{"id":7696,"date":"2023-01-04T11:20:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T09:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/?p=7696"},"modified":"2025-06-12T18:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T15:45:16","slug":"sharing-a-culture-and-building-support-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/sharing-a-culture-and-building-support-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"From South America to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Many different groups of people serving in the IDF share the status of \u2018lone soldier\u2019. From a person born in Israel who\u2019s estranged from their family, to an oleh<\/em> from New York like myself who chose to draft with their parent\u2019s full support, the term encompasses a wide and often complicated range of circumstances. Because lone soldiers come in so many different shapes and sizes, it can be difficult for organizations like Ach Gadol<\/em> to pinpoint the exact brand of support each soldier needs most. One soldier might struggle financially, one with the language, and one simply to make friends on base. In order to best utilize each volunteer\u2019s gathered wisdom and personal experience, Ach Gadol<\/em> often pairs big brothers and sisters with soldiers from similar backgrounds.<\/p>

Lone soldiers\u2019 experiences adjusting to Israeli culture often differ based on their country of origin. Shared culture can enable soldiers to build sub-communities within the larger lone soldier world, and find others who understand what being a lone soldier has meant for them. In this post, we meet some members of a core community within the Ach Gadol<\/em> network \u2013 soldiers who made aliyah<\/em> from South America. \u201cYou find olim<\/em> from South America mostly in combat positions, and they\u2019re usually quick to volunteer for things,\u201d says Ach Gadol<\/em> founder Daniel Aharon. \u201cDespite their relatively small numbers compared to the other olim<\/em> (only about 8%), they tend to acclimate extremely well into Israeli society.\u201d<\/p>

We\u2019ve spoken to several soldiers and volunteers from South America to explore their experiences in the IDF, and how culture has played into building their support system.<\/p>

Martin Weinar is a volunteer at Ach Gadol who made aliyah<\/em> from Buenos Aires in 2015. \u201cI made aliyah<\/em> because I wanted to be independent,\u201d he told us, \u201cand I knew that wouldn't happen in Argentina because of the economic and security situations. I grew up in a very Zionistic home, with a lot of love for the Land of Israel. We define ourselves as Jews mainly with regard to tradition and culture, and less religion. We don't keep Shabbat or kosher, but I always felt connected to the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.\u201d His father was always playing Israeli music in the car, and Martin found himself deeply influenced by his family\u2019s effort to entwine Israeli culture with their own.<\/p>

He served as a combat soldier in the National Emergencies unit , and extended beyond his obligatory service to become an officer. He explained that, \u201c[Serving in combat] felt the most significant. There are other positions that I would define as even more important, but unfortunately I'm not good with computers or with intelligence, so I took up arms and charged forward.\u201d Martin believes one of the factors that made his absorption so smooth was that Israelis seemed not to have any negative stereotypes about South Americans. The Israelis he met throughout his service, he recalled, were quick to accept and like him. \u201cThey were always trying to help me with everything. There aren\u2019t really stigmas about South America, and that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>

Yosef Rothstein, who immigrated from Columbia to serve in the West Bank police force, had a similar experience with the Israelis he first encountered, describing them as, \u201cprickly on the outside, but soft and sweet on the inside.\u201d He said that, \u201cin Colombia, people are warmer and more polite, but they aren\u2019t always honest with you. Israelis, on the other hand, aren\u2019t trying to please and aren\u2019t particularly warm, but as you get to know them, you realize that they\u2019re more similar to you than you think. And even when they don't seem to like you, they are with you.\u201d<\/p>

Yosef, also, was raised with a profound connection to the Land of Israel. \u201cI grew up in a family that instilled Jewish values in me,\u201d he shared. \u201cMy father taught me to pray, just like his father taught him. Prayers like, \u2018blessed is the builder of Jerusalem,\u2019 \u2018return to Zion,\u2019 and, \u2018from the four corners of the earth to our country,\u2019 are some of the ones that influenced me and formed my identity as a Jew. I realized that immigrating to Israel was not only my dream, but the dream of my people. I grew up in a very Zionistic community. I studied at the only Jewish school in Colombia and was the head of education and culture in the Jewish youth movement. For me, it was very obvious to make aliyah<\/em>. It was to fulfill a dream of 2000 years. It wasn\u2019t just a feeling \u2013 it made sense.\u201d<\/p>

Since completing his service as a commander, Yosef has remained in Israel and built a life for himself. He explained that this chapter of his life in Israel is as essential to the dream as his service. \u201cSome people come to Israel just to serve in the army, but I came to Israel to be in Israel. I have some friends who returned to their countries as soon as they finished their service, and others who didn't know what to do with themselves and didn't really do anything. To me, though, it was clear that the army, while essential, was a just phase of life. Israel is the goal.\u201d<\/p>

As volunteers at Ach Gadol<\/em>, Martin and Yosef have been big brothers to many other soldiers from South America. \u201cIt\u2019s much easier to connect and understand how they feel,\u201d Martin explained. \u201cAll of the things that my soldiers tell me, I remember feeling the exact same way\u2026 Of course, I would be happy to be a big brother to a soldier from any country. But I think it\u2019s more comfortable for my soldiers to confide in me when they know I understand their culture.\u201d<\/p>

When Yosef was a soldier himself, he had a big brother from Ach Gadol<\/em> who also immigrated from Columbia. He feels their shared culture enabled them to build a deeper connection. \u201cNot just\u2026 because of the language, but because of the mentality too. Our ways of looking at the world were very similar. It helped him understand me more than I understood myself.\u201d Eli Ackerman, a soldier of Yosef\u2019s currently serving in the Nachal Bridage, says his experience of being a lone soldier from South America has been greatly impacted by the large community of South Americans here in Israel, many of whom knew each other prior to their aliyah<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019ve known [Yosef] all my life,\u201d he told us. \u201cHe\u2019s helped me so much to understand my experiences and thoughts.\u201d<\/p>

Integrating into a new culture is never a simple process, and adjusting simultaneously to military life doesn\u2019t make it any easier. The experience of serving as a lone soldier is an incredible melting pot of people from every part of the world and from every sort of circumstance who have found themselves in Israel, in the IDF. A new oleh<\/em> is often at a crossroads of identity, trying at once to maintain their own cultural identity and embrace the cultures of the Israelis and other foreigners they meet. In pairing soldiers with big brothers and sisters, Ach Gadol helps each soldier to find that balance, and introduces them to the people and communities that can each understand another portion of their unique experience as a lone soldier.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Want to get involved? Help us continue to provide our soldiers with the support they need.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Many different groups of people serving in the IDF<\/p>","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":7690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[149],"class_list":["post-7696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-jessica-kane-he"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7696"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12872,"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696\/revisions\/12872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achgadol.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}