Chaim , Rammi, Tarzan and everyone else who disciplined and taught us for the past 6 weeks. All the guys in the program are great guys and all helped eachother get through everything . We all pushed ourselves so much and we couldn't have done it without each other. This one one of the greatest experiences of my life and I will never forget it.
We have to be out of the rooms by Sunday morning and will be looking for an apartment next week with 3 other guys so we have a place to live on the weekends while in the Army. The draft date is November 1st! It's so exciting and I can't wait. Everyone here is going to keep in touch and help each other out throughout our service. Most of us are going to different units, but we are still sticking together!!
http://www.aishmachal.com/
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