Daniel Schachter, 34-35, is a Canadian from Winnipeg. He was featured in 2010 articles from the Jewish Independent and the Winnipeg Jewish Review (WJR), both focusing on his decision to immigrate to Israel and join its military.
Schachter told WJR: “I decided to make aliya for are two reasons: I went to Kelvin High School, and I was in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. In high school, every time we came across any subject that somehow related to Israel, or Judaism, it fell to me to explain it, especially in English class, where there were plenty of references to the bible. Since I was the most knowledgeable about Israel, I was constantly asked questions about Israel, or the Arab-Israeli conflict, and I think that made me realize that even though I could read books about Israel, I was representing something that I have never experienced. I felt like I couldn’t accurately represent Israel. I could spit out certain facts, but I didn’t actually have any connection to Israel. The second reason, is that I had some friends in university who kept saying that sometimes they regretted going straight to university, and in particular, someone told me that if you don’t know exactly what you want to study, don’t rush it, and do something else until you figure it out.”
Schachter joined the paratroopers unit. He told the Jewish Independent: “In Israel, lots of people see the paratrooper brigade as the ‘poster boys’ of the army because of their special uniform, their battle history – most famously, the reunification of Jerusalem in the Six Day War – and because you need to pass physical and mental testing to get accepted to the unit. Israeli paratroopers are instantly recognizable with their red boots and paratroopers tunic [yerkit], which is different than the rest of the IDF infantry.”
The article noted that he was living with a family that had also immigrated to Israel from Winnipeg. Schachter’s family, meanwhile, was all back in Canada at the time.
After finishing his military service, Schachter remained in Israel and now works at Powtoon, a software animation company, according to his LinkedIn profile.
