90210 : Yarden Yehezkel, 19, grew up in the luxurious Beverly Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles • Yarden decided she wanted to take a different path from her classmates — by moving to Israel and fulfilling her dream of serving in the IDF.
90210
Yarden Yehezkel, 19, had everything growing up in the luxurious Los Angeles neighborhood of Beverly Hills. Yet despite the fancy houses, expensive cars, movie star neighbors and comfortable lifestyle, Yarden chose to move to Israel and fulfill her dream of serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
“I was born in Beverly Hills, I was there until age 10 when we moved to Israel,” Yarden, who has a 22-year-old brother who served in the IDF as a lone soldier, said. “We lived in Israel until I was 16, when we returned to Beverly Hills. I finished high school and I had to decide whether to go to college or fulfill my dream and move back to Israel and serve in the IDF.”
Yarden applied for college, but then got the feeling that she could not go on with her life without serving in the IDF.
“I decided to move to Israel, but I had one more task: convincing my parents to move with me,” Yarden said. “My mom and I are very close and it was important to me that she be by my side. I also wanted my younger 14-year-old brother to join.
“I studied at Beverly Hills High School. It’s like in the movies, everyone comes to school in a shiny car and they have fancy houses. But this was not appealing to me. I’m not impressed by celebrities and I knew that I wanted something different, of quality — to contribute to Israel’s security.”
After many discussions with her parents, and not a few tears, Yarden succeeded in convincing them to move with her.
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“I wanted to have the experience of serving in the IDF like my parents did when they were young. I’m happy I was able to convince them to join me and my little brother is also happy about the move to Israel.”
The process of adjusting to life in the IDF was not easy for Yarden and it took some time for her to connect to her surroundings. Yarden now serves as an operations sergeant in the Etzion Brigade and she is satisfied with her role.
“I took pictures of the views from where I serve and of my room on base and sent them to my friends,” Yarden said. “They were in shock. For them, serving in the Israeli army is like being in a war. It is not for them. Let them have their restaurants and cars, but I am different.”
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