An Army with a State

There's a fundamental truth that permeates every aspect of Israeli society: Everyone is in the military, and can at a moment's notice be called up to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces to defend Israel from its enemies. Your bus driver today could be a tank commander tomorrow, that clerk you bought some food from could be a pilot when needed, and that store-owner you pass every day on the way to classes could have and probably did serve in one of the numerous wars in the past. I have yet to see an overweight Israeli my age, and the only Israelis I have ever seen that aren't incredibly in shape are elderly, with their soldiering days behind them. Two stories come to mind to highlight the dual-role of the Israeli citizen. A day or two ago, I stopped at an ice cream stand to buy a cone. The guy behind the counter was a guy in his late twenties to early thirties, taller than me without an ounce of fat on him. He had a Mohawk buzz cut hair cut, and he was wearing fatigues. Everything about the guy screamed "military", yet here he was, running an ice cream stand, looking incredibly out of place next to the chocolates and the candies. Maybe he owned the stand himself, maybe it was the family business, but all I could think about while buying that ice cream was if Israel were to go to war tomorrow, someone else would have to run it. The second story occurred in the Old City. My friends and I were resting in the Jewish Quarter, enjoying a late lunch at a hole in the wall type restaurant, when an Israeli boy stepped in to buy some food. I say "boy" because it was obvious that he hadn't shaved a day in his life and looked like he could be 12 or 13, yet he was in uniform and was carrying a machine gun. Nobody else gave the kid a second glance, but I couldn't help staring at him. This kid, no, this man, wouldn't have been able to buy a beer back in the states, yet he was perfectly ready, willing, and able, to defend the Jewish state to the best of his considerable abilities, and even lay down his life in its service. It brought home to me what no book or article could articulate, that these men and women have to serve. Israel depends on the ability of every male and female citizen to step out of their private lives and jobs, put on a uniform, and bravely march out to face its numerous enemies at a moment's notice. These men and women aren't serving for (and if need be, fighting and dying for) themselves. They fight for the absolute survival of a nation, of an entire race of people. I am honored to be able to observe and live in such a place, populated by such a people.