Welcome to the Holy-Land

A little over three weeks have passed since I left the comfort of the USA and headed to Israel to start a new part of my life. I'm not starting this new journey in life alone. I'm part of a group of 32 people who are returning from the States to Israel to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) just like me. We're ages 18 - 24 and about half male half female. The group is through the Israeli Scouts Movement and is called Garin Tzabar. My group is called a 'garin'. I figured that enough time has gone by that an update was in order so here it is, my first shot at writing a blog...

- - Officially Returning to Israel - -

In all honesty, I don't think it has quite hit me yet that this is for real. To some degree it still feels like a regular yearly vacation that I've been used to taking in Israel. Sometimes when I think about the people and places I've said goodbye to in the States it hits me that the next time I'd possibly be able to see them is probably sometime next May or June during one of the "special" vacations I get from the army as a "lonely soldier" (a soldier whose parents are not in Israel while they are serving in the army). Only then does it seem real.

- - Israeli Bureaucracy - -

As soon as I disembarked from the El Al airplane in Tel Aviv on June 25th, the lengthy process of dealing with Israeli bureaucracy began. Israeli government offices and institutions are notoriously known for being slow, drawn out, and known for their love of sending you in circles. My flight was filled with 50 other singles and families making Aliyah (moving to Israel). When we got off the airplane we were sent straight to the Ministry of Immigrant Affairs which has an office in the airport. Most of the 50 people got their first government subsidy and immigrant cards but since I was not technically a new immigrant I was given a phone number and instructions to call it. I called but the person on the other end of the phone didn't know why I was calling and gave me another phone number. After a few more rounds of this I had an appointment set with the Immigration Ministry in Tel Aviv. I was told that before I went for my appointment, I'd need a bank account. I went to the bank the next day and was told that before I could have a bank account I would need a national I.D. card. Before I got an I.D. card I would need a letter from the army. I figured the best bet would be to go to the army and ask for some sort of paper or note stating that I haven't been running away from my service since I was 18.

The army didn't necessarily agree with this assessment from the start and was wondering where I'd been for the past 5 years. I explained to them but they didn't really want anything to do with me. They said that my "file" was being overseen by the recruitment office in Tveria (in the North). I pretended like I didn't know where that was (since it was inconvenient for me and 2 hours away) and asked them to try and take care of this here in the Tel Aviv area. I was told to wait and as minutes turned into hours wasn't too sure what was going to happen. I called the Garin Tzabar office here in Israel and explained to them what was going on and they said they'd make a few calls and get back to me. They called back 10 minutes later and said that within the next 10 minutes I'd be all set. Surely enough 10 minutes later an army representative came out of the office and gave me the letter I had been seeking. Lesson from this: having connections in Israel doesn't hurt.

From there I was able to setup a bank account, get my national I.D. card and number and also my immigration papers setup including my subsidy of 1500 shekels a month for the first year. I also got a new cell phone (pretty sweet little Nokia device) and managed to setup health insurance (this was almost as frustrating as the army process and took over 2 weeks to setup). The last thing I'm waiting for now is to convert over my driver's license. In order to do this I need to take one driving lesson with a teacher, have an eye exam and physical, and pass a driving exam.

- - Timeline of What is to Come - -

Right now I am living with my grandparents in Givataym which is a suburb of Tel Aviv.

August 14th - Move to a Kibbutz in Northern Israel with my 'Garin' group (32 youths).

Mid-September - The process of becoming a soldier begins. This includes physical, psychological and intellectual tests which will determine much about my service in the IDF.

Early November - Draft date into the IDF. Basic Training begins and will last between 4 - 8 months (again depends on what I'll be doing in the end).

- - Prisoner Exchange with Lebanon - -
Probably the biggest piece of news to happen while I've been here has been the prisoner exchange with Lebanon which happened this past Wednesday 7/16. A good summary of the deal can be seen here: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gGxpzWERVNq09cHSTuA2GNHHsB3QD91V6IV00

Around the country, there have been a lot of mixed feelings about this deal and what it means and such. For myself it is also difficult to exactly determine what emotion I am feeling. Not having done the exchange would have left questions as to what happened to the soldiers and would have been difficult on their families. I think the best way to look at it is the way the President of Israel did. He said "...if the heavens asked me to which people I would rather belong, the people in mourning over the deaths of two of its soldiers or the people rejoicing gin the return of a craven murderer whose mark of Cain can never be erased, then the answer is clear."

I would most certainly agree with him on this.


Coming up in the next few days...my social life in Israel and what else I've been up to when not running around the bureaucracy circles.