Travel

David Klein Gallery

presents

Fernando
Botero

NO-STAR HOTEL

How to spend three weeks in Israel
in a rewarding, non-vacation environment.

Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture

Saturday, September

8 —

October

20, 2001

Opening

Saturday, September

8

1-4 pm

Preview the exhibition at dkgallery.com

163 TOWNSEND BIRMINGHAM MI 48009
TELEPHONE 248.433.3700 FAX 248.433.3702
HOURS: MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 11 - 5:30

David Loeffler, kneeling at left, joins fellow volunteers
in front of two Israeli armored personnel carriers.

DAVID LOEFFLER
Special to the Jewish News

I

heard a loud rumble as I
walked along the dirt track,
and I looked up. "Want a
ride?" the driver asked. I
hopped in, pulled on a helmet, and
off we went. I was riding in an Israeli
armored personnel carrier.
Our group of 10 volunteers was
working for 2 1 /2 weeks in Sar El, or
Volunteers for Israel program.
Stationed at an army base near Tel
Aviv, we were from the United States,
South Africa and Ireland.
The program was started in 1982 to
supply civilian volunteers to assist the
Israeli army in non-combat-related
jobs, reducing the number of individ-
uals called up for miluim (army
reserve duty). Volunteers are sent to
army bases (and a few air force bases)
throughout Israel, where they share
living quarters, meals, and work
assignments with the soldiers
Our base was a small one, intended
for overhauling armored personnel
carriers. Teams of regular army sol-
diers worked on the APCs with
reservists. My team included Yossi, a
reservist from Ramie, as well as Nir
and Danny 19-year-old soldiers. We
removed the motor (made in Detroit)
and the transmission, cleaned them
and the APC, replaced gaskets, fan
belts, oil, water and anything else that

looked the worse for wear, then put
the APC back together again.
Following a trip to another work area,
a test drive and some welding, it went
back to the field.
I would love to say what a tremen-
dous contribution I made, but I dis-
covered some interesting things about
myself:

• I was in decent physical condition
for a 50-year-old man with a desk
job, but in pretty bad condition com-
pared to the average 18-year-old. It
took me twice as long to climb up
and down the APCs as it did for the
other team members.

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en Siver

• Though I am a graduate veterinari-
an, this was of limited value inside of
an APC.

• Though my conversational Hebrew
is pretty good from having lived in
Israel for several years, I knew none of
the relevant words for the work
involved (bolt, nut, screw, wrench,
pliers). These three factors resulted in
our team being somewhat less effi-
cient when I helped than when I did
not.
Our group included three students
completing their senior year of high
school, a sophomore from the
University of Florida, a 37-year-old
policeman from Dublin, Ireland, a
retired fellow from Miami, and three
retirees from New York. Bert, a retired
locksmith from Scarsdale, Harry, an

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8/24
2001

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