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The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Hebrew school students at Temple Sholom in Bridgewater experienced what it is like to go through basic training in the Israeli army on Feb. 4.

Amit Shuker, a former officer in the Israel Defense Forces, taught the children basic commands, discipline, and ran the children through an obstacle course.

"The goal of the program is to teach the kids about Israel and the Israeli army, to experience what Israelis do in the military, and to experience Israeli culture," he said.

The program started with the children forming the Hebrew letter chet without talking or pointing. Shuker said in the army soldiers must always be standing in straight lines either in the chet formation or in lines of three facing their commanding officer.

Shuker said one of the most important things in the Israeli army is discipline, because if soldiers are not disciplined they will be punished.

The children also learned in Israel the Israeli army is called the Israel Defense Forces and in Hebrew it is called Tzva HaHagana l'Yisra'el. Shuker said an Israeli soldier salutes an officer with his right hand, and only his right hand. Everything done in the army must be correct, he said.

"In the military you need to be at the exact place at the exact time," Shuker said. "It's not a competition of who's doing it faster, but doing it better the correct way."

The children also were able to experience a model of an Israeli army ropes course. They had to crawl under chairs as if they were in the army -- and they had to learn to crawl the proper way.

"You have to learn how to crawl like the military and push with your legs and feet," Shuker said. "If you try to push with your arms you will get tired very quickly."

Teacher Debbie Brown, of Highland Park, said she liked the program because it taught the children basic discipline and gave them an insight to the Israeli army.

"I think they had fun," Shula Leviner, of Mount Olive, said. "The discipline is good for them."

The students said they enjoyed the program and learned a great deal about discipline and the Israeli army. Also, they were able to learn Hebrew words that they didn't know.

"It was fun and I'm surprised how serious the army is," Jess, a 5th-grader from Bridgewater, said. "The crawl specifically."

Jana, a 5th-grader from Bridgewater, said the program was fun; however, she didn't realize how strict the army was.

"I didn't know that if they did anything wrong, they'd get in trouble," she said.

Ben, a 4th-grader from Basking Ridge, said he usually fools around and has fun, but he learned the army is very tough.

"It was really fun and I didn't know how to say Israel army in Hebrew, now I do," Dale, a 5th-grader from Bridgewater, said.

Shuker grew up on a kibbutz Givat Hashlosha, in a town a half-hour from Tel-Aviv. He played point guard for the Maccabi Tel-Aviv basketball cadet and youth teams and played one year of division one basketball in Israel. Shuker came to America six years ago, because he received a basketball scholarship to attend Kean University. He is currently engaged and living in Bloomfield.