Ariel Nurieli – Garin Lahav 2016

"I've never felt more support in my life. There was an entire organisation full of motivated people, whose job was to make my life as easy as possible so that I can serve my country"

Looking back, I can say that making Aliya and joining the IDF was the easiest and best decision I have ever made. That I would make the same decision a million times over. After all, I am a better person today because of it. However, putting myself in the same shoes I was in all those years ago, a young high school graduate who had college on my mind since forever…the decision to drop it all was not so easy. Regardless of how badly I wanted to draft, I remember how stressed out I was about the whole process: do I make Aliya, should I graduate college first, do I really want to waste 3 years of my life, etc… These were my thoughts during the point that the Garin Tzabar seminars started. One seminar after the next, all my questions were starting to get answers, and my stress started to dissipate. I was no longer confused; my next steps were clear as day: hold off on college, make Aliya, and draft into the best unit I could get into. There is no time like the present. So, along with the family that was forged in the months before the move, I picked up my things and moved to Israel. I never felt more support in my life. There was an entire organization, full of motivated people, whose job was to make my life as easy as possible so that I can serve my country. And they were there for me throughout the whole journey. From the absorption period, to life on the kibbutz, to drafting, and throughout my entire service, Garin Tzabar was there in all its might. Problem, questions, help, advice… whatever it was, I definitely did not feel like a lone soldier. And of course, the friends that I lived with, eventually became my family away from home. Till today we are still in contact, and I could not be prouder. I am forever in debt to Garin Tzabar for giving me the clarity, the drive, and the support that I needed to help me make the most important decision of my life. You don’t need to make this step with Garin Tzabar, but you definitely want to.