06/05/2019 04:49:39 PM
Installment #4
One of our evening educational programs was about Entebbe. There was a certain irony about our 24 year old MADRICHA, the only person in the room who did NOT live through it, teaching us seniors about Entebbe, but we found that she was very well-prepared. I thought I knew everything worth knowing about Entebbe, but I learned one new shocking fact: When Idi Amin found out that Kenya had allowed Israel to use its airbase, he ordered his forces to kill on sight any Kenyan in Uganda, and about 300 Kenyans were murdered, while thousands made a mad dash back to Kenya. So over 100 Jewish lives were saved, but 300 Kenyan lives were lost.
I occasionally attended afternoon services at the base. They usually made the necessary 10 adult males, but one day, their luck faltered. At 1:15 pm, there were just six. So some of the guys scattered to bring more, others used their phones. I asked one of the regulars, "So if we fail to make ten, do you still do the parts of the service that are permissible w/out a minyan, or do you just leave?" I loved his answer: "We pray for a minyan, then we pray WITH a minyan, so ultimately, you get the benefit of having prayed twice!" Then he added confidently, "We'll make a minyan." And by about 1:25, they did.
By the end of three weeks of volunteering, we were all feeling kind of sleep deprived even though my roommates & I usually turn out the light between 9 & 9:30 pm, and don't wake up till 6:30 am. Between their frequent trips to answer nature's call, and the thin mattress, we did NOT get anywhere near nine hours of sleep.
And then one night, something happened that deprived me dramatically of some sleep (Background: My roommates and I had decided to keep our door unlocked for two reasons; my roommates’ need---and occasionally my own---to go to the bathroom, and the fact that we felt totally safe on a military base.) At 12:30 pm one night, while my two roomies were sound asleep, our door opened, and a total stranger with a flashlight came in & shined his flashlight from one side to the other, apparently looking for something. As he approached my bed, I sat up and asked who he was. I wish I had been more proficient in Hebrew, so I could have asked, "who the Hell are you?!?" but I didn't know how to put it that way. He explained that he was with the Military Police, and would be spending the night with us. Still somewhat anxious, but unable to think of a response, I turned over but could not get back to sleep for quite a while. He climbed into the upper bunk bed across from mine.
I can't think of any place I have ever slept with the door unlocked before (other than summer camp), and for a few moments I thought that may have been a fatal mistake. When I told our MADRICHOT the story the next morning, they explained that sometimes, when a soldier away from his base completes a task at night, instead of returning to his own base, he may go to the nearest base, find an available bed & sleep there. I suggested it would be a good idea in the future to tell volunteers of that possibility in advance, so they wouldn't be quite as alarmed as I was by the intruder. You wouldn’t want to give an elderly volunteer a heart attack!
Ours is the second door from the barracks entrance, the first door is the other (guy) volunteers'. I asked one of them why he supposed the soldier didn't enter THEIR door. "Because we keep ours locked, silly!"
Tonight was our last night, so the evening activity included pizza and (non-alcoholic) drinks. A Russian volunteer asked if there was a special Israeli way to eat pizza. I couldn't resist: "Right to left!"
After saying farewell to the base, I went to Jerusalem. After checking in and dropping my suitcase off at the hotel, I walked back up to the bustling center called Mamila, and whom should I meet but Ellen & Andy Wysmuller! She was for many years (maybe still is?) a teacher at the Charlotte Jewish Preschool. They were in Israel for the bar mitzvah of a grandchild. Running into fellow Charlotteans my first hour in Jerusalem was pretty amazing!
