Four o’clock in the morning, I awake to the view of the silent Dead Sea in the neighbourhood of Ein Bokek with the symbolic mountain Masada looking down over us. We have a long drive ahead of us through the silent peaceful Negev, through the sleeping city of Arad to a long and windy road completely surrounded by the beauty of the desert, nothing but tranquillity, that leads towards Masada. Eventually the silence; the tranquility fades away. In the distance we see men in green marching, they march with nothing surrounding them , empty land that they will protect with their lives.
Amongst the four battalions, my hero walks, my big brother, Avrami marches amongst his brothers in arms. As the sun rises we march on.
I am a seventeen year old living in Johannesburg that is privileged enough to march the last five kilometres with soldiers of the
…show more content…
Israelis constantly question his decision to leave the luxury life he has at home with a car, swimming pool and big house to go and sit in the middle of no where in the desert, but he knows why he enlisted in the IDF and pulls this motivation during the tough times and celebrates it during moments of achievement.
Joining my brother in the last five kilometres of their hike, has played an inspiring role in my life. I feel that whenever I am challenged mentally at school or physically challenged on the soccer field I think of my own limitations. I take a breath and draw inspiration from my big brother and feel that I too can push myself just that little but further, set new boundaries for myself and go beyond limitations.
The Israeli Defence Force is hidden with life lessons and gives the brave boys and girls a platform to learn and grow as individuals in a rather uncomfortable environment. When a soldier embarks on a journey, his journey is long, his journey will push him to his limits, however he will ultimately end his journey a better man than when he