Brother (and sister) in arms: Ari Binyamin is a soldier in the Golani Brigade. His sister serves in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Iraq.Photo credit: Yehoshua Yosef
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=3269
Brother and sister orphaned in Kazakhstan at a young age find their way into the U.S. and Israeli armies • Ari, 20, eventually became a soldier in the Golani Brigade, and Rina, 22, joined U.S. forces in Iraq • “We are proud of each other,” Ari says.
Two siblings adopted by a Jewish family from a Kazakh orphanage are now both proudly wearing military uniforms – but for two different armies.
Ari Binyamin, 20, was orphaned along with his siblings Rina, now 22, and Jesse, now 21, when they were all young children in Kazakhstan. Ari is now a soldier in the Golani brigade of the IDF while Rina served as a driver of a Hummer for the U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq.
All three siblings were born in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. When their parents died, they were sent to live with a friend of the family, and when she, too, died, they were shuffled to an orphanage in the city.
At age 8, Ari was given over to the care of a U.S. organization that helps orphans and spent six weeks as the guest of an American Jewish family in Maryland. Six months later, Ari received a message that changed his life — the couple from Maryland wanted to adopt him.
“I began a new life with them, and converted to Judaism,” Ari said.
Two years later, both Rina and Jesse – who had remained in the Almaty orphanage – were told that the couple had agreed to adopt them as well. “We had tremendous luck because we would have been thrown into the street if they hadn’t adopted us. Who knows where we would have ended up,” Ari said.
Ari said that after his adoptive parents divorced, “I decided that the right thing to do was to immigrate to Israel, join the IDF and contribute to the security of the state.”
Meanwhile, Rina joined the U.S. military.
Ari immigrated to Israel through the “Garin Tzabar” program, a special organization that enables immigrants to serve in the IDF under the auspices of the Israel Boy and Girl Scouts Federation (known in Hebrew as “Hatzofim”). He was taken in by a family living on Kibbutz Beerot Yitzchak and promptly joined the IDF’s Golani Brigade unit.
Ari successfully completed the Golani training program three weeks ago and began his combat service. “I was excited at the graduation ceremony because my adoptive mother came from the U.S. and met my kibbutz family and Tzvika Levi, head of the Kibbutz Movement’s lone soldiers program,” Ari said. “My sister and I are proud of each other and stay in touch through Skype.”
