israel

Lone soldiers committed to Israel for long haul

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A conference in Jerusalem’s Knesset on Thursday discussed the strategic contributions made by lone soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces and addressed some of lone soldier community’s needs.

Around 7,000 IDF men and women are currently defined as lone soldiers, arriving by themselves to serve in the army with no family in Israel to turn to for support. Soldiers who already live in Israel but are orphans or come from broken families also fall into this category.

The conference was organized by the Lone Soldier Center (LSC) in Memory of Michael Levin, with attendees and speakers including government ministers, members of Knesset, and lone soldiers past and present.

Levin, who made aliyah from Philadelphia in 2002, was killed fighting Hezbollah in Israel’s 2006 Second Lebanon War. The conference was held specifically on the week of Levin’s 15th yahrzeit. LSC was established in his memory in 2009.

LSC CEO Michal Berman told JNS the event was held “to help people understand not only the difficulties lone soldiers face, but to see the potential of lone soldiers as a true asset to the State of Israel — because of the Zionism they bring with them, because of the sacrifice they make every day by being here, by fighting, by joining the IDF.”

A new “Modern Pioneers” program was introduced at the conference “to train a strong group of former lone soldiers to be digital ambassadors of the State of Israel, to fight anti-Semitism, to go back to their communities, as well as here in Israel, and continue to fight digitally,” Berman said.

Mark Levin, Michael’s father, expressed pride over “everything that has been done for lone soldiers over the past 15 years. There is a new appreciation for lone soldiers in this country that did not exist before Michael’s passing.”

Ayelet, Michael’s mother, added, “This was Michael’s dream to have a place for lone soldiers, and now there are multiple centers, so to be able to fulfill his dream, keep his memory alive; that’s everything for me.”

“G,” currently a lone soldier who grew up in Bergenfield, NJ, before joining the IDF in February, didn’t pull any punches expressing the difficulties. “I’m not going to lie; it’s been really, really hard,” she said.

She gave examples of some of her struggles, including arriving in Israel with a language barrier and being expected to follow her preparatory IDF classwork in Hebrew.

LSC has “done everything for me,” she added. “When I first moved to Jerusalem, I had no friends. I went to the LSC, and I literally built myself a community. My best friends are from there, and before I go home from base, I go to the center and tell them how my week was.”

G’s mother “L” managed to arrive in Israel to visit her enlisted daughter. “I’m so proud of her, that she did this on her own; she wanted to make aliyah and she did it. She wanted to become a lone soldier, and it really would not have been possible without the LSC; it gave her so much support in every way.”

David Matlin, a former lone soldier from Arizona who still does reserve duty and is currently a well-known on-air personality at i24News, was also a panel participant. He told JNS that when he joined the army in 2004 at age 23, “it was a dramatic transition after college.”

“That experience did so much laying the groundwork for me in terms of why I built a life here afterwards,” he said. “By the end of my service, I was fully on board—ready to stay, ready to try to take those next steps in the country and build a life.”

Matlin said that he has been involved in helping other lone soldiers over the years, particularly in the Tel Aviv area, but “coming out of COVID, I would like to get more involved in the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center. Now that I’m a ‘grownup,’ I’d like to get more hands-on, helping the guys and girls and offering them whatever I can.”

In the wake of the conference, Knesset member Michael Biton announced that he is establishing a Knesset lobby group for lone soldiers.

Minister of Immigrant Absorption MK Pnina Tamano-Shata told the conference participants that she was aware of some of the challenges faced by lone soldiers in Israel, especially after a year in which the pandemic presented even more difficulties reaching those who were serving without family in the country. She said that while the government does a lot to support the lone soldiers, a lot more can be done.

While the soldiers might be considered “alone,” she emphasized, “we [the people of Israel] are their home.”