Michelle Bachrach – Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi 2017

“I think the great thing about Garin Tzabar is not only that is that it has helped me so much with the whole process of making Aliyah, leaving my family and friends behind and drafting into a foreign army but it has helped my family back home with the whole process too.”

Hi, my name is Michelle Bachrach originally from Amsterdam I made aliyah with Garin Zabar in December 2017 to Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi in the beautiful north of Israel. I drafted to the IDF as a lone soldier in March 2018 and am currently serving as a mashakit chinuch (Head of education) at the air defense unit as part of the Israeli Air Force.

From a young age, I knew that I didn’t want to stay in Amsterdam, but I wasn’t quite sure yet where I wanted to end up. It was actually on my gap year program in Israel that I started me thinking of staying in Israel and drafting into the army as a lone soldier.

Obviously I knew that drafting into the Israeli army wasn’t something simple that I could do on my own, so when researching my options one of my friends told me about Garin Tzabar, this amazing organization that doesn’t only help you draft and assist you in getting a good position in the army, it also make sure that you have friends and an adopted family by your side as a supporting system for you this whole time.

I cannot have been any happier going into Joining the IDF through Garin Tzabar. I have amazing new friends who also understand all the hardships I’m going through, an amazing host family who makes me feel like home where every Shabbat and an amazing coordinator who is always there to listen to all my problems and does everything in his power to help me.

I think the great thing about Garin Tzabar is not only that is that it has helped me so much with the whole process of making Aliyah, leaving my family and friends behind and drafting into a foreign army but it has helped my family back home with the whole process too.

For them to know that I’m in good hands and being taken care of at all times makes all the difference in the world. They know that there are people here that look out for me and make sure that I have every Think I need