Kvell and the World Kvells With You

Let me start by saying I wish no country had the need for an army. But in Israel, serving is part of being an Israeli. You've got to give back to the state. You give two or three years, and it's not about you. You give your freedom away. You learn discipline and respect. 
-Gal Gadot

If you can't get up for an old woman on the bus, you can't be an officer in the IDF.
-Moshe Ya'alon

For thus say the LORD of hosts who sent me after glory unto the nations which spoiled you: 'Surely, he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.
-Zecharia 2:12

Jews around the world have a lot in common; culture, traditions, worrying about what the neighbors will think, blood libels.
There is, however, one major component of life in Israel that is not widely shared with Diaspora Jewry and that is army service. While Jews worldwide mostly support and take pride in the IDF, and while there are many young Jews who come from all corners of the globe to draft into the army, it is mostly Israeli mothers who send their children to serve. And when they finish their active service, which lasts anywhere from between 18 months to 35 years, most men, and many women, between the ages of 22 and 45 serve in the reserves. Until only a few years ago, everyone would serve about 30 days a year, leaving families, jobs, and lives behind, putting on a uniform to protect and defend.
These days, because of population growth and the fact that fewer bodies are actually needed due to technological advancements, reserve soldiers only asked to serve about a week once a year for training, and a month's service 'on the line' every two or three years, in actual service defending and protecting.

My three sons all served as combat soldiers in the IDF, and they all serve in the reserves.

If one could measure my pride in my sons on a scale of 1 to 100, it would measure about 1,000,000,000. Unfortunately, so would the level of my anxiety. But hey. 

Fortunately, I can (usually) hide my anxiety and totally show my pride - even show OFF my pride, i.e., gush, boast, swagger, wave pictures about, talk incessantly about the boys, and kvell.  I throw out words such as 'plooga' (battalion), 'micro tabor' (a gun), 'kumta' (a beret), 'kalab' (an acronym that means close to home) and, (my favorite) 'she'elat kitbag' (the infamous kitbag question).

Last week, my youngest son (who is an COMBAT MEDIC kvell kvell) spent one day in a training center to refresh his combat skills. He wasn't even going to spend the night on base. He traveled north with his buddies early in the morning and got a lift back home that night.

Despite the shortness of his service, however, I wasn't going to let the opportunity to kvell go to waste.

Anytime someone came in to the office that morning, passed my desk with the customary 'good morning', I answered 'good morning! I'm fine! well, you know, my kid is in miliuim, but otherwise fine! really" Etc. etc.  

Given the shortness of his service (12 hours), I kept my gushing to a minimum, until I received a photo from him from the base. "Guess who is here with us", he wrote. 

The man in question was circled, but he wasn't entirely in focus.  He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't be sure if he was a football player, a musician, a politician, or somebody my son had been in Grade 2 with. It could have been anyone. 

I had only one option. I passed the photo around the department and asked everyone if they knew who the guy was. In this way, not only would I find out the identity of the mysterious man, but I would let everyone know, easily and effortlessly, that my son was currently in the army and I was the mother of a soldier. Kvell kvell. 

The picture was passed hand to hand. People guessed, shook their hands, nodded wisely, but nobody seemed to know absolutely who the celebrity was. 

Here's the thing - almost everyone in Israel has someone in the army. All 18-year-olds, by law, must report to the draft office, either to join the army or declare that, for one reason or another (and there are many reasons) they will not be joining. 

All celebrities were once 18 years old, and most have served in the army, and many serve in the reserves - in one capacity or another. 

Serving in the army, and even serving in the army with a celebrity isn't all that unusual. Israel is a very small country. 

Eventually, someone, holding the picture said, "isn't that whatisname from that show? you know, that show, about the war."

That cut it down to about six dozen different shows, but after a while, we pinpointed the correct war show, and decided the guy was the star. 

I messaged by to my son, "OMG!!!! That's Moshiko from The Show about War!!"

He wrote back, "Not Moshiko, the other one."

I wrote back, "Yosele or Avrumele?" 

Avrumele. 

And then he sent me another picture of the actor who played Avrumele in the The Show about War, slightly more in focus, and WITH MY SON'S OWN ARM IN THE PICTURE. 

It was an opportunity to kvell that I had only but dreamt of. 

Of course, after Passover, I'll have plenty of opportunities to kvell, as two sons (TWO!) will, one after the other, be serving 'on the line' for a month, each.

Of course, I won't be sleeping for two months, but hey.

Kvell Kvell. 

Sigh.