Noy Smouha – Garin Lahav 2017

"If I had to summarise Garin Tzabar in one word, it would be "community"... we were a community in everything we did"

If I had to summarize my time in the Garin Tzabar program in one word, I would use the word “community”. From the first time we stepped foot in the Kibbutz, to our Hebrew lessons and lunch in the food hall, we were a community in everything we did. We were lone soldiers who were not alone because of Garin Tzabar and all it taught us and gave us. It taught us about the values required to become a soldier in the IDF, about the different opportunities we had throughout the drafting process and how to live with complete strangers and turn them to your closest friends. I can’t praise Garin Tzabar enough for all it gave me, including the platform to be the best soldier, and now the best citizen of Israel, that I could be.