Tsav Rishon

The beginning of an Israeli's conscription starts with the “tsav rishon” which means “first order.” It's not when you start your service but rather when the IDF starts to profile you. I just had mine the other day. I received a letter in the mail with free public transportation tickets that said when I needed to come to the “lishkat gius” or “draft center.” For anyone who's volunteering for the IDF, you will go through this.

All in all, it was pretty boring being there because of the ridiculous wait times but as a whole it excited me because I felt like I was that much closer to donning the uniform. I had been looking forward to this for a month, and when I got the call-up in the mail I was thrilled. When I arrived to the draft center I was sent upstairs to do a quick interview in English where I signed away my rights that made me exempt from conscription and stated that I wanted to be drafted as soon as possible.

After that I went back to the first floor where I received a scannable card and was told to go to upstairs to a different floor from before. Whereas there was hardly anyone in the last waiting area, I couldn’t believe how many people were waiting on this new floor, especially since I had arrived before eight o’clock, right as the damn place opened! My recommendation for people who are going to do this is to arrive at the draft center as soon as possible. Our waiting area was a thin, cramped, bland hallway with stock photos of smiling soldiers. The whole thing was lined with chairs and doors into several offices, the most of which I'll probably never know about. There was about thirty or forty people and it quickly filled up to two or three times that. There wasn’t even room to display my name on the list on the computer screen at first because so many people were signed in before me.

I was finally called in and did an interview entirely in Hebrew. The room was filled with several long desks each with isolated booths to conduct a face-to-face interview, with barriers separating each interview area. Every single desk was filled as I walked in, and even though it seemed so chaotic at the same time it felt like everything was going exactly the way it was supposed to. The system has been doing this for many years and everyone working there knew what they were doing. During the interview I had to answer questions about my life, what it was like for me back home, how I’m coming along in Israel, and things of that nature. While I struggled, it was a big confidence boost to see that I could do everything in Hebrew albeit with some patience from the other side of the table.

The most important thing to understand about the tsav rishon is that anything you want from the army like chayal boded status or to have a certain job is almost completely irrelevant here. The tsav rishon is solely for putting together a profile of you and your potential as a soldier.

After that interview I scanned my card at the next station, which was for a psychometric exam. The exam is available in several different languages. At the draft center I went to in Haifa, there is a little place right next to the entrance to go eat. I recommend you take advantage of it before you take the test because they don’t mind waiting for people to take their time to go eat, smoke, or use the bathroom before hand, in fact it was encouraged. You can only take the test once and it’s an important part of your profile so give yourself every advantage you can.

Next I had to go pee in a cup, but for the life of me I couldn’t so I bought a bottle of water from the aforementioned store and chugged it. After half an hour I still couldn’t go. It came to my attention that there were free vending machines for us so I got another water and chugged that too. In due time I had to piss, and to my dismay after that I had to piss every ten minutes. I finally arrived to the last station which involves getting checked by a doctor, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time for him to see me. I couldn’t believe it. I was one of the first to arrive, yet somehow ended up dead last on the waiting list. It might of had something to do with the fact that I wasted half-an-hour checking into the computer for the girls only doctor. Don’t fault me, everything was labeled in Hebrew. Between that and taking so long to pee, I can see how I ended up last, and now I have to wait until I get invited to the draft center for my second order to see the doctor. It’s frustrating because until I get checked I can’t recieve a score for my physical health profile, which is critical for determining if I’m fit for a combat unit and also for signing up for "yom sayerot," which is another post entirely.

Overall it was an interesting experience interspersed with a LOT of waiting time. I spent a lot of time studying the finer aspects of my teudat zehut (ID card) and playing games on my phone. Also, it was hard not speaking Hebrew. Sometimes a soldier would walk out and explain something to us and I'd have to ask for an explanation in English. I wouldn't say it was embarrassing but I certainly felt like my tail was between my legs, as they say. The most important parts of the day were the interview in Hebrew and the psychometric exam. If you are going to be a future Israeli soldier, don't sweat the tsav rishon, and try to enjoy it and take it all in while you're there, because it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and also you are that much closer to putting on the uniform.