These young people from the Diaspora felt the call after Oct. 7 and joined the IDF

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a devastating onslaught on Israel that saw thousands of terrorists massacre, torture and abduct men, women and children in southern Israel while destroying homes and communities. Among the targets was Kibbutz Magen.

Ori, born in Israel but brought up in South America, was at Kibbutz Magen near the Gaza Strip visiting relatives when the kibbutz was attacked. During the assault he spent 14 hours in Magen’s reinforced safe room (or mamad in Hebrew). So it is not surprising that soon afterward Ori, and other Israelis raised abroad who happened to be in the country when Hamas invaded, decided to enlist in the IDF.

What is more remarkable, perhaps, are the large numbers of young Jews who were safely ensconced in their homes all over the world when the assault occurred, but who immediately began looking for a way in which they could serve.

Take Arie, for example. Born to an Israeli father and Colombian mother and raised in Miami, Florida, he always felt a special connection to Israel. Upon hearing about the attack while at a party with his older sister at the University of Southern California, he called the IDF to ask how he could enlist. Though only 17 and unable to fast-track the process, Arie immediately signed up for a program called Tzofim Garin Tzabar, an intensive and all-inclusive program that includes immigration to Israel and enlistment in the IDF.

On August 29, roughly 300 Jewish young adults from 28 different countries began Tzofim Garin Tzabar, having already undergone a thorough vetting and received help with Israel’s complex processes of immigration and enlistment. They had attended intensive preparatory seminars in Israel and abroad that provided information about life in the country and service in the IDF.

During the seminars, participants learned about four Tzofim Garin Tzabar lone soldiers who had fallen in the current war, and two Tzofim Garin Tzabar members who were taken hostage — Edan Alexander and Omer Neutra.

“We don’t want to depress potential immigrants and soldiers,” stresses Yair Ran-Peled, global director of the program. “But we need them to face reality.”

He adds that Tzofim Garin Tzabar does not recruit participants. “They come to us by word of mouth, through Tzofim Garin Tzabar alums, internet searches, or after asking at Israeli consulates in their states or countries.”

Participants in the current program were aged 18-23 at the time of their applications. Two-thirds are from North America, the rest hail from countries as diverse as Thailand, Panama, the Netherlands, Russia and Portugal. Quite a few grew up abroad, with one or more Israeli parents.

Garin Tzabar is an amazingly well-oiled and incredibly well-organized program that eases participants through the difficult and confusing bureaucratic processes of immigrating and joining the armed forces. Every need is addressed, every problem solved, with the help of a cadre of coordinators, army social workers, teachers and counselors. All of the young people we interviewed raved about Tzofim Garin Tzabar’s 24/7 support systems.

Nearly half of the participants in this summer’s Tzofim Garin Tzabar program were already in the country. They were moved to the newly revamped absorption center in Ra’anana and will remain there throughout their army service. The rest, who came from their home countries, did their pre-immigration preparation in centers throughout America and Europe, or on Zoom. When they arrived in Israel, they were sent in close-knit groups called “garinim” to kibbutzim in the north and center of the country.

Each kibbutz has its own coordinator and, in addition, soldiers, house mothers, the entire kibbutz community, and a volunteer host family that accompanies each participant throughout his or her army service.

“The two garinim at the kibbutz take part in every communal aspect of kibbutz life,” notes Michal Furman, Tzofim Garin Tzabar coordinator at Kibbutz Tzora. “Our youths were abroad when the war started and awakened their Jewish and Zionist identity. They wanted to defend the country, with some coming because of the war and others in spite of the war.”

All 300 Tzofim Garin Tzabar participants, whether in a kibbutz or the absorption center, spend their first months before the army in intensive preparation for their army service. This includes five daily hours of immersive Hebrew studies and structured training for their time as soldiers. Social activities include trips like the one they all took recently to Jerusalem, where they visited the Holy City’s Western Wall and the Mount Herzl Center and Military Cemetery.

Noam was born in New Jersey to Israeli parents who had served in the IDF but had relocated to the US. However, they made a conscious decision to raise their children in a Zionist home and, although not religious, kept up Jewish traditions like Friday night dinner complete with Shabbat candles.

His parents understood that their offspring might someday move to Israel; Noam’s older brother served in the IDF in a combat unit, and took part in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as a reserve soldier. After high school Noam decided to spend a year in one of many special preparatory programs in Israel with his Israeli-American friends. Thus he, too, was in this country on October 7.

“It was hard,” he says. “It changes everything. I found the [Tzofim] Garin Tzabar program and immediately applied. My parents are scared but support me.”

He likes living at the absorption center, calling it “my kibbutz.”

“If we want or need anything, anything at all, there is always someone here to help us at the drop of a hat,” Noam says.

Tzofim Garin Tzabar was established by the Israeli Scouts Movement in 1991, and to date has brought over 7,000 new immigrants — and new soldiers — to Israel. This year, amid the war, the program received an unprecedented number of applications, 600 in all, with half of them accepted. Participants are an impressive group, intelligent, educated and highly motivated.

The vast majority plan to remain in the country after finishing military service, while about 35% of their families are expected to immigrate at some point as well. Parents, while obviously extremely worried about having their children serving in the IDF during a time of war, generally support their offspring’s decision. And while several parents came to Israel in October and brought their children home, quite a few of the kids returned to Israel shortly afterward.

Most of the new draftees, women as well as men, serve in combat positions if their army profile permits. A few of those we interviewed are hoping for posts compatible with the degrees they hold or the professions they intend to follow in the future. All insisted that if for some reason they did not get sent to their preferred army units, they would go wherever needed.

While a small number came from religiously observant homes and were placed together in a religious kibbutz, the majority grew up in secular families that sometimes sent their children to Jewish day schools and often, but not always, followed Jewish traditions. Everyone we spoke to on the Tzofim Garin Tzabar program had been to Israel at least once before the war.

So they were familiar with Mount Herzl, having visited during their military preparatory programs or with youth groups that had brought them to the country. Their current tour of the site, however, had far more meaning for these pre-army draftees than it had on previous trips.

Tamar was born and raised in New York to a Korean mother who converted to Judaism and an American Jewish father. Unlike her twin sister, who has no interest in Israel, Tamar had friends in the Israeli Scouts, learned Hebrew, and came to the country with a military preparatory program just before the war.

As part of the program, she was volunteering in a date factory in the south of Israel when Hamas attacked nearby.

“It was so upsetting, everyone was crying, I was freaking out,” she says. But she and her friends continued what they were doing, which was absolutely crucial as the Bedouin workers at the plant were sent home.

Gal moved from Israel to California when she was 10. But she had always wanted to make Israel her home. She loves it here and joined a pre-military program in August of last year.

When Hamas invaded two months later, she was visiting her grandmother in the center of the country. Terrified, they sat in shock, she says. And soon afterwards, within the framework of the pre-military program, she and her friends were put to work in hospitals, shelters, picking fruit and vegetables. She applied to Tzofim Garin Tzabar and was thrilled to be accepted.

Zack’s parents were not Israeli, and while growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, he had no plans to immigrate to Israel. However, having attended a Jewish day school and visited the country multiple times before the war, Zack felt a strong connection to Israel. Once the war began, understanding the country’s dire need for soldiers, he applied to Tzofim Garin Tzabar and began the process of immigration and enlistment.

“The tour of Mount Herzl was a reality check,” he says. “There were families sitting by graves and crying.”

“There was so much new dirt over graves — it was very raw and upsetting,” he continues, adding that it just made him even more eager to do his part to defend the country.

Yuval grew up in Toronto with his Israeli parents. He didn’t go to a Jewish school, and the family rarely attended synagogue. Although he visited Israel often, he had no plans to join the army. That is, until he was sitting with an aunt in Tel Aviv when Hamas invaded. As they sat there in shock, Yuval had one clear thought: “This is like a Holocaust — but then the Jews were helpless, now we are not.” And that is what drew him to Tzofim Garin Tzabar.

When her phone started pouring out news of the Hamas attack, Orli was asleep in her bed at home in Florida. Although she had already been accepted for the Tzofim Garin Tzabar program, the war made her even more certain she had made the right decision.

“I was so excited to be going into the army, getting the opportunity to be part of something bigger than myself and to help my country. I mean, America is my country, but I don’t feel the connection to it that I feel with Israel. Israel has always provided me with a sense of home and belonging. And now I can really contribute something,” she says.

Orli found the Mount Herzl Cemetery experience incredibly heavy: “You see the whole lists of names of people murdered on October 7 and all the new graves. I thought: This could have been someone from my garin.”

Excited to be going into the army where she can be “part of the action,” Orli enjoys her time of preparation at the kibbutz. And in her host family she has found hope.

“They have three very small boys, they are adorable, they laugh and giggle. It makes me so happy that even in this war there can still be some happiness,” she says.

Aviva Bar-Am is the author of seven English-language guides to Israel.
Shmuel Bar-Am is a licensed tour guide who provides private, customized tours in Israel for individuals, families and small groups.