לשכת גיוס (IDF Recruiting Office)

I'm on my way to being a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, צבא הגנה לישראל, IDF.

My first step in joining the IDF is to:
1. Get a draft letter, a year after my Aliyah
2. Go and sign up before a year.

So I went with Option number 2. לשכת גיוס


I left early in the morning and reported to the office in Haifa, my local branch. I was with another Ulpan member and we went together. We got to the front, a line to get into the building. We gave the guard our Tudet Zahut, ID Card, and they entered it into the computer and gave us a temp army card.


*OK, so I am thinking this is just a trip to talk to a guy in a office for 20min, tell him we want to go sooner than we get our draft papers, he takes our info and we leave.


They told us to go to a room on the 3rd floor. Not too much info... Well we get up there and see about 15 people waiting outside the room with about 20 desks, all already full. We find out that we have to scan our temp card onto the computer just outside the door. I pop as number 18 in line. Great, seems like it should go fast... Well after about of an 1:30min, I get called into the room and sent to one of the 20 desks. I wait about another 20 mins for a soldier to show up. She first speaks to me only in Hebrew and refuses to speak English. I have no clue what is going on now. I could speak enough Hebrew to get through all the personal questions about my ID and general family info. I think this is it, but I wanted to speak english to make sure I said everything right, because she was giving me a funny look. She says she can't speak English to me, but I don't understand. She goes and gets her boss and then the women over comes over and speaks to me in Hebrew, almost quizzing me on my understanding of Hebrew and leaves after a 5min conversation. Then I wait about 20min for my soldier that was interviewing me. She comes back and says we can talk in English now. We go over my family info and I guess she was looking at me funny because I guess I said that my brother was dead. This is a big deal because, if you have a dead sibling and are then the only child, your choices in the Army are greatly reduced, no front line units. Well we finish the info about me and I think I'm done.


My soldier leaves for about 10 mins and then comes back and starts asking me Hebrew questions. I have no clue why at this point, but it turns out that this is now my Hebrew Test to enter the IDF. So much for just a visit to tell a guy that I want to join early... I begin to think that this is going to take a lot longer that I expect. I see a female soldier I know, she is the girlfriend of a guy in my ulpan and her sister lives on my kibbutz. She tells me not to worry, that all of this is standard of English speakers in Ulpan. Good.


Then another soldier comes and asks me more hebrew test stuff. Then the other soldier comes back to finish the test. It went really bad, I hardly understood what I was reading and writing, but I could read well and I could speak very basically. After the test, she asks me if I have ever learned another language. I said I learned German for four years of High School credit and two years worth of college credit. I said that I could read it and know very little of what it was saying and that my speaking was very basic. I hope this will not become a mistake later on in my service....???


We finish everything, as I think, she tells me that I need to go to room downstairs and go my pee test. I walk down the stairs, then she comes running after me and takes me about to her desk. She forgot to have me sign a paper and fill out a psycho questionnaire...This was the weirdest thing I had to do the whole day. Questions like to you feel different that others? Do you ever experience a gay mood, feel Happy for more than a day or two? Not Gay, Happy, very old questionnaire. The thing was that most of the questions seemed negative and you could answer, Never, Rarely, Sometimes, or often. I signed the office draft agreements. I can be called up now anytime, I can't leave Israel for more than 3 months, I will take an IQ test...ect.


Then I leave and go and take my pee test. 5 min quick and I was giving a medical sheet with an OK for the pee test and sent to another room. I go in the room they do blood pressure, height, and weight. They asked about my eyes, I told them I have glasses and contacts... well the eye doctor is not there. I have to come back another time or get an official eye exam at my own expense and fax it to them. Then they send me to the medical doctor. Guess what? A big line, all the same people in front of me in the first line. While waiting I find out that we get a free sandwich. Yay, the first thing I get to eat all day. I wait another hour and get called into the doc's office. They do a quick physical and ask about my past medical history and anything that could limit my service. It took about 20 mins. Now this is where I should have got my profile for duty. *Profile is how the IDF sees what you are fit to do in service. 97 being the highest number and what I hope to get. Well I don't get a profile because I still need to do my eye exam. My eye sight should not hurt my score, but I am disqualified from being a pilot, which I can't go anyways.


Then they send me to another room to have my IQ test. I wait for 45 mins and then get called into to do the test on a computer. They explain it to me. Time limit and shapes... It was really crazy, a bunch of patterns with shapes and I had to pick which shape I thought would be next. It was very hard and I didn't get to the last two questions...yikes... Well they don't tell you how you did, because as they said to my friend they want to be nice and not tell you if your dumb. After this they tell me I'm done with all the processes and that in a few weeks or months I will be contacted by the IDF to get what jobs I'm qualified for and what I would like to do in the IDF. btw, I don't know yet, what I want to do...


*Point of Info: Most soldiers in the IDF are 18-21. Most of the soldiers working at לשכת גיוס are female about about 20.


Well I wait for another hour for the other guys from my Ulpan I'm with. It is now six hours later. I only had a shitty sandwich and nothing to drink and I only slept four hours the night before, because of the Broncos game. I am still sick btw, so this day hasn't been very nice to my body. I have a killer headache and want to get some sleep. Now I'm not the biggest fan of the other guy I'm with and now I have to travel back to the kibbutz with him. Not my idea of fun.


Well it takes about 1:45 mins to get back, bad traffic.


I went to bed at 8pm til midnight, woke up for a few hours, and then slept until I was very ruedly awoken at 7:30am. Oh NO! I and my two roommates totally slept though three alarm clocks and we forgot that we had to be at the dining room at 7am because the whole ulpan was leaving on a bus to Tel Aviv at 7:30 for a tour of a museum.


Well more later, hope you enjoyed my first army experience.

I'm making Aliyah!!!

This is a letter to all my friends, especially many of those that have made an impact on my life; I hold all of you dear and close. I want to start off with an apology; Sorry that I didn’t tell you or send this message earlier. I have many reasons to as why I’m telling you now, mostly so that I could make absolutely sure that I was making the biggest decision, thus far in my life, on my terms and to make sure I was going to stick with the decision.

Over the past two years, I have been contemplating moving to Israel and even perhaps making Aliyah. I have been doing quite a bit of research and planning recently for a move to Israel. My draw to Israel is intense and everything leading me to Israel has been falling into place. I feel as if Aliyah is my next step in life. My Job came to an end, my housing contract is up, and I have held some important roles on campus to leave a mark. I still have three semesters left of college, but I am really not enjoying my degree. Its not the people.

In January, I began my application through Nefesh B’Nefesh, a great and very helpful Aliyah agency. I feel as if I am being called to Israel. This is a very critical time for Israel, and my greatest contribution can be to immigrate and defend the Jewish state. If I plan to start a career in Israel, there are many benefits to going to college there. I have already met a vast amount of descent from my teachers, friends, and mentors. All of them keep telling me to stay in school and just get a degree. There influence did affect me and I really tried to make plans to stay in school, but affording living expenses here is getting difficult without my campus job…leading me to really start working on my Aliyah application, to plan for my future.

Just a few weeks ago I was in New York City and met with an Aliyah advisor from the Jewish Agency. This means that I was approved for a grant and fight from Nefesh B’Nefesh. At the Jewish Agency I had an interview, to make sure that I wasn’t just jumping without a plan. I passed and got approved to make Aliyah! My visa is on the way and the next step is to get on the free flight. I will be finished at camp on August 17th and driving to NYC for the night. *Big party to come. On the morning of August 18th, I will be going to JFK with a one-way ticket to Israel. *Big welcome ceremony at the Tel Aviv Airport. So yes, I won’t be coming back to Colorado…

My current plan is that I will spend a few days at some friend’s houses and travel a bit until my Kibbutz Ulpan begins August 28th. *If you would like me to visit you, let me know. I’ll then be traveling to Kibbutz Ramat Yochanan, just a few miles outside of Haifa. It’s a really beautiful place with mountains and a beach near by. The Ulpan is five Months and then I plan to fulfill my two-year service in the Israeli Defense Force. After the IDF, Israel will pay for me to finish my education. Letting me search for a job soon after, without an interruption for having to go back to the Army for the two year period.

So once again, I’m so so Sorry for just leaving and not really telling you my plans. I really didn’t know that I was 100% going to make Aliyah when I left Boulder. I will try my best to stay in touch and feel free to write and call whenever you can. I will miss you and please come to visit sometime in Israel.

With much love,

Tzvi Darling (AKA, Jeremy)

The Decision

I have bought a ticket to Israel and I'm going to go live there for awhile. I really need a break and I need to go do something for myself as well. CU is a great place and I love Boulder and the people here in my life. I also love Israel very much, as I have the Jewish connection. Some of my best friends live in Israel. The Israelis I have met are from Taglit (Birthright 2007) Soldiers, Camp Staff '07/'08, campers (Camp CPLV), and the other random and sweet Israelis in Colorado. My experiences in Israel are some of the most meaningful and important experiences I have lived, thus far in my life.

Leaving CU has been a decision I have not taken lightly. Yes, I know that its stupid. "Why Don't you just Graduate first?" "Why give up what you have here?" "Where are you going to be most effective?" "You can move there after you graduate..." "You have to have a degree, to go far in life..." blah blah blah, I have heard it all. *For those that don't know, I have almost made Aliyah twice in the past 2 and half years.* I wasn't ready then, I didn't have a plan, I just almost got up and left. It was not right at the time and I did play a ton with all the advice from friends, mentors, and family.

So why is the third time, the right time? Well I have a plan, I have a pull to Israel and I can't resist it any longer. I am not making Aliyah, but going for three months to learn Hebrew in Ulpan (Hebrew School) and then I am volunteering in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for 10 to 16+ Months, thru Mahal. I will be a full Solider serving along side Israelis, as an American. After the service, I will enjoy all the benefits of a discharged solider. My steps after the IDF is still up in the air, but currently I plan on returning to CU Boulder and finish up my degree, maybe theatre or get one of the 1st degrees from the Jewish Studies Program (That would be exciting!). I have a ton of options and I might stay in Israel and finish a degree there.

--Next Blog, Deciding what Ulpan to Study at: