Return to Israel and Kibbutz Magen

For the friends and family members who complain that I don’t write enough, or that its hard to stay in contact, you are right; but please forgive me as time seems to fly especially fast. Finding a moment here or there to relax and focus is difficult, as my days have been packed with moving to a new Kibbutz, setting up and organizing my room as well as the general living area, group activities, working out, 5 hours of Hebrew Ulpan, meeting lots of new people, more Hebrew, and a bit of sleep. But a week has passed since I have moved so I find myself with a bit of free time to share my story with whoever wants to read it.

I am living on Kibbutz Magen, a thriving Oasis in the middle of the Israeli desert. It is a bit close to Gaza but life here continues despite the threats the community faces. For those of you who haven’t heard, Israel was bombarded with rockets and mortars this past week from Gaza. And I suppose as a welcome present for our group here we got to hear the famous Tzeva Adom (Red Alarm) that goes off when a rocket will land in the area. Not to make anyone nervous, but we had to walk calmly (run quickly) to a shelter, this event (the first time it happened in 2 plus years, occurred twice this week and seems to have reinforced everyone’s conviction for coming to Israel and serving in the army.

The kibbutz has been very welcoming, with many people introducing themselves and asking our personal story. The cultural exchange that occurs is fascinating—with many Israelis joking that I can have their citizenship in exchange for my US passport and life in LA. There are many new faces and names to remember which is quite difficult without my walking name encyclopedia, Jordan Wolf.

I spend a great deal of time exercising and working on my Hebrew. Reading my Hebrew children’s book when I have time and practicing speaking every second I get—well every second that the pool is closed because it is damn hot here. We have group activities, meals, and workouts which is only bringing this small group of Olim closer together. Being back in Israel feels great, and am excited to see where my path will take me (my first army meeting is in 3 days). On a final note, its fucking hot here.

Working in the Fish Pools המדגה

So I am writing an essay about work for my Hebrew Ulpan class. Here is a Preview:


I will start by saying that the reason I chose to do Ulpan on a kibbutz and Maagan Michael specifically was because I wanted to work in fish farms. I heard about the job and knew that it would be long hours and tough, but I thought that this would be a great way to get in good shape while on the job—in this I have been correct. Despite the difficulties of the job, I believe it is one of the best places to work on the kibbutz. All of the kibbutz workers are hilarious, and despite the fact that most of them attempt to talk to me in English, I am able to interact with Israelis and speak Hebrew and pick up phrases and curse words from them.

I decided the best way to describe the Midgeh would be to talk about an average day of work and the things that stand out the most. So lets begin. Quarter to 5, Shit, it could be worse I say to myself, I could work in the Refet (cow farms). Get dressed quietly so my roommates don’t kill me, take a banana and a yogurt, because you never know when you’ll eat breakfast—might be 7, might be 9, and if you’re really lucky it might be at 11:30 right when you finish your shift.

Working in May and working in February are quite different, now I ride my bike with shorts and flip-flops, but I started with pants and 3 layers of clothing as not too freeze. We start the day in one pool or another, working in mud up to our knees for a couple of hours. Mud pools are better than the rocky ponds I think—less chance of slipping, falling and either hurting yourself or having a ton of cold water flood your wetsuit and being cold for a few hours. So what do I do exactly? OK, time to try and explain.

First we load up the trucks and ride to the pools. Once we get there we back the truck up to the very edge and start pulling the net. The nets have a “led” bottom so that it sinks all the way down and a Pakak, or buoy top to float. Anyways. One person gets on the Makah, or stick, to keep the net down and the fish from escaping while 3 or four people drag the net. Once again, all the pools are different some are muddy so the net gets very heavy from the mud, some have lots of big stones so the net gets heavy from a captured boulder—basically the net is heavy and takes the power of three big Israelis (and me) to pull. Most pools we walk around are half a football field sized. Anyways, we do almost a whole lap and then start to pull the net in, in order to shrink it and bring all the fish into a smaller area. Then we lift the bottom part up so the whole net acts like a pool with all the fish in it while we put the net on barzelim / iron bars. We connect one end to a giant vacuum contraption that sucks up fish and then have to bring sections of fish at a time. This process can take usually between 2 to five hours for a big pool. We then pack it up and get to go to my favorite part of the day. BREAKFAST.

To Be Continued.

אז נווו, SO????

Its come to my attention that I haven’t written a post in quite some time, so ill just try to fill in some of the highlights from the past couple weeks: Trip to the Negev and Masada, a couple of 10 hour shifts at work, increased army training (weighted stretcher runs are not fun for your shoulders), finally understanding (and making) jokes in Hebrew, falling asleep in class from exhaustion, discovering the beauty of an Israeli breakfast (Israeli salad, Tahina, cottage cheese, 4 eggs, avocado, fresh baked bread, and a bit of zatar sprinkled on everything), kibbutz purim party—ya it deserved to be bolded & underlined, replaced iPhone screen, beach bonfires, and did I mention working long hours in the fish farms? That’s the sum of it, I have an idea for my next post, which shouldn’t bee too long in the making which will actually have a subject and direction. So ill leave you with some inspiration that gets yelled at me at work. CHAZAK חזק

Good Morning Fish / בוקר טוב דגים

Its been two weeks, enough time to establish a regular routine, one that lacks much free time, which I’m sure you all are curious about. So, here was my day (went to sleep at Midnight)
4:45 am Wake up and put on some warm clothes
5:00 am Arrive at work, have a cup of tea, take off all warm clothes and put on cold, wet clothing and a wet suit
5:30 am Get down to business. To sum up, this means treading through knee high mud with a net that takes five guys to pull, make a lap around a ½ football-field sized pool (swamp), and then pull the net in. Place the net on metal poles and then force the fish into one end of the pool by creating a wall that you constantly move closer. Then suck them up through this vacuum-like thing or take them out in buckets. Sound easy? Well its not, but no complaints, its exactly what I wanted. If you want a more in depth summary call me on skype. But here are a few important things I have learned: A) Never let go of the net B) Some of the fish jump, that means pay attention to what is most important, didn’t pay attention yesterday and took a hit from a 5 pound fish/torpedo right where I didn’t want to. C) Scour for the best gloves, all of them have holes or are ripped, because the fish have sharp fins—got 3 nice cuts yesterday. D) I’m going to work harder and longer than anyone else in the Ulpan (but at least fish shit doesn’t smell like cow shit)
12:00 Finished work, changed, showered, ate lunch, 1 minute to close my eyes until
13:00 -17:00 Hebrew Classes

On Mondays I’m doing a special army training program for people who want to be prepared for special forces tryouts. Since it was the first training session it was nice and easy and short, from 17:20-19:20 Maxed out on pull-ups, pushups, situps, dips, and a 2km run. Followed by Krav Maga fighting positions, push ups, Burpees, wind sprints, and other military drills. Was amazing, and typing now takes a considerable amount of energy.

So that was my Monday, and is the reason I haven’t written or talked to everyone in a while. Forgive me, and call me on Skype!

Becoming a Kibbutznik / להיות קיבוצניק

I arrived to Kibbutz Maagan Michael 4 days ago. Much has happened in these 4 short days, but I’ll try to recap everything and capture the excitement of it all. This is one of the largest and most prosperous Kibbutz in all of Israel, located on the Mediterranean with a wide variety of different jobs (Metal and Plastic factories, petting zoo, fruit farms, etc.) It is 3 people to a room, a little cramped but nothing that won’t seem like a 5 bedroom mansion once I start the IDF. Roommate #1 is Ruben from Italy and #2 is Gilad from Florida; I feel like I really lucked out with the roommates, as all three of us are a little older and have made aliyah (moved to Israel) and want to serve in the IDF—thus I have 2 good running/training partners for the next 5 months. There is a large group of guys who have made aliyah and are serious about joining a tough combat unit, so we will all train together and hopefully get coached by some ex-special forces once a week. Its amazing how Jews from every corner of the earth are here, around 25 different countries are represented on the Kibbutz ranging from Kazakhstan to South Africa to Switzerland. I am in the advanced Hebrew class which will push me and be a bit difficult but will be a tremendous help to improve my speaking and comprehension skills. Other than that, I found out that I was one of the few picked to work in the fish farm (starting at 5 AM) which I will start tomorrow, so more on that to come. One final note, the food is pretty good especially breakfast with fresh Avocados the size of my head.

אני בדרך / I'm on the Way

A little update for everyone before I start my studying / working on Kibbutz Maagan Michael. I’m very excited for the upcoming 5 months, I know that I’ll have to use this time to seriously improve my Hebrew so I can avoid army Ulpan with all the crazy Russians later on. My Hebrew is still developing at a slow pace, but everyday it seems to improve. Being able to understand what a stranger asks you in the mall is a very rewarding experience, something so simple has taken years to finally accomplish. Anyways, cant wait to get to the kibbutz and hopefully work in the fish farms and train with the Israeli teenagers on the Kibbutz, it will probably help me lose the 10 lbs I gained being at my Aunt’s house for the weekend. One final point, Israel is running 24/7 news coverage of the riots in Egypt, I wonder if CNN and FOX can stop calling each other Nazis for 5 minutes and cover this in depth.

How do you say? ?איך אומרים

These two words probably consists of ½ the Hebrew words I say in a day; but that allright because it is a slow learning process. At least for the first time I am immersing myself in Hebrew, forcing the Israeli’s I come in contact with to speak to me רק בעברית–Only in Hebrew. (Much to the annoyance of waiters, bus drivers and family members everywhere…) Its tough, and there are many lapses back into the comfort zone of English but I am learning a lot of Hebrew without being in class, which makes me even more excited for Ulpan class and learning formally everyday. I am using an interesting book series The Time Tunnel to learn Hebrew while avoiding the creepiness of reading baby books in public places. Everything else is going well and I have my first pre-army seminar next weekend which should be interesting (as it will be only in Hebrew—fast Hebrew). Coming up next week though will be a post about the shook, because I love the shook and it gives me a valid reason to make a trip there for inspiration--and pita, pistachios, good beer, and תותים

Pat-downs, Invitations, and the meaning of a “Jewish State”

As my parents were fortunate enough to give UCSB lots of money for my B.A. in Political Science, I am going to get a little political. Firstly, there are a few things that you can’t go a day in Israel without receiving: 1) an elbow to the face from a 99 year old lady carrying 20 lbs of tomatoes. (slight exaggeration) 2) being yelled at with a מה פתאום thrown in somewhere. 3) A pat-down and 4) An invitation to stay at someone’s (might be a complete stranger or a friend of a friend’s friend) house if you ever find yourself in X city.
This extended post will focus on the latter two issues and the meaning of a Jewish State. Last week I arrived at the Tel Aviv bus station and decided to try and find a different bus than I am used to taking to get to my friends apartment. Anyways, at the bus station there is a park where many African immigrants seem to stay. Israel has a bit of a problem with foreigners these days. Estimated figures are 208,000 foreigners, 76,000 working legally, 100,000 working illegally, and finally 38,000 political refugees—mainly from Africa. The political discussion on what action to take has heated up recently, with a proposed plan to build a “detention facility” and house the illegal foreigners there. I am obviously no expert in this field. But in my professional opinion, those in the government who are promoting fear, declaring that all foreigners are diseased criminals that will destroy Israel are disgusting individuals who should not be elected. Many of these immigrants, especially those fleeing certain death in Sudan and Eritrea should not be locked up or barred from entering Israel. Granted it is (almost?) impossible to accept an unlimited amount of foreigners—especially when you fear them changing the Jewish demographic of the State—but what is the purpose of having a Jewish State if we don’t live by our Jewish ideals. Having the government observe Shabbat is important, but it is despicable to not help those in need, how short are our memories? We must be a light unto others and help those in need when it is in our power (and it is).
Back to pat-downs and invitations. You can not enter any bus station, government building, mall, etc without having your bag checked and a metal detector passed around your back; this is to ensure that you do not have a weapon or bomb on you. Israel will always have very real security concerns that it must address in order to ensure the safety of its citizens. But at the same time it is hard to not be invited to a strangers house to stay if you need to sleep somewhere or eat something. A Jewish State cannot treat foreigners escaping religious/political persecution (almost certain death) in the same manner as the rest of the world. We are not like every other country and must never forget that the world once turned its back on us. If the words “Never Again” are made meaningless by government policy we have failed as a Jewish State.