First off, kol ha kavod (all the respect) and best of luck to you! You are embarking on a experience of a lifetime. It will certainly be hard and difficult, to say the least, but you can do it. If you don't know where to begin to enlist or how to proceed, you've come to the right page. My posts, I hope, give a very full and illustrative depiction of how I joined. Here, I'll give you the essentials.
Over the past year, people/readers have contacted me asking questions, seeking information and advice on how to join. Here's how...
To begin with, I think it's helpful to ask yourself the following questions, because the answers will focus your enlistment process.
-Do you want to make aliyah (become a citizen) or volunteer?
-For how long are you willing to serve?
-Do I want to be in a combat unit?
-How well do I know Hebrew?
-What do I want my living situation to be like outside the army?
-Do I have any contacts in Israel: friends, family, anyone?
-And most importantly: why?
*Disclaimer: this post is long long long overdue. I just want to get it down, and will edit, polish and work on in the future. Please leave any comments or questions below to help me help you with your decision-making process. Enjoy!
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Aliyah or Volunteer?
If you know you want to make aliyah, then your enlistment, I believe, will be handled through Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) or Garin Tzabar (GT). NBN is the formal way to become a citizen of Israel, no matter your age. Then, as a citizen, if you are of military-age, you are recruited and sent to serve.
Garin Tzabar is a program for young Diaspora Jews who want to join the IDF, as well as make aliyah. It brings them together to live on a kibbutz, learn Hebrew, and then join the IDF as a group. GT is good because you have housing (the kibbutz contract is for a year, with an option to renew), do not have to worry about headaches in enlistment that often arise, and are part of a group of people that you will know and be friends with throughout your service.
If you want to volunteer (as I did), then your only option is through Machal, an IDF program. In this case, you are completely on your own until your draft date. You have to find your own way to Israel, your own lodgings, your own initiative to get in touch with Machal and go through the enlistment. Everything is on you.
But don't be dismayed by that; there are options available to you for where to live and what to do for the six weeks or more you need to be here before your enlistment. I have friends who came to kibbutzes, which provided them with Hebrew language learning (ulpan) and housing. I was lucky enough to have family here and stay with them. There are organizations out there to help you if you feel lost or unsure of what to do.
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Length of service?
To begin with, when you start your enlistment process, the IDF will gauge your Hebrew language ability. If they determine that you need to go to ulpan, they will send you to Mikveh Alon for at least three months. If you speak Hebrew well enough, you will still go to Mikveh, but just for a three week crash course in becoming acclimated to the military.
If you join Machal, you will serve either 14 or 18 months, depending on your Hebrew language ability. If you need ulpan, you serve 18 months. If your Hebrew is good enough to not need the ulpan, you serve for 14 months.
If you make aliyah, your service time also depends on your age. For this, you need to consult NBN or perhaps the IDF directly. Israeli guys serve for three years, girls for two from when they are eighteen or nineteen, depending on their draft. If you are a guy and you make aliyah when you are twenty, you may only need to serve two and a half years or two years. I believe if you are twenty-four or older at the time of your enlistment, you only serve six months.
But understand: if you are up for six months, and your Hebrew isn't very good, the first three months (half) of your service will be in ulpan.
In addition, if you want to join a special forces unit (which every brigade in the IDF has special forces), you will have to sign on for three years, regardless if you are a volunteer or immigrant.
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Combat or job?
If you want to be in a combat you, you need to serve at least fourteen months. If your enlistment is for six months, regardless of your Hebrew skill, you will serve as a jobnik.
To my knowledge, everyone who joined through Machal and serve in combat units are in the army, not the navy or air force. Most of those in the army serve in one of the five main infantry units: Tzanchanim (paratroopers), Golani, Givati, Nachal, or Kfir. Each brigade has its own characteristics and reasons to want to join or stay away. For example, Tzanchanim jumps out of planes, Nachal is known for being very friendly to and consequently having a lot of lone soldiers or new immigrants, Kfir only operates in the West Bank, etc. You will learn more about these as you spend more time in Israel, at Garin Tzabar, and definitely at Mikveh Alon.
Then there are other options available for combat units. Depending on your health profile, you may not be able to serve in an infantry unit. In this case, you can serve in Sheriyon (armored corps, tanks), Handesah Kravi (combat engineers) or Totchanim (artillery).
There are other special units also available, which you will come across, but the ones I mentioned above are the most common.
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Hebrew level?
As I mentioned, the IDF will assess your level of Hebrew. I suggest doing everything you can to learn as much Hebrew before joining the IDF. Learn on your own, join an ulpan, take it in school in preparation. The ulpan at Mikveh Alon was not the best (read my posts to find out more about why). You can probably cover the same material in one college semester. Most of my learning has been on the fly in my combat unit. Still, the more Hebrew you know going into the army ends up serving you the best. You will understand commands and what to do, you will connect better with the Israelis, you will cope better in the country, etc. It behooves you to learn as much as you can.
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Living conditions?
Not exactly the most important consideration, but still a factor, is how you want to live outside the army. As a lone soldier, you have multiple options, which, as I have done, you have the ability to explore and take advantage of. If you want, the army will place you at a kibbutz, with options to have families "adopt" you. If you want, the army will help pay for an apartment you find with friends. If you want, the army will send you to a house to live with other lone soldiers.
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Contacts in Israel?
Your best bet is to reach out to people you know in Israel for advice on housing and living. Best cities to live in, best kibbutzes to join, apartment or houses, etc. In addition, especially as a lone soldier, you will want to latch on to anything and anyone familiar. Reach out to Israelis you meet, for they are sincere in their offers to host you for Shabbat. Get in touch with friends you have you know people in Israel. Seriously, Israel runs on networking. Take advantage of it.
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Most importantly: Why?
I think the most important thing to know before you decide to come to Israel to join the IDF is to know why. Why are you willing to set aside almost two years, or longer, of your life to fight for a foreign country? Why are you willing to risk injury or worse in the defense of a land far from your family and friends? The best piece of advice I received before joining was from the soldiers on my Birthright trip who, upon informing them of my intention to join the IDF, said that it is important for me to know why I want to because there will be times during my service when I want to quit, pack up and go home. Remembering why I am there will help me push through the difficult days, weeks and months. I was able to actually list the reasons I joined (see my first blog post). Maybe that is unnecessary or too specific. But make sure you are choosing to embrace this route and not running from something else. Or doing it for the wrong or superficial reasons (I want to harm Arabs, I want to shoot guns, I want to play soldier). I think a decision like this has to be made after much thought and heavily weighed. Of course, for me, a significant part of my decision-making was asking myself, "why not?" Ultimately, you will have to live with your choice to sign your name on the dotted line. You are in the military now. Make sure you make the right decision.
