Yom Pekudah-Being There

Once I got in to the village, I started walking around. It was like a carnival, people everywhere, selling things, people laying on the grass, playing sports, etc. Ta Katom had set up activities for children in one area, there were speeches throughout the day, shiurim, and everyone was just hanging out, waiting for it to cool off before the march. I met up with my old Yeshiva, Maale Adumim, a lot of my army buddies were there, we had shiurim from one of the Rabbaim. I heard that some of the guys from my Yeshiva were part of the soldiers on the outside keepin us in, but they had asked to guard the gear in the back so they wouldnt be a part of it all. At 430 we had a big meeting, with speeches and singing, and it just got boring so I went to the entrance to see what was going on. The entrance was crowded, cops were massed on one side, orangies on the other. I started walking around the fence, everywhere kids were cutting it, and cops were lining up by the holes, arm in arm, to make sure no one got out. As I was walking, one of the soldiers yelled my name. I look up, and its my friends from the army! My hesder group was all inside, and the rest of the unit was outside. Very creepy. My commander was there, now promoted to an officer. I had a nice long talk with them, none of them wanted to be there, they wanted to do something real, they wouldnt refuse orders, but they definitely wouldnt put any effort into fulfilling them. As the night went on, more people kept coming in, the cops kept trying to stoo them from coming in, is from leaving, and it was all just balagan. But it was very clear we werent going to continue the march. At around 8, I left the village, they were letting people out one by one, occasionally, and went to were my friends were stationed. At 9, nothing had changed, so I went home.