Some 350,000 Israelis have been called up to reserve duty since the start of the war, in what has been the largest mobilization in the country’s history. These are people who were plucked out of their homes, families and daily lives, and inserted into a totally different world, one which is in most cases — just to add to the confusion — a mere car ride away. And those transitions back and forth, between the craziness of the frontline and the veneer of normalcy at home, can be dizzying and unsettling. We’re hearing more and more about that juxtaposition now that large numbers of reservists are being released from their service and are returning to their regular lives.
One of them is Noam Tsuriely from Jerusalem. Noam’s a rapper who recently put out his debut album and had, pre-war, a string of big-time gigs lined up. He was summoned for reserve duty on October 7, and has spent most of the last four months in Gaza. We spoke to him just as he came out of Gaza and began his readjustment to civilian life.
The end song is Kshenetse Mize (“When We Get Out of This”) by Noam Tsuriely, Shachar Nahari, and Eyal Mazig.
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