Foto Friday – Snaps from the IDF Spokesperson
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Picture of the Week, War
Two nights ago, after two months of grueling basic training, the cadets of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade held their swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall. This was the first time in two decades that the Golani ceremony was held at the Wall; the emotional event was captured by Cpl. Ori Shifrin, IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.
The IDF Spokesperson’s office was in the headlines this week with the news that Yoav Galant, is replacing outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, had appointed Lior Lotan as the new IDF spokesman. These sort of nominations are never without controversy but this one was particularly vulnerable to criticism because Lotan, an attorney and soldier in the elite Sayeret Matkal combat unit, has no experience either working in the media or with the media.
“Nevertheless,” Ha’aretz reported, “the prevailing assessment among both journalists and the staff of the IDF Spokesman’s Office was that his [Lotan's] long experience in both negotiations and psychological warfare operations would stand him in good stead.” Which givens you an idea of the historic relationship between the media, local and foreign, and the IDF Spokesperson’s office.
Indeed, the IDF Spokesperson’s office is a powerful force in Israeli culture. It publishes BaMachaneh magazine which, like army radio station GLZ, has long been the training ground for many an Israeli journalist. These days, The Spokesperson’s office is keeping up to date with a revamped website, blog, Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Flickr photostream.
On Flickr, you’ll find images like this dramatic shot of the Hermon Brigade, which is made up of reserve forces, in a training exercise on Mt. Hermon. The photo was taken by IDF Spokesperson photographer Neil Cohen.
This “straw man” camouflage suit, worn by a soldier from the Combat Engineering Corps, was photographed by Michael Shvadron of the IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.
I’m not a great fan of the “Girl Soldierette Pinup” but it is important to note this genre which, over the decades, has created its own mythology: the strong and sexy Israeli woman, kittenish by night — drill sergeant by day. (Photo: Michael Shvadron).
Really, now that it’s been announced that, in addition to expanded service for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men, haredi women will also be given the opportunity to serve in IDF computer units, they’re going to have to cut down on this sort of thing. After all, there are a lot of good and important things happening that make better stories than snapping wannabe It girls in combat boots.
For example, following last month’s Carmel Forest fire, almost 1000 soldiers from the IDF’s Nachal infantry Brigade were brought in to clear and rebuild in the areas damaged by the fires. While a full-time Citizen’s Conservations Corps is a long way away for our beleaguered little country, it is nice to see a glimmer of what a peacetime national service could one day be.
Nostalgia Sunday – Farewell my loof-ly
Filed under: Business, Food, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Profiles, Technology, War
Tinned meat lovers around the globe: I am sorry to report that the IDF has finally pulled the plug on loof. A kosher, poultry-based variety of Spam or Bully Beef, no product has ever been hated with more affection than loof. The word, by the way, like many other terminological remnants of the British Mandate, is a bastardization of an English military term, in this case of the word “loaf”, as in “meat loaf” or, more accurately put, “mystery meat loaf”.
Over the years, loof, like Spam, developed a cult following. Take for example, this entry from Websters Online: “Since the foundation of the State of Israel, the IDF has developed loof, which is a slightly adapted form of corned beef that is packaged almost identically to Spam, and is more nutritious, durable and easily prepared to taste either through cooking or frying with other foods. The name loof is a short and simplified form of meat loaf. Loof is a standard issue in the IDF, and is made by Richard Levy Company of Israel. All loof is kosher, and most are Hallal for Beduin and Druze service personnel. The product has become an Israeli folk delicacy.”
“Folk delicacy!” What a nice way of putting it! That’s not how it’s usually described.
This isn’t the first time that loof’s demise has been announced (Wikipedia still has the date as 2009). But after a flurry of media reports in recent weeks, an official announcement was made by the IDF Spokesmans’ Office a few days ago, stating that whatever loof was left in its storehouses will be replaced by MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) with fresher and healthier ingredients. Shouldn’t be difficult.
According to the IDF Spokesman, during the month of December, soldiers will test out MREs featuring beef patties, goulash and turkey shwarma (slow-rotisseried meat shaved off the spit – sounds gross but it’s delicious!). After that, the IDF logistics unit will roll out the final MRE menu.
Now, anyone who’s served in the IDF, the reserves or even (in my case) taken an hike in Israel, has likely been treated to a meal featuring loof. For so reviled an ingredient, people sure have a lot of ways to prepare it: scrambled with eggs, smothered in fried onions or sauteed in tomato sauce — you name it, someone has figured out a way to disguise it and they’re happy to share recipes.
So why end this half-century long relationship? The thing is that, loof — like all other canned foods — is low-tech. (I heartily recommend reading up on the 200-year long history of canning; it’s truly fascinating! Did you know that Napoleon himself offered a cash prize for the development of reliable food preservation?) Anyway, although you could eat it straight from the can (shudder), to be truly edible, loof needed to be cooked over a heat source. Not so the new high-tech MREs! These come foil-wrapped with FRH (Flameless Ration Heater), a exothermic chemical heater that warms the packet in minutes upon contact with water. Ah, modernity!
A word about the Holon-based Richard Levy Company, which produced one thing and one thing alone for 50 yeras before filing for bankruptcy in 2000, soon after the IDf made it known that loof would be phased out sometime in the 21st century. (Business students take note: Apparently it’s not prudent to rely a single product and customer!). The amazing “urban archivist” Sharon Raz, who documents Israel’s history through its abandoned buildings, has posted some photos of the old factory on his site, Natush.
So loof, like the its manufacturer, will soon be regaled to the back shelves of history like… well… so many cans of loof. (Almost every Israeli family has one rusting away in the pantry). And the next generation will no longer understand the visual gag from the 1976 Israeli cult film Giv’at Halfon Eina Ona (Hill Halfon Doesn’t Answer) about a wacky, zany army unit. It starts at about minute 1:30 into this clip and that one plop says all there is to say about why, despite the eulogies, no one is lobbying bring back loof.
Nostalgia Sunday – Dubon
Filed under: History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Nostalgia Sunday, War
See this guy? See the jacket he’s wearing? It’s called a dubon and, in the Seventies, whether you were in the Israel Defense Forces or not, this was your winter coat in Israel. It wasn’t simply a matter of fashion. The dubon was all there was to wear.
My significant other did some spring cleaning the other day and decided to donate his dubon to charity. This gave rise to some sentimental sighs and a discussion about the pros and cons of this iconic coat. First of all, there was the name, which means “teddy bear” — a perfect combination of playfulness in the service of the ferociously serious military function of keeping soldiers warm.
Then, there was the jacket itself, designed for the Israeli winter. For someone like myself, coming from New England ski country, the dubon was no match for a down parka or something called a “snorkel” that was all the rage for a couple of years (it zipped up over your nose).
But, as was pointed out to me, what the dubon lacked in insulation, it made up for in acreage; it covered every exposed centimeter of your upper body and was, therefore, perfect protection against the elements of the Israeli winter. Which boils down to a lot of chilly rain and not enough central heating.
The fact that there were only men’s sizes to be had just added to the dubon’s glamour. For example, a Scandinavian kibbutz volunteer — looking much like the fantasy version pictured here — traipsing around the communal kitchenette in wooden clogs, chain-smoking “Noblesse”, baking apple cake and hogging all the baking pans, while casually sporting an oversized dubon — the kind with the really good lining — was also sending a very clear message that she had access to men with dubonim. Bitch. You know who you are.
In fact, most dubon-wearers looked more like these guys here. Men and women, all wore standard issue dubonim, available in small, medium, large and extra large. To this day, girl soldiers look like they’re swimming, nay drowning, in their dubons. But, as my friend Efrat put it, “Of course I had one. Everyone had one. It’s the most Israeli you can get.”
If you were in the army, you wore olive drab. If you were in the navy, you got blue. Air force guys got polyester bomber jackets. (The camouflage version didn’t show up till the Nineties, after the first Gulf War, when loan guarantees required the IDF to procure a certain amount of gear from US manufacturers).
And if you served up in the Golan, you got the brass ring, the uber-dubon called the Hermonit, after white-capped Mount Hermon, which provided total body coverage against the snow. Again, as someone from New England, I can only sniff and say, “You call that snow”?
And here’s that Scandinavian babe again! But believe me, she was never issued one in real life. You had to do a lot more than bake cakes to score a Hermonit.
Would-be women of the IDF busted shirking and snogging
Filed under: A New Reality, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Religion, War
The way the Israeli army interfaces with religion is not so straightforward, which makes sense in a land where the separation between synagogue and state is still being sorted out. The IDF’s Rabbinate came under scrutiny this winter for attempting to boost soldiers’ morale on shaky theological grounds.
And the Rabbinate is notorious for being stingy when it comes to handing out shaving exemption papers for soldiers looking to be able to wear beards based on their interpretation of Biblical commandments, sometimes telling soldiers that they’re “not religious enough” to qualify for the exemption. But if it’s a rabbi’s goal to foster observance, he ought to embrace the individual’s interests, regardless of that individual’s flaws or hypocrisies.
In a society where we are constantly being pigeonholed due to what we’re wearing on our heads and elsewhere on our bodies, I don’t know about you, but my inclination is to say, “Please don’t put me in a box. I’m a real person, not a tidy category.”
Of course, embracing the religious grey area gets trickier when we’re talking about exemption from serving in the army altogether. Ditching the draft is relatively common among Israel’s Orthodox, for better or for worse, and the mechanisms for obtaining exemptions on religious grounds are relatively straightforward, making pleading religious a tempting option even for those who might not necessarily truly have theological qualms with the experience of being a soldier.
After years of turning a blind eye, more or less, to this phenomenon, the IDF is getting smart and trying to crack down on young women who “lie” and plead religious. Sure, it’s possible that a young woman who is too observant to serve, whatever that means, might experience a lapse in faith, but in general, if the army’s detectives catch you making out with someone, you should probably suit up.
“We need those girls, Lt. Col. Gil Ben Shaoul, deputy commander of Israel’s military recruitment center,” told The Associated Press.
The Israel Defense Forces says the surveillance program began last year and has caught 520 young women, many who admitted they did not deserve the religious exemption and signed up for military service.
….Catching the draft-dodgers is fairly straightforward: It takes one weekend, said Ben Shaoul. The young women are usually caught driving on Saturday, drinking or smoking.
Many who attempt to shirk the draft justify doing so on the grounds that women aren’t given “real” opportunities in the IDF.
“I served for two years doing nothing. All the girls do nothing,” said Shiran Cohen, 24, a university student. She said she was assigned to check on ammunition stockpiles during her service, but was frequently sidelined by men in her unit.
Although being a woman in the army can’t be easy, this excuse simply doesn’t hold water. I have fond memories of my days serving in the IDF’s Shiryon (armored corps) unit, where everything I learned about tanks was taught to me by women.
On the first day of tank training, the training officers took me and my fellow conscripts out to the open field and gave us a powerful demonstration of tank maneuvering and weaponry. The audience loved it. When the demo was over, the tanks pulled around and parked by the bleachers where we sat. The hatches opened, and out came four women from each vehicle. Surprise surprise. The bleachers shook with hooting, extra applause and jumping up and down as a special reaction for the ladies. It was a bit embarrassing, and it might serve to highlight how rough it must be to get respect as a woman soldier, but the point is that the opportunities are there for those who are motivated to go after them.
Image of Israeli modern Orthodox teenage women courtesy sethfrantzman from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Nostalgia Sunday – Lebanon 1982
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Life, Nostalgia Sunday, War
They’re not happy memories. However, it seems appropriate, on the eve of Waltz With Bashir’s possible Oscar win, to glean the National Photo Collection for photos of the 1982 Lebanon War that capture something of the movie’s essence.
Sidon – IDF soldier on patrol near Ferris wheel. Photo: Shmuel Rahmany
Zaharani area – burning fuel depot. Photo: Beni Tel-Or
Tyre – Ancient Roman ruins with modern buildings in background. Photo: Yaacov Saar
Sidon – Returning to the marketplace. Photo: Yaacov Saar
Central Lebanon – Two Israeli soldiers take a forbidden dip in a stream. Photo: Yossi Roth
Tel Aviv Fairgrounds – Israeli citizens visit a display of a captured PLO arsenal. Photo: Avraham Zaslavski
Tel Aviv – Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon presents objectives at a press conference. Photo: Yaacov Saar
Sidon – Movie poster: “The Land That Time Forgot“. Photo: Yoel Kantor
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