Wow, I just read all the comments. Now my turn to add to the mix:
The discussion started about a Mishabarach for Chayalim and the discussion talked about other ‘at risk’ individuals, Zionism, Charadi-ism and other disparate, yet related topics.
I think that some background is necessary.
I grew up in a family which had become less observant in the generation that came from Europe and then my parents’ who were born in Chicago. So I grew up in a ‘conservative household.’ When I was 6 I told my parents that since they sent me to Jr Congregation with my older sisters, they needed to enroll me in Hebrew school since I needed to know what the prayers meant. They enrolled me the next day.
My one ‘religious’ experience that summer was to go to the Kotel for Tisha B’Av. What an experience, pictures being taken, schmoozing, talking, laughing. Even I knew that we were supposed to be mourning the destruction of that very structure.
I also knew that summer that I needed to make Israel my home. I came back 2 years later for 2 week vacation between semesters and planned on going on a trip with the nature society to the Sinai. I never made it. I encountered a man who asked me if I wanted to visit a Yeshiva. I said you asked me that question 2 years ago. He said, Nu?
Thanks to Rabbi Meir Shuster, I spent a week at Aish HaTorah and have been on a journey of growth and learning ever since.
My wife and our youngest child made Aliyah 4 years ago. It took me 30 years to come home. Between 1978 and 2006 when I came on my Aliyah flight, I had only been here for 10 days in 1986.
I have twins who will be 24 mid Kislev who are in Beis Medresh in Queens at YCC.
When my wife and I were looking at where we might live once we came home, I mentioned the community of Kochav Ya’akov, about 15 minutes north of Jerusalem. She asked me if that was on the ‘other side’ of the green line. I asked her if we were making Aliyah to Eretz Yisroel or Medinat Yisroel?
We spent 10 months in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem and the best thing that has been said about Har Nof is that it is close to Israel. We have lived the last 3+ years in Shiloh in the Shomron, a short walk to the archeological excavations of the makom of the Mishkan which was there for 369 years; Israel’s first capitol.
Would I be Shomer Mitzvoth if medinat Yisroel was not in existence in 1976 when I was 18 and came on a ‘secular’ Zionist sponsored trip? I am not good at doing what if’s. What is, is that I benefited from having a homeland for Jew’s to come visit.
I have shomer mitzvoth children who are learning in Torah.
I know that there are tremendous problems with the government here in Israel. I know that often the government has made the soldiers do terrible avarot. I know that there is a tremendous abortion rate among female soldiers. I also know that the soldiers put their lives on the line for me and every other Jew, resident or tourist every day.
I also know that the Chutz L’arutz experience is no piece of cake either. There is an inter-marriage rate approaching 70%. There is the challenge of living and working among goyim. There is the pull of the avodah zarah of materialism. I keep reading about the ‘shiddach’ crisis, which could be a result of the outside influences pushing into the Jewish community and redefining the priorities of the Jewish family.
So now how does this relate to the topic of Mishabarach for Chayalim?
Something that I did not see in the discussion is that statistics about the make up of the IDF. Currently, the officer core of line officers has about 40% shomer mitzoth, which is a disproportionally greater % of shomer mitzvoth in the general population.
There are also a large number of non-Jewish Russian emigrants, some are going through a conversion process, this is a whole different topic.
I work for an educational resource working with schools and communities worldwide on instilling Jewish Identity and Pride through Israel Solidarity projects. Connections Israel works with various social service agencies in Kassam racked Sderot to provide services to the youth. We have Bar and Bat Mitzvah projects, we work with a High School youth leadership group.
We also have a number of projects to provide support to the IDF Rabbinate in Yehudah and Shomron.
We just gathered sponsors to provide 1700 combat size Sefer Tehillim to Chayalim.
We gathered sponsors to provide arba minim and mezonot to be distributed on a mobile Sukkah driven to the checkpoints and outposts that did not have one.
We are gathering sponsors of Jewish Identity Shiurim to be given to Chayalim so that they will have a greater understanding of the connection of Jews to Eretz Yisroel.
We are gathering sponsors for Limmuday Kodesh S’forim to be placed on another 33 IDF Bases.
We are gathering sponsors to provide individual Chanukiot for Chayalim as well as Larger table top Chanukiot of 8 bases.
We are about to print a wallet size fold up which will have a couple perakim of Tehillim in Ivrit and English and space to write the name of a Chayal and a personal prayer for that Chayal. We are planning on distributing these to schools and congregations worldwide, along with the names of Chayalim.
So, while it doesn’t talk directly to the discussion, it does provide a vehicle to pray on an individual basis for an individual soldier.
If you would like to participate in any of our projects and would like the name of an IDF Soldier to be mispallel for, please send an email to me at hillel (at) ConnectionsIsrael (.) com
Chodesh Tov.
Hillel Levin
Shiloh