Chiyul

I can finally say that I am a chayal. I now carry with me an ID card from the army that identifies me as one. I got this card this past Thursday when I went through the process of the chiyul. Basically, there are two steps to becoming a chayal: chiyul and giyus. Most chayalim do both these things on the same day. For hesder guys though, the chiyul happens 8 months before the giyus (but only 2 for me) and continues after active service. During the time between the chiyul and the giyus, we are considered chayalim on the shalat card, or sheirut l'lo tashlum. Shalat means service without payment. With this ID, we ride trains for free, pay a maximum of about 10.70₪ for buses, and skip security checks, but we are not allowed to tremp (hitchhike) for fear of being kidnapped.

The day of the chiyul was our first day of the army so it was run like a well oiled machine. Each person was told to arrive at his enlistment office where buses were provided to Tel Hashomer. My enlistment office happens to be at Tel Hashomer anyway. I got there at around 10am and was happy to see that I would be going through the chiyul with a friend from Toronto. From the enlistment office, we board a bus which takes us to another part of the base. Soon thereafter, we gather outside, wait for our names to be called, and are given stickers with bar codes on them to be given in at the upcoming stations. The next thing we do is sit down in a theatre-type place and listen to the head of the beinishim speak. He tells us about the hesder track and the rules of the shalat period. Then we signed a document. I think it was an agreement to serve the machal track. Honestly, it would have taken me and a dictionary the whole day to read the thing, so I just quickly scanned it and signed. We were also given a questionnaire, similar to the one on the gibush, and an information booklet about our hesder track. Then the process started. The stations went as follows:

Teeth Pictures: This was funny. I enter the room and this chayelet tells me to hold my mouth open and she shoves a mirror in my mouth and snaps a picture. Okay. Then she says something else really really fast and I have no idea what she's saying. I ask her what she said and she says it again. Still didn't understand. Then she starts to yell at me, kind of like, what's the matter with you, don't you understand Hebrew. Well no, I don't. But I made it through. A friend of mine from yeshiva who did the chiyul last year tells me the same exact thing happened to him.

ID Pictures: One regular photo and one jail-style side view photo. Some kid with a huge kippah tried to argue with the chayelet so that he wouldn't have to take it off for the shot. Not a good idea. These chayalot are tough.

Fingerprints: This was probably the coolest part. They have these awesome machines about the size of an ATM with a glass pad on them, and a chayal or chayelet places your hand, palm, and then each individual finger on the pad to get the print.

X-Ray: This was exactly like the machines at dentist offices. Just an X-Ray of the teeth. This chayelet was even nice enough to speak English to me.

Bone Marrow: Totally optional but I'm already on a list to donate so no need to do it again.

DNA: This was kind of funny. It's a prick in the finger and then they use your blood to paint in two circles. I wonder if it's fun for the chayalot to do it.

Shots: I'm not really sure what they were for but there were two of them in the shoulder.

Signatures: There are a few documents to sign. Again, I'm not exactly sure what they said, but something about a pledge of allegiance to the State of Israel and another about not releasing army secrets. I guess I better read the rules of the secrets before I write too much here on the blog and end up in prison. Also, the chayelet wanted my bank account information, but I don't have one. Sometime in the next two months I need to open one. I hear it's difficult for a non-Israeli. I'll definitely write a post about it.

And then the moment I had been waiting for...

I got my ID Card!!

They give you:
1. the ID card in a little green case
2. a paper card with your information on it and Geneva Convention rules for kidnapped soldiers (kind of chilling)
3. Two dogtags and a chain, for boots and around the neck

Then we went to eat lunch, very similar to gibush food, and again very good. After davening mincha, we filled in a few medical forms, spoke with mashakiot tash, and then after checking that everything had been taken care of, we were released. On the way out, we walked through the area where in two months we will be given everything we need for the army and the place where we will first put on our uniforms before loading buses to the bases. I can't wait!!

On a separate note, I heard that results for tzanchanim are coming in about a week. Fingers crossed!!


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