So it turns out I am not the best of blogger in terms of updates. I think the problem is that I don’t update for a while and then I am overwhelmed with every thing that happened since my previous update and then I don’t do it. So, in an effort to combat this problem of mine, I hope to have shorter yet more frequent updates, until I get into the army anyway.

Firstly, let me start by conflicting with what I just wrote and warn that this might be a rather long update, to make up for all the time between updates, which is about two months now! For starters I am writing from New York, (actually this was written in New York but I have since returned to Israel) but don’t get alarmed I am only here for the holidays.

I guess it’d be best if I backtrack a tad and explain what exactly it is that I am doing. I am going to just explain it from the beginning because based on the questions I’ve been asked, even by people who’ve alleged they’ve read the blog, we all need a refresher course. So here goes…

My move to Israel is based on a few reasons of which I will be able to relate using words and additionally based on reasons that I am in no way capable of putting into mere words. The closest that I have come to relating the later reasons is in conversations with people who have undergone a thought process similar to mine and have consequently moved to Israel.

First and foremost, I moved to Israel because, in short, I felt like it. I say this reason first because even if I felt all the sentiments that I am about to explain to you it would be meaningless if I was unable to up and move from what has been home and actually take this big step. Additionally I say this because I encounter more people than I prefer to who are critical of my decisions and it is very difficult for them to argue with me when I say “because I felt like it”.

I grew up in a Jewish house that has always been supportive of Israel and is undoubtedly Zionist. So there was always an interest in Israel, however, this interest turned into a full fledged passion after I took my first trip to Israel with my family when I was fifteen.

I remember feeling a sense of normalcy and belonging as I traveled around Israel for the first time. I grew up in New York City so I was always surrounded by a large Jewish community; however, coming to Israel was a whole different story. I remember looking around the lobby of the hotel we were staying in and thinking to myself that not only was every patron of the hotel Jewish, but also the front desk clerks, the security, and even the people just walking by the hotel.

Upon returning to New York following my first trip to Israel I immediately began planning a return trip, but this time for much longer than two weeks. After some research I found a four month trip to Israel enabling me to complete my fall semester of junior year. In addition to learning all of my mandatory classes such as English, Math, etc, I took a Hebrew language course and a double credit history of the Israel course. The wonderful part about the history of Israel class laid in the fact that we were able to learn about a certain event in history and then visit the actual site. As I completed my semester I reached the conclusion that I had found my place and I would move to Israel upon finishing High School.

As the time counted down until I finished High School, I realized that this big “move” would entail much more that just moving. Arriving to Israel at the age of 18 with the status of a “new immigrant” obligates me to serve, just as any other Jewish citizen of Israel, in the Israeli army. It wasn’t easy relaying the message to my family that not only was I going to move 6,000 miles away but I would also have to enlist in the Israeli army.

As I planned each step of my move it dawned on me how difficult it would be to complete my army service as a lonely soldier (a soldier whose parents reside outside of Israel) but additionally how difficult the pre-army organization period would be. How could I ensure that I would be accepted into the unit I wanted? What if I didn’t understand something because a lack of Hebrew? Essentially who would help me at all the difficult stages that begin even before the army starts?

I searched to see if any groups existed that could help people like me and tried to speak with other lonely soldiers about their experiences. A friend of mine who was doing the army with the help of Garin Tzabar (she was released from the army this past August) suggested I look into the project. I think I explained what Garin Tzabar is in my previous update but I am not sure I did the best job so I’ll try again.

Garin Tzabar is a program designed to help young Jews of North American, European, and other backgrounds with their army service. Many participants have some Israeli background, although it ranges from one parent being Israeli to the participant’s family having lived outside of Israel for two years (we have someone like that in our garin). It varies largely from year to year and group to group. For example in my garin (group) there are about 20 plus kids (out of 30) who spoke Hebrew at home. We, however, are an exception because I don’t think there are normally that many Hebrew speakers.

We started the “program” in December 2007 (although I was still in Israel at the time and did not join the group until February 2008 when I came back to New York). When I say we started the program I am referring to the five seminars that each program participant must attend before moving to Israel. The goal of the seminars is to introduce the participants to the group they will be living with, have the participants get to know one another, and most importantly (from the perspective of Garin Tzabar staff) to understand the commitment each participant is about to make. Although participants live on a kibbutz for three months prior to their army service and Garin Tzabar helps with a lot of the logistics and paperwork of being drafted into the army each participant, regardless of age, must serve in the Israel Defense Forces for at least two years.

This years Garin Tzabar is made up of 160 kids split into six different garins (groups). This is the largest number of garins in a single year since the beginning of the program in the early 90’s. There is an “East Coast” Garin (my garin), a “West Coast”, a “Mid-West”, a religious garin, an “Israel” garin, and a last minute garin for kids who signed up late. The East Coast, West Coast, etc. refer to where the seminars took place.

Each Garin moved to a Kibbutz that “adopted” them. We moved to our Kibbutzim on August 14^th and live here throughout our service in the army but we have about three months together as a group before we will be drafted into the army.

This was the initial blog entry that I had written but could not access until now. I hope everything was explained clearly so I don’t have to answer the same questions again and again! And, as always, if anything was unclear don’t be shy to e-mail me with any questions.

Aaron