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Rite Of Passage

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AR

FPIDAYALLNLqi 109

here are tribesmen in
some of the most
remote parts of
Thailand and Nepal who can
sing "Hevenu Shalom
Aleichem." On Kowson Road
in Bangkok, a row of cafes
serve falafel and provide
menus in Hebrew, while the
guest houses show Israeli
videos. Somewhere in the
mountains of east Turkey, a
down-on-his-luck rug mer-
chant was once heard
reciting "Sh'ma Yisrael,"
having been told by an
Israeli traveler that it would
bring him more customers.
Natives of the mountain
and lake regions of the Far
East, the jungles of South
America, and the furthest
outposts of Australia, New
Zealand and Africa are well
acquainted with Israelis.
Every year an estimated
60,000 Israelis, a year or so
out of the Army, take their
few thousand dollars in sav-
ings, their backpacks and
hiking gear, and head off for
the cheapest, most exotic
places in the world.
They go for six months, a
year or even more. Their
parents often can't under-
stand why they have to go off
to "find themselves," but for
the young, the trip has
become an Israeli rite of
passage.
"We have to break loose
after the Army, and get out
of this tense little country
for awhile," explained Tal
Waldman, 22, of Tel Aviv,
who spent nine months in
the Far East last year and is
now saving her money to go
to Africa.
"I want to get out of the
routine of Israel and have
one great trip before I go to
university, start a career
and get married," said
Amiad Asias, 23, who is go-
ing to Thailand, Nepal and
New Zealand for six months
with a childhood friend.
After finishing his man-
datory three years in the
Army, Mr. Asias signed on
for another year as a profes-
sional combat engineer to
make money for the trip.
Israeli trekkers are known
for their machismo and
daredevil behavior. "I plan
to do a lot of rafting, snap-
peling and bungee jump-
ing," said Mr. Asias. "The

challenge is important.
After you raft down a
flooding river, you know
you've been through some-
thing."
When the Israelis get
together in some joint in the
middle of nowhere, they're
known for being very loud.
They're also known for their
quickness in learning the
lay of the land, thanks to
their Army experience --
to the far-flung, fast-moV
grapevine between Isr N
travelers. For example: ------,
A few years ago in one of
the nether villages of Bur-
ma, a local fellow named
Daniel became known on the
grapevine as the man to see
for cheap lodgings,

The travelers are
middle class, and
most of the young
men come out of
Army combat units.

transport, food, medicine
and anything else. Dozens of
villagers soon caught on and
began introducing them-
selves to Israeli newcomers
as Daniel. Rip-offs abound-
ed.
So the grapevine estab-
lished a "code" with the real
Daniel. Whenever any of the
purported Daniels offered
his services, the newly-
arrived Israelis would say to
him "shu" and "kif." If the
fellow did not answer with
the Hebrew words shulayim
("margins") and kiflayim
("double"), the Israelis
would know he was a fake.
(The system worked well for
awhile, until the real Daniel
mysteriously disappeared.)
Not every young Israeli
makes the trip. The sons and
daughters of the poor have to
go home after the Army and
help support the family. The
children of the rich go
straight to university, and
later, when they travel, they
go with expensive luggage,
not backpacks.
The travelers are middle-
class, and most of the young
men come out of Army corn-
bat units. Among demobiliz-
ed soldiers on the kibbutzim,
moshavim (cooperative
farms) and those who grew
up in youth movements, the
percentage doing the trip is
"near 100 percent," said
Yuval Limon, owner of