Eli was born in Modi'in Ilit to an ultra-Orthodox family. At the age of 15, Eli ultimately chose to leave the ultra orthodox community in which he was brought up. His family did not accept his decision to lead a different lifestyle causing an unpleasant home environment, so Eli opted to stay at work late or wander the streets. He worked hard to save money in order to leave his parents' house as soon as possible, and finally succeeded. Eli moved to Ramat Gan and started working, but his skills did not fit the new environment. "I didn't know how to connect to the secular world," he says, "it mostly stood out in the culture, and I also had nowhere to go out and nowhere to go," he says. When he reached the age of 18, he sought help and guidance at the Lone Soldier Center in Memory of Michael Levin - since then, everything changed.
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