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20

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Graduation Time!

The Jewish News
will honor all Jewish
students who are
graduating this spring
from Michigan high
schools in our Cap &
Gown Yearbook 2014.
The Yearbook will be
published in our
May 22nd issue.

theJE WISHNEWS.co

IN Cap & Gown

2011

m

Cap Gown
YEARBOOK

renase a

Lone Soldiers from page 16

Even more interesting is that
Hannah chose to stay at Kibbutz
Magen after her initial integration
period was over. Again, Magen is only
a stone's throw away from the Gaza
Strip, where she would regularly work
on thwarting terrorist attacks and the
passing of illegal information as part
of her army job.
"There were certainly no boring or
dull times, ever:' she said. "We would
deal regularly with a lot of terrorist
attacks along the Gaza region at work.
I saw and dealt with information that
is classified and intense, but then I
would go home and have to live it
minute-by-minute on my kibbutz.
"I wouldn't recommend to someone
living so close to their job in the army.
It made the conflicts very real for me:'
Her first year in the army was
going very smoothly until a little bit
of homesickness hit.
"You never know what you have
until it's gone," Hannah said. "A year
into the army, I really started to miss

my family. Having people who care
so much for you, that support you, in
one place, I missed that, because the
army is not a very safe and comfort-
able environment:'
Hannah was released from the
army on Feb. 14 of this year, one
month later than her original com-
mitment. Her unit needed help so she
signed on for an extra month.
"I'm ready to start my real life and
have my individual freedom back,"
she said.
Hannah now will embark on a
journey that essentially all Israelis
do after their army service — travel.
She plans on traveling across the U.S.
before going to Scotland and Spain. ❑

Other Metro Detroiters who now serve or
have recently served as Lone Soldiers are
Josh Sider of Huntington Woods, Mikey
Soclof of Ann Arbor, Kendall Maxbauer
and Carly Rosen, both of West Bloomfield,
and Gabe Faber and Jacob Korman of
Southfield.

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18

Paratrooper Aaron Goss with his parents, Karen and Ken, at his graduation

Becoming A Lone Soldier

T

here are two main pro-
grams that offer Lone
Soldier facilitation into
the IDF. The first is the Garin
Tzabar program, which was
founded by the Friends of Israel
Scouts in 1991. Garin Tzabar
members are Jewish Americans
and/or children of Israelis living in
the diaspora who chose to move to
Israel and serve full tours of duty
in the IDF — three years for men,
two years for women.
Prior to the program, future
members begin with a series of
orientations and meetings in
their region to get a better handle
on information and to become
acquainted with other members of
their garin (group).
Upon their arrival in Israel,
the group is adopted by the Israel
Scouts and placed in a hosting

kibbutz with other soldiers of
their particular region for about
three months, where they will take
Ulpan (immersive Hebrew les-
sons), pre-army examinations, and
testing and general acclimation
into Israel. After this, they will start
their respective basic training.
The other primary facilitator,
Mahal, also offers volunteer army
service for men under age 24 and
women under age 21, older than
Garin Tzabar, where it is mostly
18- and 19-year-olds.
A primary difference between
the two programs is that all of
those in Garin Tzabar make ali-
yah and do their service; those in
Mahal are not required to become
Israeli citizens but rather volunteer
for the army and return to their
country of origin or make aliyah
thereafter and stay in Israel. ❑