To be the mother, father, social worker, sister and friend.
Why would a bunch of 18-year-olds stop and take a year out of their lives, especially when they have a 3 year army service ahead of them?
When I was a student in 11th grade, I just wanted to finish studying and leave school already, get out start the "real life" that everyone was talking about. My high school teacher, Naama Zilberstein, was an amazing and special woman and an educator in every sense. She helped me overcome all the difficulties I had at school including understanding the education system and receiving a full Bagrut certificate by the time I left, even though I often believed I would not. During 12th grade, most of my fellow students decided that they want to contribute to society and began to sign up for different Year of Service programs for social change across the country. I remember that what went through my mind at the time was, "Why are they doing this to themselves?!" Because what advantage is there for a bunch of 18-year-olds to stop and take a year out of their lives and defer their army service, especially when they have another 2-3 years of service ahead of them? I myself found the answers to these questions, but I'll share them later on.
Full of guilty feelings that I was a bad citizen by not wanting to give back to society, I sat down for a conversation with Naama my teacher. I decided to apply to some Year of Service programs - just to see if I would get in. Then I would at least have the option.
After several interviews for the non-profit Bakehila, I received a very exciting phone call from a girl called Dana who told me that I got accepted! With the end of the phone call came the jumps and cries of excitement, which surprised me since I didn't yet understand what would be so exciting about this year. Bakehila is a Jerusalem-based nonprofit organization for social change founded 13 years ago by Erel and Debbie Margalit, that strives to reduce social inequalities, create social mobility and develop leadership in Israeli society. Behind those big words stands a far greater year, and what our work achieved was even greater than that - something I discovered once I made the best decision of my life (which isn't a long one, but you'll find that other alumni say the same) and joined Bakehila's Year of Service. It's dreaming something up and then making it come true.
Being a Year of Service fellow at Bakehila means getting up early every morning and going to school (which is the last place you want to go after finally finishing 12 years of study), and helping kids with classes that you yourself didn't get good grades in. It means taking students out of class to the library and helping them with things they don't understand, and sitting with them for long personal conversations about what is going on in their lives.
It is simply, in a few short hours, a chance to be the mother, father, social worker, sister, and even friend for some of the more unique boys and girls. It means to return home to our dirty fellows' apartment (twelve 18-year-old's living in four rooms is no joke) and instead of chilling on the sofa, it means eating quickly and heading out again to work at a Learning Center, youth club or project you are running, a training session, meeting, renovating a shelter so that the kids will have somewhere to attend extracurricular activities, or even just visiting a child who needs help for any reason at all... Being a YS fellow at Bakehila is to dream something up and then make it come true, whether it's a music event, a second-hand fair, a girl's empowerment day, a start-up event for youth - anything that will help these kids believe in themselves as much as we believe in them.
Being a YS fellow at Bakehila means being part of a big, united family full of faith and good will. It means being part of something huge, to criticize the way things are in our country, but to be eternally grateful that we are a part of making significant changes in this place we call home.
Remember when I asked myself why a bunch of 18-year-old's would to stop living their regular lives for a whole year? This is why. Because no matter how you look at it this year: we gave our all, and we received so much more. We merited to change the perspective of children and youth at risk, to make them believe in themselves and believe they can be and do whatever they want, by knowing that the choice is in their hands. We merit to feel proud for helping a boy, who never showed respect to anyone, learn to say please, thank you, or even I forgive you and to appreciate the people in his life. And in particular we get to begin our "real life", what I waited for, for so long... I just never imagined I would learn so much about myself and our society on the way. And I never imagined I would start my "real life" with such an empowering, experiential, difficult and unique year.
