Preparing for the Worst (Article# 101) 1/1/09

Having been away for three and half out of five weeks (NY and London), it was great to return home. Not that I don’t enjoy seeing family and our alumni, but everyone knows there is no place like home.

One of the great parts about Israeli attitudes is the commitment toward the community that the average Israeli displays. With mandatory military service and a voluntary national service program for women, Israeli youth are indoctrinated with the need to care about the well being of others at a very young age. This commitment often (although certainly not always) extends itself to a high level of volunteerism in the “nationalistic” or “Zionistic” ranks.

One of these extraordinary volunteers is Benny Pflanzer, the Manka”l (Director) of the Yeshiva I work at, Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi. Aside from being some type of executive officer of his Golani battalion (I don’t understand what he does – just that it is important in the army) who is regularly called for reserve duty, he recently trained to be a paramedic and volunteers his time for Magen David Edom (“MADA”) – the Israeli emergency medical response/ambulance service.

He takes this commitment very seriously, spending time both on emergency calls and driving and ambulance when needed, in order to serve the needs of his neighbors. His dedication is actually quite intimidating at times, and I often see it as a silent rebuke for the fact that other than actually making Aliyah (which many Israelis see as a dedication beyond anything they can do), I don’t feel like I really give much back to my new country.

When he asked me what I thought about our Yeshiva serving as host for an emergency response exercise, I told him that I thought it was a great idea. Reflecting on the effectiveness of their emergency responders to the Mercaz HaRav terrorist attack, MADA was looking to stage a simulation of a similar attack in order to prepare their medics.

The medics came to the building for an educational seminar, at the end of which we conducted the simulation. In order to provide for a realistic response by the medics, they were not told about the simulation until literally seconds before it began.

Each student was given a role. Some were victims (with injury and vital sign cards hung on their necks), others were bystanders (encouraged to display shock or volunteer to help as needed) and one was even a member of the media (with video camera in hand) encouraged to be as “in their face” and annoying as possible in order to give a true realistic flavor. They were also encourage to be as realistic as possible, by screaming and yelling and creating a general sense of pandemonium.

As I prepared to video the simulation, I wandered outside to the Yeshiva’s parking lot where I found an incredibly chilling scene. In preparation for the drill, there were ambulances with flashers running and a series of stretchers lined up in a row, waiting for “victims”. Even though I knew it was a fake, it still shook me.

Once the simulation began it was truly chaotic. Our guys threw themselves into their parts wholeheartedly. As a bystander I was overwhelmed by the noise and frantic activity. While the gravity of an actual attack was not present and there were frequent smiles exchanged, there was definitely a serious approach taken to the work and all “victims” were identified, triaged, treated and “taken” by ambulance in less than 20 minutes from the start of the event.

Although we certainly hope that such preparedness is not needed, we were quite proud to have participated and be a part (minor as it may be) of preparing these dedicated volunteers to do their duty when called upon.

The simulation also served as a kind of kickoff to Channuka season. Without the heavy influence of other religions’ holidays in Israel, we are free to celebrate Channuka as an entire society. Sufganiyot began to appear in the bakeries and grocery stores and channuka candles sprouted on store counters throughout the land. And, our personal favorite, the kids started singing their channuka songs (none of which we, as American born, are familiar with).

We are no longer in the “first zone” (first year in Israel, first channuka, etc.) for many items. We are somewhat “used to” the idea that this is a Jewish country. It was a special moment for Goldie and I then, when one of our students (Daniel Bonner from Dallas, Texas) walked into the office, looked at a calendar and commented, “Is it X-mas today? I had NO IDEA!”

Yet another reminder of what makes our home special.

As we went to press this week, the latest series of violence erupted in Gaza. My nephew (Yonatan Ben Arieh), who serves in the Golani brigade, stands a very strong chance of being called into action within days, if not weeks. Please keep him and all of our men and women in the Armed Services in your tefillot as well as those bystanders who are injured or heaven forbid killed, simply so that the enemy can inflict pain upon us. May the violence end soon, may our military be successful in accomplishing their mission and may we see a safe, secure Israel very soon.