Dear friends,
In the past two months we have all been in a turbulence of violence, uncertainty, and clash of values and beliefs. After 14 years of rockets falling on civilian communities, on men, women, and children, the Israeli Government decided to act.
Whether the actions were the right ones, and whether the rockets will stop – we are still in the midst of the operation and only time will tell. But, I have decided to write to you now, so you can feel a little bit of what we feel here.
I was drafted on the first day of Operation Protective Edge. At 19:00 in the evening, I got home, put all the gear in my usual Miluuim backpack, gave a big hug to my wife and two children, and started my way towards my unit which sits in the center of Israel.
After a night of gearing up and making preparations, we made our way to the Gaza border, starting more than 30 days of fighting.
I will not tell you all of the different experiences we went through; some of them are similar to stories you’ve all read in the papers. I want to tell you about our feelings and thoughts. I say “our” because we work as a team, and funny as it might seem, after 17 years of service together, we feel and think as one.
After two weeks of fighting, we got our first time out – 12 hours at home and back to Gaza. Why am I starting in the middle? Because this was the first time we understood that people back home feel different from us. We got home and saw depression and fears. Although very supportive of the cause, and sending enormous amounts of gift packages to the forefront, people were afraid for our lives and for the future of our country.
We could not believe what we saw. Coming back from the short (very short) vacation, we all felt the same: if people only knew how we feel here in the front, they would look differently on the whole situation.
From the first day, we have felt we’re a part of the ongoing fight that our grandparents started. The fight for the right to live a normal life, as a Jew, in an independent Jewish state.
My grandparents built a Kibbuts in the Galilee that was bombed for years by the Syrian artillery. My father did part of his military service in a Kibbuts in the south that was built in order to be a barrier for the Fedayeen terrorists that came to Israel from Egypt. He also fought in the six days war and the war of Attrition.
Reality has not changed from their generation to ours. Operation Protective Edge was the fourth time I was called for an operation as a reserve soldier.
The only difference between me and my grandparents is that I don’t expect my grandchildren to have a peaceful life. My friends and I understand that this is the life of an Israeli. An Israeli will always fight for his country’s right to exist.
The difference between the people fighting and the people back home is that we came to this understanding not with sadden eyes and hearts, but instead, we feel privileged that we have the ability to fight for our families. My grandfather’s family, in Europe, did not have that ability.
The acts of valor and friendship that one sees in our ranks can give even the pessimist a reason to feel that we are privileged. The dreams of David Ben Gurion and Herzl, of Israel having the most special young people in the world, have been fulfilled in front of my eyes once again.
I will finish this already too long letter by saying a word about Ayalim, the organization we all care for.
Once again, I was disconnected from Ayalim for more than a month. And once again, I was amazed to see that Ayalim has a life of its own. Beautiful things happen, even when Matan and I, the two Founders, are drafted.
Aside from all of the work that the Ayalim volunteers did in the south – helping children and elders, distributing presents for soldiers, and helping small businesses – Ayalim made a decision that fulfills the values I was talking about: Ayalim has decided to build a Student Village inside the most bombed city in Israel – Sderot. We say “Davka” in Hebrew which means “just to spite” – Davka now we will build this village and show that young people are not frightened by Hamas rockets. Building this village shows that we will continue with normality, we will continue to prosper, and we will continue to get stronger. I promise you, just like we did everywhere else – we will fill this village with young people, life, and Jewish values – even if we have to do it while rockets are falling around us.
With sincere hope for a quieter time,
Dany Gliksberg, Ayalim Association
