Were you ever interested in joining the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), but didn’t know where to start? Nervous that you wouldn’t know have a support system while making Aliyah? Worried that you wouldn’t have friends or a family helping you through this big change in your life? If you answered yes to these questions, Tzofim Garin Tzabar is your solution.
Garin Tzabar is an army absorption program helping young adults from all over the world make Aliyah and join the IDF. It starts in or near your home town, with 4 seminars providing information about the army and Israel, and building relationships with people who are in the same boat. You attend the seminars with your Garin, in Hebrew meaning “seed” or “core”, but in this context, these are the people you will be living with when you move to Israel. The Garinim are generally based on where you live in the states, but there are many other, more specific, Garinim to join, including a religious Garin or an after-college one too. They have more than 5,000 alumni, with over 400 new participants making Aliyah and drafting every year. This is the program I participated in when I made Aliyah. I was part of the Mid-West Garin, and we met each of the four times in the outskirts of Chicago.
Garin Tzabar offers a “Pre-Ulpan” for participants who need a little extra Hebrew help (which I very much so needed), which starts in late June. This program is offered to all members of Garin Tzabar, and was a great way to meet participants from other Garinim, get acclimated to Israel, and start the bureaucracy process. After the month and a half Pre-Ulpan session, we split up into our respective garinim, and move either to a kibbutz or a New Immigrant Absorption Center all throughout the country for what’s called the Absorption Period.
I lived on Kibbutz Lahav, a kibbutz in the northern region of the Negev. During the Absorption Period, we learned all about the army (units, beret colors, different positions, ranks, etc.), our rights as Lone Soldiers (soldiers who do not have financial or emotional support from their parents, or soldiers whose parents live in a different country), and work on improving our Hebrew proficiency through an intensive 3 month Ulpan.
While on the kibbutz, you are assigned a roommate from your garin in “Beti Hachailiim” (soldier houses). Additionally, you are placed with a host family, either alone or with another member of your garin. My host family truly became like my second family, we celebrated every single Shabbat together, I went with them for all the holidays, they came with me to my draft day and all of my army ceremonies, and even met my family and friends when they came to visit. Having a second family really made my experience in Israel so special, I was never alone on holidays, I had a support system all throughout my service, and had three little ones who became my younger siblings.
In addition to all the lessons and activities put on through your garin, the army process also begins at the beginning of the absorption period – more on this next week!
If you have any questions about Garin Tzabar, making Aliyah, or anything Israel related, feel free to contact me at marti.hmdetroit@gmail.com. More info about Garin Tzabar can be found here http://garintzabar.org/.
