Hey all,
So this is going to be a very short post because it is way too late and I have to wake up way too early to go back to base. I just wanted to fill everyone in on what has happened since my last update.
As I had mentioned earlier my garin went down to Eilat, a resort city in the south, for a nice little vacation before we got drafted. It was a lot of fun and most of the garins from other kibbutzim were also in Eilat at the same time we were. We had a lot of free time to hang out, go to the beach, etc. Also we rented the big yacht type ship that slighlty resembled a pirate ship. We sailed out about half an hour from the coast of Eilat and went swimming. The view was spectacular, we saw the Jordanian city of Akabar, all of the hotels of Eilat, and some very blue water.
Anyway, last sunday I was officially drafted and was taken to the base I am going to be doing basic training at. The base is located about midway between Haifa and Tel Aviv. This is a fabulous location because most of my friend's have to go about six or seven hours south of where our kibbutz is to get to their base.
The first week has been pretty low-key because we had to fill out a bunch of forms, meet all of our officers, and get used to army life. The real basic training will start this coming Wednesday. We haven't done much this week other than standing in line ups for hours at a time, ocasionally move a bunch of rocks, and do some push-ups. Nothing too exciting.
Well I planned to write a much more interesting detailed report of what is going on but I ran out of free time and I have to go to sleep!
So, until next time!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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
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
First and foremost, I moved to
I grew up in a Jewish house that has always been supportive of
I remember feeling a sense of normalcy and belonging as I traveled around
Upon returning to
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
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
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
We started the “program” in December 2007 (although I was still in
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 “
Each Garin moved to a Kibbutz that “adopted” them. We moved to our Kibbutzim on August 14th 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
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Okay, so I guess I am not the best blogger out there. This is not entirely my fault. I don't have a laptop and sometimes I don't have internet access. I almost updated the blog the other day but then I could not access the document. I will work on posting that in a few days. For the time being let me fill you all in...
I am still living on Kibbutz Yiftach, located almost as far north as it is possible, as the time until I get drafted slowly counts down, well not so slowly actually. I went to visit New York for a few weeks during the holidays. It was very nice to see my parents and I tried to see as much of friends and family as I could. To all those who I was unable to see I am sorry and I hope it will work out better next time.
Not much has changed at the kibbutz since I moved here about two months ago, partially because not much changes on a kibbutz, let alone in two months! I got very lucky because there was hardly any work for my garin but then the second I went to New York I heard that everyone had to start working, and a lot! Then I come back to Israel and we (my garin) are preparing for the hachrazat garin, which means the declaration of the garin. We are preparing skits and movies about our three months here. The whole kibbutz, other garins, and friends and family are invited. So we are very busy but we don't have to work in the factory or anything, I guess I lucked out.
So another bonus about doing Garin Tzabar (don't worry the next post, which should have been the previous one, will fully explain what Garin Tzabar is) is that we receive soldier status before we are actually drafted into the army. This is good for a few reasons. Since we receive soldier status before we are actually drafted the two and a half years that I have to serve starts counting before we actually start our service. I was "drafted" yesterday so even though I do not start basic training until November 16th it is as if I started yesterday. Another reason is that public transportation is practically free and most bus drivers don't actually read our ID card anyway so it usually is free. Additionally the Israeli college academic year starts in November (because of all the holidays) so we are released from the army in time for the academic year. Well this can't be that interesting because I am bored writing it, but at least now you can't ask me questions about it if you claim to read my blog!
Okay, so as I said yesterday I was "drafted". What a fun day that was! (in the most sarcastic sense possible!) I was in New York when everyone from the garin was drafted on the 6th of October so me and a few other kids went by ourselves yesterday. My day started at 6:00am, what a wonderful time of day! We got a ride down to the nearest bus station at 6:45am and got there around 7:00am. It was a shame no one informed us that the bus would arrive at 7:30am. The we (me and four other kids) took a bus to Tiberias. In Tiberias is our "local" drafting office despite it being about an hour away! Already, early into the day, I realized how little sense the army used because from Tiberias we were just going to be transported to a base just north of Tel-Aviv. Why we could not have just taken a bus to Tel-Aviv is beyond me.
So my friends and I arrive at the drafting office in Tiberias at about 8:30am. There were already a bunch of other people also getting drafted who were waiting there. I guess it was practice for the army because we then proceeded to wait in Tiberias for about four hours! Luckily there was music. I enjoyed all three songs that they had! Finally they announced that we were to be leaving for Tel HaShomer (the name of the base where everyone in the country gets drafted) very shortly. It is too bad that in Hebrew "very shortly" means about forty five minutes.
We finally left for Tel HaShomer. There were a few other Americans on our bus who were also being drafted. We asked them why they didn't do garin tzabar. They were pretty vague but explained they didn't really want to live on a kibbutz. Within five minutes, my friends and I were not in the least bit disappointed that these kids did not do garin tzabar because we had just met the four most obnoxious Americans that any of us had ever met! My friends and I just wanted to sleep on the bus ride but these kids were right behind us and did not stop talking the entire bus ride. Maybe they had something good to say I would not have been so annoyed, but I have never heard such stupid conversations in my life. I recall overhearing, during one of the many times they woke me up, how one kid wanted to join Givati (a brigade in the Israeli army with a purple beret). This kid reasoned that Samuel L. Jackson is very badass and in the new Star Wars movie Samuel L. Jackson had a purple lightsaber, so he had to join Givati.
Finally, at around 1:00pm, we arrived at Tel-HaShomer. We were instructed to remove all necklaces, piercings, and put our cell phones away. Yesterday a girl from my garin and a few girls from other garins were actually drafted, as in they started basic training. All new draftees must go to the Tel-HaShomer base so once we got to there we saw the girls who were drafted and we started talking to them, which we of course got yelled at for.
After eating a lovely army lunch we began with the actual drafting process of getting immunizations, filing paper work, receiving supplies, etc. The first station was quite uneventful. We dealt with paperwork regarding our salaries. The next station however was not fun at all, at least for me. We were all waiting in line to get our army ID picture taken when a commander called over to me and told me to follow her. I realized immediately where she was going, to the barber! I don't know how many of you have seen me recently but my hair is pretty gigantic right now. Since I wasn't actually getting drafted I was not required to actually get a haircut. Unfortunately the commander didn't know what Garin Tzabar was or how I could even argue with her about a haircut! After screaming my head off, which is the only way to accomplish something in Israel, I convinced her to at least let me speak with a higher commander. Of course I made a huge scene the whole time and initially refused to follow her. I get to a higher commanders office and started to explain that I didn't need a haircut, unfortunately he also had not heard of Garin Tzabar and had no idea why I was even arguing. Luckily a General who had spoken to my garin at the seminars in New York happened to walk into the room. He asked where he knew me from and why I looked so familiar. As I explained that I was from Garin Tzabar and that I didn't need a haircut that day he began to remember and almost even called the director of my garin, who he apparently knows. The other commander, in order to avoid problems, immediately changed my status so that I would not need a haircut!
Thinking I had finished and received the proper approval I went back to have my picture taken for my ID. I was entirely wrong. The people taking the pictures did not believe that I could have approval for so much hair so I had to run back and forth again to show it was okay. Then they yelled at me because they said my hair was to messy. I tried arguing but in the end I had to take my picture with my hair pulled back in a pony-tail. At least I got to keep it! There was some other kid who had at least shoulder length hair, ten minutes later I saw the same kid with a bag and no hair.
Finally I finished with the ID and proceeded to go station to station getting x-rays, finger prints etc. I was received at each station, following the photo ID station, with the same perplexed look from the army clerks, which was followed with the same question. "How did they let you keep you hair?!?"
Anyway, once I got to the immunization station I had more arguing to do. As I said earlier, one of the commanders changed my status in order for me to not get a haircut. Unfortunately, he changed my status to the wrong one so I didn't receive the proper number of immunizations so I had to go back and forth to the office to get permission for the right shots.
I finish running back and forth between the office only to find out my ID wasn't printed out correctly so I had to run back and forth to the office once again!
Finally I finish with all of the initial processing and go to get my uniform. I get a Kitbag fool of supplies, two pairs of boots, two army uniforms. Then you go into a room to put your uniform on. When you just get drafted you are known as a tzayir (youngster) and I felt why. As you're putting on your uniform there are soldiers walking around making sure you put everything on correctly. A soldier walked by as I was tying my boots and explained that I was tying them all wrong! I didn't even know how to put on my boots! I felt so humbled as if I knew nothing at all. This feeling only worsened when I realized that in a few weeks I wouldn't be going home and I would just be totally clueless, or in Hebrew a Shockist. Shockist comes from the word shock and means someone who has absolutely no idea what is going on!
I finished tying my boots, correctly this time, and arranging my shirt and pants and glanced up at the mirror. It was weird looking at myself in the mirror with the uniform that I have only watched other people wear for so long. Finally it was me that was wearing the uniform. I felt a mixture of confusion, pride, anxiousness, and disbelief.
Once you finish putting on your uniform you exit the building and check that you have all the supplies you're supposed to in your kitbag. The people giving out the supplies could not care less about who or what they gave out. So I realized that I should probably take advantage of this opportunity. Seeing how hard it was to do things in the army I thought ahead and realized I should probably take extras! What if some where along the lines I lost something, it would be difficult to get a new one. So I explained that I didn't get this pair of shorts, that bag, and this belt. Finally, with a much heavier bag, I went upstairs to wait with the rest of the kids from Garin Tzabar to leave.
Mati, one of the kids from my garin, is from Holland. He is a character, to say the least. Anyway, unsurprisingly, he is the last one to get all of his stuff and is not finished by the time everyone else is, even me. We must've waited for at least an hour. No sign of him. Everyone who was not from Garin Tzabar began to form lines and wait to be loaded onto a bus taking them to army ulpan (Hebrew lessons during basic training), which is one of the worst places to go! A commander explained to us that we, from Garin Tzabar, also needed to line up and that we would also be going. We immediately sat down and said we weren't going anywhere until a higher commander came to talk with us. We were supposed to go home and not to some base for people who don't know Hebrew!
Everyone who had been drafted was lined up and ready to be loaded onto buses, except for us. Their commanders were yelling at them for this and that and finally we see Mati come out of the supply building, kitbag open, one pant leg tucked in, his shirt half-tucked in, very unorganized. Everyone from Garin Tzabar, to the dismay of every commander in sight, began singing, as loudly as possible, about how late Mati was. We sang to the tune of soccer chants. Immediately every commander started yelling at us to be quiet but we knew we were about to go home, now that Mati had finally showed up, so we just kept singing away!
We left the base at around 7:30pm, walked to a bus station and took a bus to Tel-Aviv. As I have tried to stress my Kibbutz is in the very, very, northern part of Israel. We caught the last bus to our Kibbutz. Unfortunately this bus made nearly every stop possible between Tel-Aviv and our Kibbutz. Believe me, Israel is a small country but there are a hell of a lot of stops between Tel-Aviv and my Kibbutz! We arrive to the kibbutz promptly at around 2:00am. Quite a day. Oh and the army is just amazing!
Alright it is pretty late and I can't concentrate enough to proof read this. For the sake of actually posting something I am going to post this as is before I lose it, don't have internet access, or any number of other things happen that prevent me from posting this. So, please pardon my lack of writing skills.
I love hearing everyone comments and questions so don't be shy now!
Although it is a little bit late, I hope everyone has a happy new year and enjoyed the holidays.
Aaron
I am still living on Kibbutz Yiftach, located almost as far north as it is possible, as the time until I get drafted slowly counts down, well not so slowly actually. I went to visit New York for a few weeks during the holidays. It was very nice to see my parents and I tried to see as much of friends and family as I could. To all those who I was unable to see I am sorry and I hope it will work out better next time.
Not much has changed at the kibbutz since I moved here about two months ago, partially because not much changes on a kibbutz, let alone in two months! I got very lucky because there was hardly any work for my garin but then the second I went to New York I heard that everyone had to start working, and a lot! Then I come back to Israel and we (my garin) are preparing for the hachrazat garin, which means the declaration of the garin. We are preparing skits and movies about our three months here. The whole kibbutz, other garins, and friends and family are invited. So we are very busy but we don't have to work in the factory or anything, I guess I lucked out.
So another bonus about doing Garin Tzabar (don't worry the next post, which should have been the previous one, will fully explain what Garin Tzabar is) is that we receive soldier status before we are actually drafted into the army. This is good for a few reasons. Since we receive soldier status before we are actually drafted the two and a half years that I have to serve starts counting before we actually start our service. I was "drafted" yesterday so even though I do not start basic training until November 16th it is as if I started yesterday. Another reason is that public transportation is practically free and most bus drivers don't actually read our ID card anyway so it usually is free. Additionally the Israeli college academic year starts in November (because of all the holidays) so we are released from the army in time for the academic year. Well this can't be that interesting because I am bored writing it, but at least now you can't ask me questions about it if you claim to read my blog!
Okay, so as I said yesterday I was "drafted". What a fun day that was! (in the most sarcastic sense possible!) I was in New York when everyone from the garin was drafted on the 6th of October so me and a few other kids went by ourselves yesterday. My day started at 6:00am, what a wonderful time of day! We got a ride down to the nearest bus station at 6:45am and got there around 7:00am. It was a shame no one informed us that the bus would arrive at 7:30am. The we (me and four other kids) took a bus to Tiberias. In Tiberias is our "local" drafting office despite it being about an hour away! Already, early into the day, I realized how little sense the army used because from Tiberias we were just going to be transported to a base just north of Tel-Aviv. Why we could not have just taken a bus to Tel-Aviv is beyond me.
So my friends and I arrive at the drafting office in Tiberias at about 8:30am. There were already a bunch of other people also getting drafted who were waiting there. I guess it was practice for the army because we then proceeded to wait in Tiberias for about four hours! Luckily there was music. I enjoyed all three songs that they had! Finally they announced that we were to be leaving for Tel HaShomer (the name of the base where everyone in the country gets drafted) very shortly. It is too bad that in Hebrew "very shortly" means about forty five minutes.
We finally left for Tel HaShomer. There were a few other Americans on our bus who were also being drafted. We asked them why they didn't do garin tzabar. They were pretty vague but explained they didn't really want to live on a kibbutz. Within five minutes, my friends and I were not in the least bit disappointed that these kids did not do garin tzabar because we had just met the four most obnoxious Americans that any of us had ever met! My friends and I just wanted to sleep on the bus ride but these kids were right behind us and did not stop talking the entire bus ride. Maybe they had something good to say I would not have been so annoyed, but I have never heard such stupid conversations in my life. I recall overhearing, during one of the many times they woke me up, how one kid wanted to join Givati (a brigade in the Israeli army with a purple beret). This kid reasoned that Samuel L. Jackson is very badass and in the new Star Wars movie Samuel L. Jackson had a purple lightsaber, so he had to join Givati.
Finally, at around 1:00pm, we arrived at Tel-HaShomer. We were instructed to remove all necklaces, piercings, and put our cell phones away. Yesterday a girl from my garin and a few girls from other garins were actually drafted, as in they started basic training. All new draftees must go to the Tel-HaShomer base so once we got to there we saw the girls who were drafted and we started talking to them, which we of course got yelled at for.
After eating a lovely army lunch we began with the actual drafting process of getting immunizations, filing paper work, receiving supplies, etc. The first station was quite uneventful. We dealt with paperwork regarding our salaries. The next station however was not fun at all, at least for me. We were all waiting in line to get our army ID picture taken when a commander called over to me and told me to follow her. I realized immediately where she was going, to the barber! I don't know how many of you have seen me recently but my hair is pretty gigantic right now. Since I wasn't actually getting drafted I was not required to actually get a haircut. Unfortunately the commander didn't know what Garin Tzabar was or how I could even argue with her about a haircut! After screaming my head off, which is the only way to accomplish something in Israel, I convinced her to at least let me speak with a higher commander. Of course I made a huge scene the whole time and initially refused to follow her. I get to a higher commanders office and started to explain that I didn't need a haircut, unfortunately he also had not heard of Garin Tzabar and had no idea why I was even arguing. Luckily a General who had spoken to my garin at the seminars in New York happened to walk into the room. He asked where he knew me from and why I looked so familiar. As I explained that I was from Garin Tzabar and that I didn't need a haircut that day he began to remember and almost even called the director of my garin, who he apparently knows. The other commander, in order to avoid problems, immediately changed my status so that I would not need a haircut!
Thinking I had finished and received the proper approval I went back to have my picture taken for my ID. I was entirely wrong. The people taking the pictures did not believe that I could have approval for so much hair so I had to run back and forth again to show it was okay. Then they yelled at me because they said my hair was to messy. I tried arguing but in the end I had to take my picture with my hair pulled back in a pony-tail. At least I got to keep it! There was some other kid who had at least shoulder length hair, ten minutes later I saw the same kid with a bag and no hair.
Finally I finished with the ID and proceeded to go station to station getting x-rays, finger prints etc. I was received at each station, following the photo ID station, with the same perplexed look from the army clerks, which was followed with the same question. "How did they let you keep you hair?!?"
Anyway, once I got to the immunization station I had more arguing to do. As I said earlier, one of the commanders changed my status in order for me to not get a haircut. Unfortunately, he changed my status to the wrong one so I didn't receive the proper number of immunizations so I had to go back and forth to the office to get permission for the right shots.
I finish running back and forth between the office only to find out my ID wasn't printed out correctly so I had to run back and forth to the office once again!
Finally I finish with all of the initial processing and go to get my uniform. I get a Kitbag fool of supplies, two pairs of boots, two army uniforms. Then you go into a room to put your uniform on. When you just get drafted you are known as a tzayir (youngster) and I felt why. As you're putting on your uniform there are soldiers walking around making sure you put everything on correctly. A soldier walked by as I was tying my boots and explained that I was tying them all wrong! I didn't even know how to put on my boots! I felt so humbled as if I knew nothing at all. This feeling only worsened when I realized that in a few weeks I wouldn't be going home and I would just be totally clueless, or in Hebrew a Shockist. Shockist comes from the word shock and means someone who has absolutely no idea what is going on!
I finished tying my boots, correctly this time, and arranging my shirt and pants and glanced up at the mirror. It was weird looking at myself in the mirror with the uniform that I have only watched other people wear for so long. Finally it was me that was wearing the uniform. I felt a mixture of confusion, pride, anxiousness, and disbelief.
Once you finish putting on your uniform you exit the building and check that you have all the supplies you're supposed to in your kitbag. The people giving out the supplies could not care less about who or what they gave out. So I realized that I should probably take advantage of this opportunity. Seeing how hard it was to do things in the army I thought ahead and realized I should probably take extras! What if some where along the lines I lost something, it would be difficult to get a new one. So I explained that I didn't get this pair of shorts, that bag, and this belt. Finally, with a much heavier bag, I went upstairs to wait with the rest of the kids from Garin Tzabar to leave.
Mati, one of the kids from my garin, is from Holland. He is a character, to say the least. Anyway, unsurprisingly, he is the last one to get all of his stuff and is not finished by the time everyone else is, even me. We must've waited for at least an hour. No sign of him. Everyone who was not from Garin Tzabar began to form lines and wait to be loaded onto a bus taking them to army ulpan (Hebrew lessons during basic training), which is one of the worst places to go! A commander explained to us that we, from Garin Tzabar, also needed to line up and that we would also be going. We immediately sat down and said we weren't going anywhere until a higher commander came to talk with us. We were supposed to go home and not to some base for people who don't know Hebrew!
Everyone who had been drafted was lined up and ready to be loaded onto buses, except for us. Their commanders were yelling at them for this and that and finally we see Mati come out of the supply building, kitbag open, one pant leg tucked in, his shirt half-tucked in, very unorganized. Everyone from Garin Tzabar, to the dismay of every commander in sight, began singing, as loudly as possible, about how late Mati was. We sang to the tune of soccer chants. Immediately every commander started yelling at us to be quiet but we knew we were about to go home, now that Mati had finally showed up, so we just kept singing away!
We left the base at around 7:30pm, walked to a bus station and took a bus to Tel-Aviv. As I have tried to stress my Kibbutz is in the very, very, northern part of Israel. We caught the last bus to our Kibbutz. Unfortunately this bus made nearly every stop possible between Tel-Aviv and our Kibbutz. Believe me, Israel is a small country but there are a hell of a lot of stops between Tel-Aviv and my Kibbutz! We arrive to the kibbutz promptly at around 2:00am. Quite a day. Oh and the army is just amazing!
Alright it is pretty late and I can't concentrate enough to proof read this. For the sake of actually posting something I am going to post this as is before I lose it, don't have internet access, or any number of other things happen that prevent me from posting this. So, please pardon my lack of writing skills.
I love hearing everyone comments and questions so don't be shy now!
Although it is a little bit late, I hope everyone has a happy new year and enjoyed the holidays.
Aaron
Friday, August 29, 2008
Kibbutz Yiftach
So I guess I owe an apology because I promised an update that was due about two weeks ago. The past two weeks have been possibly the longest two weeks of my life. In no way do I mean to say that I did not enjoy nearly every second of the past two weeks I just mean to say that I find it hard to believe that I have only been with my Garin for two weeks. As I might, or might not have, explained in the previous post the Garin goes through five seminars that explain the process of moving to Israel, living on a kibbutz for three months, and joining the army. Additionally, one of the goals of the seminar is to get to know your fellow Garin members. Many Garin members arrived before the 14th of August, when we moved to the Kibbutz, so we spent a lot of time together. It very quickly got to the point where I felt as if I had known all of my fellow Garin members for years.
Two weeks ago, as of yesterday, was the opening ceremony for Garin Tzabar 2008. I could not believe that I was finally at the ceremony. Ever since I did my fall semester of Junior Year, in 2005, in Israel I realized that I would be coming back to Israel and one day serving in the army. I spent half a year in Israel after high school and then I sat through all of the seminars of Garin Tzabar and I remember, especially at the final seminar, how much I just wanted to start the process already. Sitting in the ceremony I realized I had finally started. In the days leading up to the ceremony my friends and I started to receive phone calls from Garin Tzabar requesting that we come to their offices in order for different Israeli newspapers to interview us and take our picture. This year, with 160 kids split up into 6 different kibbutzim, is the largest group to ever do Garin Tzabar. Only a few years ago there were groups with 20-25 kids. A day or two before the ceremony I went to the Garin Tzabar offices in Tel Aviv, had my picture taken, and was interviewed by Maariv, an Israeli newspaper. The interview, and of course the entire article, was conducted in Hebrew. I could not find a copy of the article online but I will try to scan it and put it on my blog for all who would like to see.
At the ceremony there were a wide variety of speakers ranging from Army spokespeople to the head of the Tzofim (Israeli Scouts) organization, which is responsible for the Garin Tzabar program. However, each speaker essentially had a very similar message; wishing us success on our courageous step of serving in the army and moving to Israel by ourselves.
Before I knew it the ceremony was over and the huge auditorium that was already overflowing with the 160 members of Garin Tzabar, their family and friends, government spokespeople, and members of Garins of previous years, started to flow out onto the streets of Tel Aviv. To try to give an idea of the chaos I will explain that the scene that ensued was 160 kids, plus friends and family, trying to load at least 480 suitcases (at three pieces of luggage per person) onto a bus on a Thursday afternoon in Tel Aviv. Kibbutz Yiftach (my kibbutz) also adopted a Garin last year so about 10 kids from last year's Garin, who were able to get out of the army, came to our ceremony. We then started on the at least three hour drive to our new home at Kibbutz Yiftach.
We arrived to Kibbutz Yiftach at around 9:00pm and we were warmly greeted by some Kibbutz members. We made our way to our new rooms and started to unpack. Without making too much headway with unpacking we were overcome with the excitement of finally being in Israel and on our kibbutz and we soon found ourselves hanging out outside of our rooms with some volunteers and the 2007 Garin. Before we knew it, it was 8:00am and we had to meet the director of the program. We spent the day figuring out where everything on the kibbutz was, meeting people in charge of the kibbutz, and talking to one another. Although I had only met everyone a few times from the seminars by the time we got to the kibbutz it felt as if everyone was old friends and we just haven't seen each other in a very long time.
For the three months before we are drafted we have various different trips to learn about Israel, we have ulpan (intensive Hebrew classes), and work. Because the amount of time on the kibbutz before we get drafted is so short our schedule is somewhat busy. Some weekends we are allowed to leave the kibbutz and others we aren't. We spent our first weekend at the kibbutz. The on Sunday, the first day of the week in Israel, we started to organize bank accounts, cell phones, health insurance etc. On Monday we took a trip to Tiberius in order for people to sort out their Israeli I.D. cards and then we went to a nearby spring. It was very hot out but the water was refreshingly cold. I saw someone put a watermelon in the spring to keep it cold. Then I helped make a fire to cook potatoes and fresh pita. Other people made all sorts of salads and when we were finished we sat around talking and eating for a few hours. Even though everyone was exhausted from the long day we somehow had the energy to hang out in front of our rooms until way too late.
I meant to write sooner, especially since we aren't that busy, but every second I am away from my group of friends I feel as if I am missing out on something even though I know they are just sitting in front of the rooms. Later in the week we were tested and broken up into two levels of ulpan. Many of the kids in my Garin are Israeli but left at a young age so their reading and writing isn't quite up to par. I am in the higher class, with mainly Israeli kids, and then there is a lower class for people ranging from people who hardly speak any Hebrew to kids who speak fairly well but need to improve grammar.
It is a Friday afternoon and I am at my friend's house in Haifa. We are planning on going to Tel Aviv and the buses are going to stop fairly soon, because there is no public transportation on Shabbat, so I have to get going. I'll try to write another update soon.
Thank you to everyone who has been asking about me. It always helps to think about my family and friends who I care about. I'd love to hear from everyone. Have a great weekend!
Aaron
Two weeks ago, as of yesterday, was the opening ceremony for Garin Tzabar 2008. I could not believe that I was finally at the ceremony. Ever since I did my fall semester of Junior Year, in 2005, in Israel I realized that I would be coming back to Israel and one day serving in the army. I spent half a year in Israel after high school and then I sat through all of the seminars of Garin Tzabar and I remember, especially at the final seminar, how much I just wanted to start the process already. Sitting in the ceremony I realized I had finally started. In the days leading up to the ceremony my friends and I started to receive phone calls from Garin Tzabar requesting that we come to their offices in order for different Israeli newspapers to interview us and take our picture. This year, with 160 kids split up into 6 different kibbutzim, is the largest group to ever do Garin Tzabar. Only a few years ago there were groups with 20-25 kids. A day or two before the ceremony I went to the Garin Tzabar offices in Tel Aviv, had my picture taken, and was interviewed by Maariv, an Israeli newspaper. The interview, and of course the entire article, was conducted in Hebrew. I could not find a copy of the article online but I will try to scan it and put it on my blog for all who would like to see.
At the ceremony there were a wide variety of speakers ranging from Army spokespeople to the head of the Tzofim (Israeli Scouts) organization, which is responsible for the Garin Tzabar program. However, each speaker essentially had a very similar message; wishing us success on our courageous step of serving in the army and moving to Israel by ourselves.
Before I knew it the ceremony was over and the huge auditorium that was already overflowing with the 160 members of Garin Tzabar, their family and friends, government spokespeople, and members of Garins of previous years, started to flow out onto the streets of Tel Aviv. To try to give an idea of the chaos I will explain that the scene that ensued was 160 kids, plus friends and family, trying to load at least 480 suitcases (at three pieces of luggage per person) onto a bus on a Thursday afternoon in Tel Aviv. Kibbutz Yiftach (my kibbutz) also adopted a Garin last year so about 10 kids from last year's Garin, who were able to get out of the army, came to our ceremony. We then started on the at least three hour drive to our new home at Kibbutz Yiftach.
We arrived to Kibbutz Yiftach at around 9:00pm and we were warmly greeted by some Kibbutz members. We made our way to our new rooms and started to unpack. Without making too much headway with unpacking we were overcome with the excitement of finally being in Israel and on our kibbutz and we soon found ourselves hanging out outside of our rooms with some volunteers and the 2007 Garin. Before we knew it, it was 8:00am and we had to meet the director of the program. We spent the day figuring out where everything on the kibbutz was, meeting people in charge of the kibbutz, and talking to one another. Although I had only met everyone a few times from the seminars by the time we got to the kibbutz it felt as if everyone was old friends and we just haven't seen each other in a very long time.
For the three months before we are drafted we have various different trips to learn about Israel, we have ulpan (intensive Hebrew classes), and work. Because the amount of time on the kibbutz before we get drafted is so short our schedule is somewhat busy. Some weekends we are allowed to leave the kibbutz and others we aren't. We spent our first weekend at the kibbutz. The on Sunday, the first day of the week in Israel, we started to organize bank accounts, cell phones, health insurance etc. On Monday we took a trip to Tiberius in order for people to sort out their Israeli I.D. cards and then we went to a nearby spring. It was very hot out but the water was refreshingly cold. I saw someone put a watermelon in the spring to keep it cold. Then I helped make a fire to cook potatoes and fresh pita. Other people made all sorts of salads and when we were finished we sat around talking and eating for a few hours. Even though everyone was exhausted from the long day we somehow had the energy to hang out in front of our rooms until way too late.
I meant to write sooner, especially since we aren't that busy, but every second I am away from my group of friends I feel as if I am missing out on something even though I know they are just sitting in front of the rooms. Later in the week we were tested and broken up into two levels of ulpan. Many of the kids in my Garin are Israeli but left at a young age so their reading and writing isn't quite up to par. I am in the higher class, with mainly Israeli kids, and then there is a lower class for people ranging from people who hardly speak any Hebrew to kids who speak fairly well but need to improve grammar.
It is a Friday afternoon and I am at my friend's house in Haifa. We are planning on going to Tel Aviv and the buses are going to stop fairly soon, because there is no public transportation on Shabbat, so I have to get going. I'll try to write another update soon.
Thank you to everyone who has been asking about me. It always helps to think about my family and friends who I care about. I'd love to hear from everyone. Have a great weekend!
Aaron
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
I am sitting in my room in Kfar Saba and in eight days I will be moving up North, to Kibbutz Yiftach. I so guess I have a lot of explaining because I have been in Israel for a little over a month.
For starters, I live in, as I said, Kfar Saba. Kfar Saba is a city north of Tel Aviv right next to Ra'anana and one city over from Hertziliyah. I'll go one more step back to make sure we're all on the same page. However, before I do so, I would like to apologize for the various mistakes I am inevitably going to make in terms of spelling and maybe some grammar. Keep in mind I am having hearing less and less English these days and although I have been reading in an attempt to keep the quality of my English level somehow the 19th Century narration of Mark Twain, in Innocents Abroad, has not been as helpful as I had expected. So bear with me!
For starters, I live in, as I said, Kfar Saba. Kfar Saba is a city north of Tel Aviv right next to Ra'anana and one city over from Hertziliyah. I'll go one more step back to make sure we're all on the same page. However, before I do so, I would like to apologize for the various mistakes I am inevitably going to make in terms of spelling and maybe some grammar. Keep in mind I am having hearing less and less English these days and although I have been reading in an attempt to keep the quality of my English level somehow the 19th Century narration of Mark Twain, in Innocents Abroad, has not been as helpful as I had expected. So bear with me!
One Tuesday June 24th I arrived at JFK airport with a one-way ticket to Israel. I was still a little bit tired from the night before. I had some last minute packing I expected to do after a nice family dinner, however, little did I know but my friends had planned a surprise going away party. Packing had to wait until after my surprise party. Getting back on topic, I was flying with two friends from my Garin, 50-60 other olim chadashim (new immigrants to Israel) and the regular El Al customers.
Just in case I failed to explain what my "Garin" means; it is a reference to Garin Tzabar. Garin Tzabar is a program formed nearly twenty years ago by children of Israeli parents who were part of the Tzofim (Israeli Scouts in America, all activities are conducted in Hebrew) who wanted to move to Israel and serve in the Israeli army. Over the years Israelis living in North America but not affiliated with the Tzofim began to join the program. In the past few years North American Jews who were not part of the Israeli community began to hear about the program's success and they too joined the program. The idea of the program is to make aliyah (move to Israel) with a group, which will then be absorbed onto a Kibbutz. The first three months on the kibbutz consist of volunteer work and an ulpan (intensive Hebrew study course) and becoming good friends with your group. The program encourages, or forces depending how you look at it, group bonding by making every other Shabbat a "Closed Shabbat" (Closed Shabbat is an army term which means you must guard the base over Shabbat and cannot leave for the weekend). So we have a group to come back to on our free weekends and a group of friends we can depend on to help us out during hard periods of the army.
Throughout my flight it didn't quite sink in that I was moving to Israel. I thought that it was going to be much more exciting of an experience, however, in actuality it felt very normal. I had spent time in Israel from August 2007 until February 2008 working on a kibbutz doing ulpan and improving my Hebrew. When I landed and spent the first few days in Israel it felt as if I had never left! Nothing had changed hardly and when I saw friends I hadn't seen in months after no time we talking as if we had seen each other the day before.
I certainly did not remember the flight being so long! I fell asleep three times and each I awoke I could not believe how much time on the flight remained, the first time I woke up we had yet to take off.
Finally we landed and I got my first taste of Israeli bureaucracy, even though it was only a small dosage. My flight was arranged by Nefesh B'Nefesh, not to be confused with the Jewish Agency which actually arranges aliyah with the Israeli Consulate. Nefesh B'Nefesh is a private organization that encourages Jews to make aliyah by providing assistance such as clarifying new immigrant rights handling a fair load of the required paperwork, etc. It was a good thing Nefesh B'Nefesh helped out with the paperwork because it only took an hour. I have no idea, nor any inclination to ask, how long it would take otherwise.
Although I did not quite finish typing up all that I have written in my notebook and I didn't quite get as far as I expected to I think I will have to call this a first entry in order to just post it up already. Hopefully I will be able to finish writing another post or two relatively soon, however, be sure to expect a brand new post with in the next 10 days or so once I go up to Kibbutz Yiftach. There is going to be a big ceremony in Tel Aviv at Bet HaChayal. Ehud Barak, the Defense Minister, former Prime Minister, and the most decorated Soldier, is scheduled to speak.
Until then I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. I would love to hear feedback, comments, and to hear from you in general. Hill.AaronJoseph@gmail.com is my e-mail address. Additionally, it is very nice to think of all of the support (or concern!) I have from friends and family.
Aaron
Just in case I failed to explain what my "Garin" means; it is a reference to Garin Tzabar. Garin Tzabar is a program formed nearly twenty years ago by children of Israeli parents who were part of the Tzofim (Israeli Scouts in America, all activities are conducted in Hebrew) who wanted to move to Israel and serve in the Israeli army. Over the years Israelis living in North America but not affiliated with the Tzofim began to join the program. In the past few years North American Jews who were not part of the Israeli community began to hear about the program's success and they too joined the program. The idea of the program is to make aliyah (move to Israel) with a group, which will then be absorbed onto a Kibbutz. The first three months on the kibbutz consist of volunteer work and an ulpan (intensive Hebrew study course) and becoming good friends with your group. The program encourages, or forces depending how you look at it, group bonding by making every other Shabbat a "Closed Shabbat" (Closed Shabbat is an army term which means you must guard the base over Shabbat and cannot leave for the weekend). So we have a group to come back to on our free weekends and a group of friends we can depend on to help us out during hard periods of the army.
Throughout my flight it didn't quite sink in that I was moving to Israel. I thought that it was going to be much more exciting of an experience, however, in actuality it felt very normal. I had spent time in Israel from August 2007 until February 2008 working on a kibbutz doing ulpan and improving my Hebrew. When I landed and spent the first few days in Israel it felt as if I had never left! Nothing had changed hardly and when I saw friends I hadn't seen in months after no time we talking as if we had seen each other the day before.
I certainly did not remember the flight being so long! I fell asleep three times and each I awoke I could not believe how much time on the flight remained, the first time I woke up we had yet to take off.
Finally we landed and I got my first taste of Israeli bureaucracy, even though it was only a small dosage. My flight was arranged by Nefesh B'Nefesh, not to be confused with the Jewish Agency which actually arranges aliyah with the Israeli Consulate. Nefesh B'Nefesh is a private organization that encourages Jews to make aliyah by providing assistance such as clarifying new immigrant rights handling a fair load of the required paperwork, etc. It was a good thing Nefesh B'Nefesh helped out with the paperwork because it only took an hour. I have no idea, nor any inclination to ask, how long it would take otherwise.
Although I did not quite finish typing up all that I have written in my notebook and I didn't quite get as far as I expected to I think I will have to call this a first entry in order to just post it up already. Hopefully I will be able to finish writing another post or two relatively soon, however, be sure to expect a brand new post with in the next 10 days or so once I go up to Kibbutz Yiftach. There is going to be a big ceremony in Tel Aviv at Bet HaChayal. Ehud Barak, the Defense Minister, former Prime Minister, and the most decorated Soldier, is scheduled to speak.
Until then I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. I would love to hear feedback, comments, and to hear from you in general. Hill.AaronJoseph@gmail.com is my e-mail address. Additionally, it is very nice to think of all of the support (or concern!) I have from friends and family.
Aaron
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