1876 1776

I told you that our madrich at Paduel, Tzviker really looked out for us. He did something right after Oded left that made me kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. He called up Machon Meir, and asked about a group of around "half a dozen British men that were to be coming to the yeshiva." (Well, he said t in Hebrew, but that's how he told us afterwards.)

They of course had all the details on us, they told us all of BA's plans for the group, etc. It was apparent that this was the one whole in the wall BA had forgotten to cover. I was elated. We had cracked the code, and we were all going to a legitimate place.

I quickly realized that not everybody was so thrilled to go, and it was an all or nothing deal. They had come to like the incredible laziness of Paduel, and were reluctant to give it up. A quick vote showed that only Benjy Brazil and I wanted to go. Ironically enough, we were the only two who didn't mind Paduel at the beginning.

There's this play called 1776. It's a very cute musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The play shows how John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were able to get the members of the Continental Congress to go from barely half supporting freedom, to the needed unanimity.

The fight was basically between me, saying that we should go and take the opportunity, and my roommate, Robbin, who had just gotten used to the easy life of Paduel, and wanted to stay. Surely, he said, you wouldn't make everybody apply, then be forced to either go to this yeshiva, or go to work on the kibbutz, when the majority of the group wanted to stay where they were. I pointed out that they were staying out of pure and simple sloth, and that I wasn't about to support an incorrect majority. He said that it was the point of democracy. He admitted it was laziness, but he had the numbers, so the minority of a democracy has to listen to the ruling of the majority.

In school, I had learned that it is the role of a minority to convince the majority.

RobinMichael
62

So I went out and convinced, and got supporters. I reminded David that he had fought to stay at the last place, and this was an even better place. He had been in a moody nonchalance the whole time, and came around when he finally realized what was happening. I reminded Benjy Fields that his girlfriend was in Jerusalem. I reminded Benji Lanscrom that he had family in Jerusalem that he could depend on. (Benji L. has severe learning disabilities, and cerebral palsy, so he relies on family and friends of the family a great deal.) I told Joseph we'd get better food. I pointed out to Guy that he was leaving in two weeks, so could he at least give me a hand in making Robbin wrong?

Score:
RobbinMichael
17