Olim at War‘I was prepared to leave everything and come’
Olim at War
‘I was prepared to leave everything and come’
Over 100 days into Israel’s war against Hamas and since the October 7th attacks, CTech spoke to Ben Philip, a Canadian immigrant who arrived a month ago to serve in the army
18-year-old Ben Philip had long planned on making aliyah in December with the intention of joining the army when 7/10 unfolded. While some prospective olim opted not to move or to, at least, postpone their immigration following the Hamas attacks of October 7th, Philip says that 7/10 actually reinforced his decision to come. “All that I could think about was not being able to do anything from Canada,” he says. “I wanted to come here faster. I was thinking about my family here.”
Philip had already signed up this past summer to participate in the winter program for Garin Tzabar, a program for lone soldiers which helps absorb and support soldiers from abroad during their military service. His group will include twenty other new olim preparing to enlist in the army in March. He ended up arriving in Israel on December 19th with the assistance of Nefesh B’Nefesh in cooperation with The Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA.
Born in Montreal, Canada to Israeli parents, Philip grew up speaking Hebrew and with a strong connection to Israel. From a young age he planned to enlist in the Israeli army. “My great-aunt and uncle and great-grandparents were all Holocaust survivors, and growing up I would always hear about what happened to them. It was very important to me as I got older to ensure that something like that would never happen again.”
This article is part of a larger CTech series called ‘Olim at War,’ chronicling the experiences of olim during the war, including those serving in the army, immigrants who arrived shortly before the war and since the war began, and the intersection between their identity as immigrants and Israelis.
For Philip, it felt surreal to witness what felt like a full-circle moment - Jews in 2023 being hunted and kidnapped en masse, much like his own relatives were less than eighty years prior. “When the war broke out it was unbelievable to me. It was like watching something like that unfold again. I was prepared to leave everything and come.”
Before his decision to enlist, Philip, a competitive boxer, says that he heavily weighed the implications of taking three years out of his early boxing career. Ultimately, he decided that he wanted to enlist partly because he wanted to do “the same thing that every other Israeli does.” He was also deeply influenced by his older brother, nine years his senior, who previously served in the IDF as a lone soldier and is now a reservist in a Combat Engineering unit in Gaza.
Philip, who will be moving to Moshav Moledet near Afula to begin his program soon, says that making aliyah during the war isn’t unlike making aliyah under normal circumstances. “You arrive alone. You prepare yourself mentally to go on this journey alone, but after a few days you get used to it.” Philip, who has been staying with family since he arrived, says that since arriving, he’s only felt “more at peace” with his decision.
He says that while his decision to serve in the army was only strengthened after October 7th, for his mother, who already has one son serving in Gaza, it was harder. “She asked me to stay.
The way that I look at it is that it's a duty that every Israeli takes upon themselves. I don’t feel special and I don't feel that I should be exempt from doing this. But, I understand how hard it is to see both of her sons go to the army.”
