The weekend started with a relatively normal drive home and a visit to my old high school. What followed became a few of the most unforgettable days of my life. I anticipated it being something unique, an experience unlike any I've had before. I knew that the people I would meet over the next few would be the the same people I gradually developed friendships with before living with them throughout the duration of our army services. What I didn't anticipate was how quickly the first step came to fruition and the enormous amount of respect I'd develop for each and every one of them in the short time we spent together.
The program started as any seminar or conference usually does, with a half an hour of awkward interaction between new acquaintances. That changed quickly as the scheduled activities actually kicked off. Within an hour, we were all getting to know each other. My first impressions were slightly marred by my prior expectations of who these new friends would become in the future as well as my nervous excitement to finally start what I'd been looking forward to for months, but nonetheless, they proved to be mostly accurate. I could tell from the start that most of the kids doing this program were mature beyond the level of many their age and would be fantastic people to get to know.
While ice breakers and friendly group discussions comprised the beginning few hours of the seminar, the staff had clearly done this many times before. All they needed to do was ask one question to have the entire group deep into intimate discussion, opening up to one another like we had been best friends our whole lives. A discussion of why each person made their decisions to go to Israel gave me a rare glimpse into the minds of my peers. I developed so much respect for each one of them as I heard about the sacrifices they are making to serve the State of Israel. I became so proud of each one of them as well as for my country. Everyone has a different reason to go to Israel, but they all understand the importance of the nation and what it means to them. It instilled that thought in me that no other country in the world can inspire such a diverse group of people to make such massive sacrifices in their lives in order to serve it.
Never before have I considered peers I've only known for half a day to be close friends of mine. These exceptionally mature kids became just that and I look forward to each and every day I'll be able to spend with them in the future.
As a small note, I'd like to point out that the seminar was run entirely in Hebrew. I'm still far from fluent, so this proved to be quite challenging for me, but I found that by paying very close attention and with the help of some of the others in the group, I was able to fully understand what was being said. My Hebrew will definitely continue to improve during the time I spend with the Garin in the future.
So what's next on the road for us?
From now until the end of March will be quite an important time period in the process of making Aliyah and continuing our program. Besides for the usual continuation of physical training as well as sharpening our Hebrew skills, we'll be having our interview with the Jewish Agency in the beginning of March. For those of you who don't know what the Jewish Agency is, it's basically the organization in the United States that facilitates the move to Israel. Of course, this is after extensive paperwork and the interview process, at which point we're approved (hopefully!) and issued a free plane ticket to Tel-Aviv. There are plenty more benefits given to new Olim (immigrants), but that's a post for another day. After our interview, we'll have another Garin Tzabar seminar in the middle of March and should be hearing at some point whether or not we're approved for Aliyah. It's most likely going to be a very interesting two months. I'll keep you posted!
-Brett
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