Tuesday 12 March 2013

Decisions

Having just finished Seminar 2, here’s the update. This marks the halfway point in the preparation process; in about two months, we’ll be having our interviews with the Committee, made up of representatives from the army, kibbutz, and Garin Tzabar worldwide, who will decide whether or not we’ll be accepted to the full programme.

Me (green t-shirt), Inbar, Daryl and Jake

So as usual, on Friday I made my way down to London from Leeds. I knew that the group had increased in numbers, but I didn’t realise to what extent. We now have 24 Garin members, many from France, new additions from Amsterdam, Turkey, England – it’s a real mix of languages and countries. However, my big news is the decision I have finally made. At the end of the first seminar, I thought I would stay with the European Garin, however, after having spoken to a lot of people with experience, I’ve decided to join the Religious Garin instead. It fits better with my lifestyle, after all I am religious. It wasn’t an easy decision, especially after seminar 2. The people in the European Garin are fantastic and I get on with them so well. It’s not going to be easy saying goodbye after the Opening Ceremony when we all go off to our respective kibbutzim. But I know we’ll stay in touch and I’ll come visit them. I will be doing the rest of the seminars with the European Garin, and I won’t meet the Religious Garin until I get to Israel.

Bar, Maya, Inbar, Jordan and Nicky



So that was decision number one. This seminar made us all think about decision number two; where we want to serve. The seminar focussed on army units and army tests. The first stage of the whole army process is the Tzav Rishon. The Tzav Rishon is a day of psychometric, psychological and medical tests that determine where you can and can’t serve. That will happen in August after we arrive. At the end of the day you’re given a profile, and each section of the army requires a certain profile number. So for example, to try out for the elite Special Forces, you need to get 97 (you can schmooze your way into the tests with a good 82 as well). During the seminar we practised with a psychometric test for the Tsav Rishon. I chose to do mine in Hebrew, and it wasn't easy!

I’ve known for a long time what unit/s I’m interested in, and I do have certain ones I am aiming for. However, it all depends on my Tsav Rishon and the grade I score. At the end of the day though, I am here to serve and to give everything that I can give. So to that end I’ll be pushing myself for the most that I can give, and the best unit that I can get into.

At the end of the seminar, alongside the usual Hebrew test, we were given a psychological one too. The results of the test are passed on to the committee and the army representative. It was a timed test full of strange questions, like filling in open-ended sentences like “my mother needs...”, and being asked to draw a tree. I have no idea how anyone could psychoanalyse those answers, but I hope I’m deemed sane! Although, maybe anybody choosing to do this whole army/aliyah thing is a little insane…

Next seminar is mid-April, so I’ll update you then!