Hello again, everyone! I hope everyone is doing well this week. I am back again with another blog about my journey to Israel. Last week, I talked about our journey from the north to the south, in which we stopped at the Technion in Haifa on our way and ended at the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem.
The day after arriving in the holy city of Jerusalem, we woke up awfully early and headed to a Kibbutz to learn about a famous figure in Israeli history known as Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin was an Israeli politician who served two terms as Prime Minister of Israel from 1974 until 1977 and again from 1992 until 1995 when he was assassinated. His legacy included him helping to strengthen US-Israeli ties and went on to win the Nobel Peace prize as he signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994 and attempted to gain Israeli-Palestinian peace with the Oslo Accords. At the Kibbutz, we discussed peace issues in Israel and how we would go about solving these issues. We also talked about how much of a disservice it was to the Middle East that Rabin was killed but later learned that many believed that he was helping the enemy too much. It was an incredible learning experience and I gained insight into Israeli-Palestinian peace and now believe, because of this Kibbutz, that with the right person in office, peace is possible.
Later that day, we visited the Lone Soldier Center in Jerusalem. This center is a place where Americans fighting in the Israeli army, with no family present in Israel, can spend holidays, weekends, or shifts off. It is a great place for soldiers to go that have no close relatives and want a free place to rest. The founder of the center was the Levin family, from Holland Pennsylvania, a small town about 15 minutes from me. Their son, Michael, decided to make Aliyah and forgo college to fight in the Israeli army. One of the most interesting parts about his story of joining the Israeli army was that he climbed a dumpster and jumped through a window in order to register for the IDF. After serving his first term with the army, he came out without a scratch and headed back to America to be with his family; however, while he was in America, the Second Lebanon War broke out in the middle east. Without hesitation, Levin booked his flight back to Israel to fight for the IDF. During the war, a Hezbollah fighter shot him in the head, killing him along with two other IDF soldiers. Levin’s story has echoed not only throughout Israel but throughout the United States as well. Levin had no family in Israel while he was deployed. Thus, he had nowhere to go for holidays. This center that his family has built is a phenomenal establishment and symbol of peace and refuge for lone soldiers.
Levin’s story had always been stuck with me even before I visited the Lone Soldier Center in Israel. For example, as the treasurer of my confirmation class, I, along with my other executive board members, donated all of our Tzedakah to the Lone Soldier Center in Israel. Since Michael Levin’s mother used to be a member of my synagogue, she came to the service where we presented her with the check.
We hung out at the Lone Soldier Center for about an hour or so. They had couches, TV’s, books, and games to keep soldiers occupied while they were not on duty. Is spoke with one soldier who was there. He had a massive gun strapped around his shoulder, which was an AK-47.
Not to mention, the gun was fully loaded when he was talking to me. He was such a nice, great guy and I could not be happier that all the money that my confirmation class raised goes to such a great cause. Before I knew it, we were leaving the center and headed to an art museum, which I will talk about next week!