When the Garin Becomes Home

This weekend was the penultimate preparatory seminar for Garin '13. Well, really it was the last preparatory seminar, given that the next one's focus is on the interview with the Committee (I'll come to that in a bit).

The focus of this third seminar was on kibbutz life, especially in the absorption period from August 14th until our draft date in November. We were meant to find out which kibbutz it's going to be, but, in typical Israeli manner, the date of us finding out has been pushed back. The Garin has grown to 28 members with some new editions from France, Amsterdam and the UK. We were told that ours is the most multi-cultural European Garin they've ever had. Absorbing the new members took no time at all, and by the end of the seminar I had to remind myself who had recently arrived and who had been there since seminar 1.

On Friday we carried on with some more group-bonding games and exercises, and the next day we focused on the Garin and kibbutz life. We were introduced to a rough plan of what each week might look like: working on the kibbutz, ulpan, physical prep for the army, trips around Israel, a week on Gadna (!) and army tests. It sounds like an intense 3 months. Given the intensity, we ran through scenarios that might cause frictions within the Garin, and discussed ideas of how to rectify them. It was at that moment that I felt my age, having had to deal with many of those situations on my gap year and at University.

Another major focus was on the Committee interviews. Next seminar there will be a panel that come and interview us one-on-one (or five-on-one actually). The Committee consists of an army representative, the kibbutz co-ordinator, a representative from Garin Tzabar worldwide, and our seminar co-ordinators. Each one is looking for a certain thing, and each will be seeing if we fit their criteria. It's worth noting that you're not formally accepted into Garin Tzabar until you pass this interview (so I hope I'll be able to write the next blog post!). The interview will be in hebrew, or as much hebrew as each person can do. So this month I'll be focusing on the appropriate vocab.

As I said, by the end of the seminar I couldn't easily tell apart those who had just arrived to the Garin and those who had been there since the beginning. I can see how quickly the Garin becomes your home.

One last thought for this post: a few people asked me why I hadn't written something around Yom Hazikaron/Yom Ha'atzmaut (Day of Remembrance of Fallen Soldiers/Independence Day). I think I'll wait until next year when, please G-d, I'm wearing the uniform of the IDF, with an Israeli I.D. card in my pocket and serving my country.

The fourth and final seminar is in a month, and until then I have lots of forms to fill out and an interview with the Jewish Agency to get my Aliyah visa. More on that next time.

Garin '13 משפחה לכל החיים

(Very Limited) Advice

Seeing as it's almost 4 months until my aliyah date, I thought I'd share some of my limited advice for anyone considering taking the plunge. Here's a checklist:

• Talk to people - talk to anyone and everyone who has anything to do with Aliyah/the army/Garin Tzabar to help you with your decision.
• Call your local Shaliach - speak to the Jewish Agency Shaliach in your area, or the head office in London. You might end up speaking to a few unnecessary (and confused) people in the process, but call the Shaliach and they'll put you through to the organisers of Garin Tzabar.
• Interview - you'll have an informal interview with the organisers (I had mine on the phone).
• Research - research everything you possibly can about the army/aliyah. I've personally found it really useful to know details before the seminars. Though the seminars are of course there to relate the information, some bits are a bit confusing. It's always good to be one step ahead of the game. Useful things to know are a) units/structure of the army b) rough dates of the whole process c) financial benefits you receive from the government, the army, and agencies, for being an Oleh Chadash (new immigrant) and Chayal Boded (Lone Soldier) (these are a bit confusing).
• Register with Nefesh b'Nefesh - this can be done online. Nefesh b'Nefesh have a support programme for Lone Soldiers, and you can receive a grant from them. You might as well sort that out while you've got plenty of time. 
• Learn Hebrew - I haven't seen what it's like if you do or don't learn it at this point, but you might as well, and they always tell you to work on it.

As I said, I'm reaching the 4-month mark until my aliyah, and it's around 7 months until my draft date (my research tells me it should be November 24th). We just commemorated Yom Hashoah, the Jewish memorial day for the Holocaust. This picture did the rounds on Facebook that day.

To be a part of the rebirth of a people is a total honour for me. I like to think that whenever things might get difficult for me, be that in tests, training or service, I will cast my mind to images like these.

The third and penultimate seminar is coming up, so will update you then.