Un dominicano en la unidad de ultraortodoxos del Ejército israelí
Amir Liberman, de 20 años, no es el primer hispanohablante que sirve en las filas del Ejército israelí, el conocido como "Tzáhal", pero desde luego sí el primero que lo hace en la brigada de soldados ultraortodoxos.
Natural de la República Dominicana, Lieberman llegó a Israel hace dos años con el objetivo de estudiar en la universidad, pero decidió unir sus destinos a los del pueblo israelí haciendo el servicio militar, compulsivo para todos los jóvenes.
"Si vine aquí es para ser como el resto de la población israelí y por eso me metí en el Ejército", afirma este dominicano residente en la ciudad de Santiago, donde -dice- "éramos los únicos judíos". Allí reside aún su familia, dedicada al cultivo y exportación a Estados Unidos de sandías y melones.
A la unidad ultraortodoxa llegó después de un curso de orientación universitaria en Jerusalén, y tras decidir que quería quedarse a vivir en este país.
En Israel, todos los jóvenes varones cumplen tres años de servicio militar obligatorio, y dos años las mujeres.
Sólo los ortodoxos están exento de ese servicio, aunque en los últimos años el Ejército israelí ha habilitado una unidad especial para dar cabida a un público que necesita unas condiciones muy particulares.
Entre ellas están las de que no hayan mujeres en la base militar en la que prestan servicio, que la comida sea "casher" (apta según las leyes más estrictas del judaísmo) y que se les permita rezar tres veces al día.
"No te obligan a rezar, si quieres lo haces y si no, no; pero a diferencia de otras unidades en ésta te dejan el tiempo para hacerlo", afirma en declaraciones a Efe.
Y agrega que en cuanto al sábado, el día de descanso para el judaísmo que los ortodoxos observan a rajatabla sin hacer el más mínimo trabajo, las condiciones en el Ejército no son como en la vida civil.
"Tenemos -explica- un permiso especial de las autoridades rabínicas para violar las leyes del 'shabat' y poder, por ejemplo, viajar en un vehículo".
Para Lieberman, que hasta los 15 o 16 años era un chico casi completamente laico, viajar en un todoterreno en sábado "le resultó un poco raro al principio", pero después -dice- "me acostumbré".
La "Torá" o primeros cinco libros de la Biblia establece el precepto del descanso absoluto desde que se pone el sol el viernes, hasta que salen las tres primeras estrellas el sábado por la noche, y en la antigüedad su violación podía ser castigada con la lapidación.
La unidad de infantería en la que sirve este joven se llama "Netzah Israel" (Israel Eterna) y su misión es la misma que tiene cualquier otra del Ejército israelí.
"Es una unidad de combatientes y salimos al terreno en patrullas y a detener a gente; si hay un terrorista que tenemos que arrestar vamos a su casa y los sacamos de allí", dice en alusión al conflicto entre Israel y los palestinos.
La unidad "Netzah Israel" tiene a su cargo el norte del valle del Jordán, una zona fronteriza del norte de Cisjordania.
A diferencia de otras unidades en el Ejército israelí, la de ultraortodoxos combina la vida militar con los estudios de religión, por lo que el último año de su servicio no lo hará Liberman vestido de soldado, sino en un seminario rabínico o en un centro de estudios superiores de inclinación rabínica.
Sobre su servicio militar dice que "no es lo más divertido porque no eres libre de hacer lo que quieres, pero también es cierto que las relaciones personales que uno establece con sus compañeros en este período, te ayudan mucho después en tiempos difíciles".
Autor: Elías L. Benarroch
viernes, marzo 16, 2007
miércoles, marzo 14, 2007
Este articulo fue publicado en The New York Daily News y trata sobre los nombres curiosos de muchos Domincanos.
The naming game
How Usnavi, Nanky and Yenifel were born
By SETH KUGEL
Nanky Garabito is named after the King. Nat King Cole, that is.
It was 1963, in the Dominican town of in the Dominican town of Cotuí, when a son was born to Emilio Garabito. The father was a big fan of an African-American singer popular on the island in those days, the sharp-dressed guy who sang "Unforgettable." He named his son in the singer's honor.
And that is how Nanky Garabito got his name. The singer's name, of course, was not Nanky Cole, but Nat King Cole. According to Nanky, who owns a tire repair shop on White Plains Road in the Bronx, his father had never seen it written before and spelled it the best he could.
It's a story many Dominicans - and Puerto Ricans and Cubans and Venezuelans and more - will laugh at knowingly.
Though the Dominican Republic has produced plenty of Altagracias and Pedros, many parents take a more creative route, anything from combining the two parents' names to making up something that sounds nice to a creative spelling that either mistakenly, or on purpose, misspells an English name or phrase.
Yes, we're talking about you, Yenifel (that's Jennifer), and you, Dervis (that's Davey, with a heavy Cibaeño accent). It's not always the parents: Sometimes a government official makes the mistake on the birth certificate.
The creative naming process has taken center stage, literally, in the new musical "In the Heights," which takes place in Washington Heights, the center of the city's Dominican community, and has gotten for the most part rave reviews from critics.
The main character is a man named Usnavi, a legendary name from the Caribbean that comes, supposedly, from expectant parents reading the word off American warships. It's not the first U.S. Navy-inspired name to hit the mainstream.
In "The Dirty Girls Social Club," a 2003 novel by Alisa Valdés-Rodríguez, one of the main characters is named Usnavys - this time, a woman.
In the real Washington Heights, Moraima López went the combination route when her daughter was born 20 years ago. She named her after both her ex-husband, Jorge, and herself. The result: Jorayma.
"We wanted to give her a uniting name, for our union," she said. "Names of human beings have power, they have their own energy." The switching of the "i" for "y", by the way, was on purpose: "Y" means "and" in Spanish, further adding to the uniting effect.
For their second child, they went with Jomalys, which she said was a character on a soap opera at the time. She also has a son named Jacob. Moraima herself claims to be named after a 1940s radionovela character in the Dominican Republic.
The rash of names has even sparked a Web site called Nombres Dominicanos Insólitos (Unusual Dominican Names), which can be found at jose.llibre.googlepages.com/nombresdominicanosinsolitos. The page lists more than 11,000 names that are supposedly real. Just the "A" page has 1,124, including Abelarminio, Adovincula and Ayxindry.
Meanwhile, in the Bronx, after 44 years, Nanky Garabito takes pride in his name and in the story behind it. He also delights in people's confusion and double takes. "It seems like a name from some other country that's not Hispanic," he said.
So one would think that Nanky would bring the creative naming process to the next generation, perhaps naming his son Steen or Vono. But he didn't, and his business, named for his son, is the proof: Mike Flat Fix. (No word on what happened to the apostrophes, but that's another story.)
The naming game
How Usnavi, Nanky and Yenifel were born
By SETH KUGEL
Nanky Garabito is named after the King. Nat King Cole, that is.
It was 1963, in the Dominican town of in the Dominican town of Cotuí, when a son was born to Emilio Garabito. The father was a big fan of an African-American singer popular on the island in those days, the sharp-dressed guy who sang "Unforgettable." He named his son in the singer's honor.
And that is how Nanky Garabito got his name. The singer's name, of course, was not Nanky Cole, but Nat King Cole. According to Nanky, who owns a tire repair shop on White Plains Road in the Bronx, his father had never seen it written before and spelled it the best he could.
It's a story many Dominicans - and Puerto Ricans and Cubans and Venezuelans and more - will laugh at knowingly.
Though the Dominican Republic has produced plenty of Altagracias and Pedros, many parents take a more creative route, anything from combining the two parents' names to making up something that sounds nice to a creative spelling that either mistakenly, or on purpose, misspells an English name or phrase.
Yes, we're talking about you, Yenifel (that's Jennifer), and you, Dervis (that's Davey, with a heavy Cibaeño accent). It's not always the parents: Sometimes a government official makes the mistake on the birth certificate.
The creative naming process has taken center stage, literally, in the new musical "In the Heights," which takes place in Washington Heights, the center of the city's Dominican community, and has gotten for the most part rave reviews from critics.
The main character is a man named Usnavi, a legendary name from the Caribbean that comes, supposedly, from expectant parents reading the word off American warships. It's not the first U.S. Navy-inspired name to hit the mainstream.
In "The Dirty Girls Social Club," a 2003 novel by Alisa Valdés-Rodríguez, one of the main characters is named Usnavys - this time, a woman.
In the real Washington Heights, Moraima López went the combination route when her daughter was born 20 years ago. She named her after both her ex-husband, Jorge, and herself. The result: Jorayma.
"We wanted to give her a uniting name, for our union," she said. "Names of human beings have power, they have their own energy." The switching of the "i" for "y", by the way, was on purpose: "Y" means "and" in Spanish, further adding to the uniting effect.
For their second child, they went with Jomalys, which she said was a character on a soap opera at the time. She also has a son named Jacob. Moraima herself claims to be named after a 1940s radionovela character in the Dominican Republic.
The rash of names has even sparked a Web site called Nombres Dominicanos Insólitos (Unusual Dominican Names), which can be found at jose.llibre.googlepages.com/nombresdominicanosinsolitos. The page lists more than 11,000 names that are supposedly real. Just the "A" page has 1,124, including Abelarminio, Adovincula and Ayxindry.
Meanwhile, in the Bronx, after 44 years, Nanky Garabito takes pride in his name and in the story behind it. He also delights in people's confusion and double takes. "It seems like a name from some other country that's not Hispanic," he said.
So one would think that Nanky would bring the creative naming process to the next generation, perhaps naming his son Steen or Vono. But he didn't, and his business, named for his son, is the proof: Mike Flat Fix. (No word on what happened to the apostrophes, but that's another story.)
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