Private Estelle Tabenkin: ''I am loving every second in Israel and in the IDF''. Photo: IDF Spokesperson

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As a member of a renowned family dynasty, Pvt. Estelle Tabenkin proves that the apple does not fall far from the tree, and that despite the fact that she was born an raised in Canada, she, like the rest of her family, is a true Israeli.

Her parents met when her mother, a Jamaican Jew, came to Israel for a holiday. Her father served in the Airborne Rescue and Evacuation Special Unit of the Israeli Air Force, and is the grandson of Yizhak Tabenkin, one of the founders of the Ahdut Ha'avoda socialist Zionist party and the Mapam labor party, member of the World Zionist Congress and one of the founders of Kibbutz Ein Harod. The two of them got married, and after the mother's brother made Estelle's father a job offer, they moved to Vancouver, Canada, where they raised Estelle and her two brothers. "We visited Israel every three years and we also spoke Hebrew at home. I always felt that Israel was my place, that I needed to be here," says Estelle.

After Estelle graduated high school, she wanted to immigrate to Israel, but her mother preferred for her to try and start studying before making such a big decision. At the end of her first semester at university, she joined the Tel Aviv University overseas student program, and spent one semester at the university.

"During the program we learned about Israel, Judaism, Zionism and the like. I had one teacher who was curious about my last name and asked me if I was related to Yizhak Tabenkin. It was a little weird that I had only just got here and people knew things about my family, it also happens in the army sometimes," she says.

"I think that already after I had been here for one month, I decided that I would definitely want to immigrate." One of her childhood friends joined the Garin Tzabar pre military service program for Diaspora Jews at that time, so Estelle met a lot of participants of the program. "It was the girls who especially convinced me to enlist. I believe that if I want to live here, the army is an experience that I have to have. The military has great importance in Israel, there is a real need for it," she explains.

At the end of her semester at Tel Aviv University, Estelle decided to leave her studies and her home, and joined Garin Tzabar. Since the program was starting very soon, she did not have time to return to Canada and visit her family. "It's kind of weird but I told my parents over the phone that I was going to enlist. They supported me but it was more difficult for my mother because she doesn't really know the army, and I was also the first one to leave home," she remembers. "It's especially hard for her because she can't easily come and visit me like the parents of other soldiers can."

Separating from her friends was also difficult, because they did not understand her feelings. Nevertheless, she says, she gets by because in Israel she met the best friends she has ever had.

The Garin Tzabar program included a Hebrew course, examinations and preparatory lessons for service in the IDF and various workshops. At the end of the program, Estelle decided that she wanted to become a combat soldier: "I wanted to be a Harbor Security Unit combat soldier because my dad was a diving instructor in his unit, but it's difficult to join that unit from the Garin Tzabar program, so in the end, in my interview I asked to join the Home Front Command Search and Rescue Company," she says.

Estelle was granted her wish and enlisted a few weeks ago. The Garin Tzabar program prepared her somewhat for her military service, but she is still amazed by the experiences she is going through. "Sometimes it's hard physically, but it feels so great to me. I do things that I would never have dreamed of doing, like marches or shooting. I saw completely new things. Where else in the world would I be able to do things like that," she says happily.

Even though Estelle comes from a completely different world, the military discipline apparently does not bother her: "I feel that they are very fair here, and if I get a punishment I probably deserved it. I only have good things to say about the commanders." She recalls her birthday which she was spending on base, and how all her new friends kept surprising her the entire day. "Everyone knows that I'm a lone soldier and they help me a lot and encourage me. On my birthday they all circled around me and sang songs in Hebrew, but I didn't know them," Estelle says with a smile.

Her combat position is very special to Estelle, perhaps even more so because of her family background. "My dad always told me about his grandfather and also his uncle Yosef Tabenkin, who was one of the commanders of the Palmach pre-State military, and now I feel that I am doing what they did and fighting for the same principles," she explains.

It seems that Estelle is very connected to the past of the State of Israel and understands the importance of the IDF in light of history. "In 2008 I was a participant on the March of the Living and it really touched me, as did the book Exodus and the stories of the Jewish immigrants during the British mandate in Israel. I know that even when it's a little bit difficult for me know, in the past people did much more difficult things than what I'm doing now, and at a much younger age," she says with tears in her eyes.
 
Today, Estelle lives with her friends from Garin Tzabar in Kibbutz Yizre'el, a neighboring kibbutz to Ein Harod, which was founded by her grandfather Yitzhak Tabenkin. She has an adopted family on the kibbutz that takes care of all her needs. "The group I did the program with is like a family to me. My adopted family is also amazing, they came to my swearing-in ceremony and I know that they would do anything for me," she says.

Despite the fact that she has found a true home in Israel, her brothers, it turns out, do not see things the same way: "For them Canada is home. I do love Canada a lot, but I couldn't see myself building a home and a family there. It doesn't feel like I gave up everything, because I got so much more," she explains.

"I would tell everyone to immigrate to Israel and enlist. It's an amazing and special feeling, I would never have believed that I would experience things like a swearing-in ceremony or a march in the middle of the night with a rifle in my hands; it feels like I'm in a movie. The fact that I am a combat soldier makes me feel even better. It is so much fun to be equal to the guys. In the Search and Rescue Company I also learn things that not everyone learns in the other Infantry Corps units," she says.

Even though Estelle enjoys being in the IDF, she says that sometimes she still has some trouble with the language. "It happens to me mostly when I'm tired, which is often," she says, laughing, but explains that in the military, she is being pushed to do the best she can, and at the end of each day "I am loving every second in Israel and in the IDF".