Ani Zocher:
Pilgrims' Stories

Classic IP 2004,
by Shari Rabin, Hanegev

One of the greatest things that I did this summer on USY Classic Pilgrimage Group 1, and the number one thing that prevents people from signing up for Classic, is Gadna. Five days of Israeli army training.

It was not easy. There was no toilet paper, there were no pillows. We had to wear long, thick khaki uniforms and ugly floppy hats during a heat wave. We had to make formations over and over again until they were perfect. We were screamed at in Hebrew by 19 year olds. We woke up at ridiculously early times and ran around the base screaming as we counted in Hebrew.

I sweated, I got scratched up, I complained. A lot. But in the end it was totally worth it, and definitely one of the memories from the summer that will stick with me the longest.

At the end of the fourth day of training, we had a competition among the four groups in our unit, two of which were USY, and two of which were South Africans. They were mean, they counted in English, they yelled back at their commanders, and they complained even more than we did. Needless to say, we wanted to beat them.

The competition included five stations, where we were graded on our ability to do different physical tasks, such as running through tires and crawling under barriers, as well as our ruach. The South Africans were looking pretty strong in the missions, and ran past us making faces and screaming their national anthem. But we kept our heads and spirits high and finished the competition to the best of our ability.

At the awards ceremony the next day, my group, Kvutzah Echad, was declared the winner. We had bonded together, completed the tasks, and beat the South Africans. And it felt great.

Over free weekend, one of the kids from my group ran into our Somal (sergeant) from Gadna. He told him that we were the best group they had that summer. Gadna may have been rough, and there is a very slim chance that anyone could get me to do it again, but at the end of the day, it is something that I am intensely proud of and will never forget.

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