TRAVEL I
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December
S 50
Fitness
& Fun
Toss-Up
Volunteers For Israel
Lend Vital Support
RUTH VOSKO
Special to The Jewish News
T
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1991
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he time is here — the
time is now — the start
of my third trip to
Israel as a volunteer. Securi-
ty required luggage remain
with you until check-in.
Volunteers were beginning to
straggle in.
There was a New York man,
formerly a resident of Israel,
standing by for a seat to visit
his dying 83-year-old father.
His father had gone to Israel
in 1913 from Russia and serv-
ed as governor of his kibbutz
and of the Galilee. The
volunteers succeeded in fin-
ding a seat for him.
We were met by our
madrick, — our guide,
Michael Allouche, master
sergeant of our tank base and
representative of the pro-
gram. Soldiers at our bar-
racks helped drag luggage to
assigned rooms. The weather
was unseasonably and ex-
ceedingly warm and sunny.
Breakfast was served in the
mess hall each morning at
7:15 a.m. where we reported
in full uniform, including
boots. Our madrick would
give us the world news each
morning before we reported to
our work stations.
Working along with
another volunteer, career
soldier who supervised the
work, a reservist, and other
soldiers, our work consisted
of: cleaning and repairing
various size cases which held
bombs, shells and grenades;
air hose cleaning of 6 ft. x 8
ft. filters used in the tanks;
separating and wire brushing
various sizes of bolts needed
to repair the air cleaning
boxes; screwing brackets and
insulators on parts, punching
holes into gaskets; - cutting
bolts on a vice with a hack-
saw; removing bolts from cast
iron air filters with a power
bolt remover and wrench;
cleaning and gluing gaskets;
cutting fiberglass into tiny
slivers, and scraping and
rustproofing the tank air
filter system boxes.
One of the soldiers was the
"warden" of the tools because
they are locked in boxes and
lockers. The moment one
relinquishes a tool, he locks it
up. It's understandable, since
the rags we used the day
before and inadvertently left
on the workbench were gone.
Rags and tools are a luxury.
At coffee-break time, the
Ruth Vosko was a volunteer
in Israel in October.
soldiers made us hot "Nana"
tea brewed from fresh
grown peppermint leaves.
WONDERFUL!
Lunch is in the mess hall
from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m., then
back to work until 4 p.m. at
which time we would shower,
change into civies and either
remain on base or go into the
surrounding towns.
Each day we would "jail"
our dirty uniforms in a plastic
bag for exchange the next day
for a clean one, or they would
have walked themselves to
the quartermaster. We were
issued two uniforms upon ar-
rival — one clean one to be
worn and the dirty one to be
exchanged.
After work one day, we were
taken to a tank, allowed to
crawl inside and view how im-
"After work one
day, we were
allowed to crawl
inside a tank and
view how
important our work
was."
portant our work was: the
cases for the bombs and shells
which we had scrubbed and
cleaned, the bolts which I had
wire brushed and cleaned on
the vice and their strategic
placement on parts in the
tank.
The sunsets were magnifi-
cent reds and mauves, and
the moon looked like it was
lying on its back. On Shabbat
riding on the civilian buses
one sees riders carrying bags
of groceries and flowers
(either for their own homes or
gifts to hostesses), men pray-
ing from prayer books and the
bus radio is playing news and
Israeli music.
The people, civilians and
soldiers alike, are so giving.
They share their food, give
you presents and want to take
you and show you everything.
They have opened their
homes to the Russian olim,
sharing whatever space they
can.
It rained one Shabbat while
I was visiting a family and
the children ran out into the
rain, singing and dancing. I
was told the first rain in
Israel is a dirty one because it
washes all the retained dust
in the air down in the
rain-drops.
On the bus that evening go-
ing back to camp there was
thunder and lightening going
vertically and horizontally at