This morning, Wise School students got to hear from three Israeli Defense Force soldiers thanks to the Friends of Israel Defense Force, an organization supported by many of our parents.
Israeli Army Second Lieutenant Yosef left his home in Portland, Ore., when he was just 14. Raised in a Chabad home, he had to convince his parents he could take care of himself halfway around the world, to say nothing of his desire to join the Israeli Army.
“I really had to argue with my mom,” he told Wise School students on Friday morning. “It was the best decision of my life.”
Yosef and two other IDF soldiers—veteran Navy Captain Guy, and 25-year-old Navy Captain Tal—spent Friday morning at Stephen Wise Temple and Schools, visiting classrooms, attending services, and taking questions from Wise School students. While Yosef felt an understandable sense of familiarity being back in the United States, his two colleagues felt echoes of home, too.
“It feels like being with family,” said Capt. Guy. “And it sounds the same, too.”
As Capt. Guy, the Israeli Navy attaché in Washington D.C., addressed the fourth graders, he paused. “My son,” he said, “is the same age as you.”
As 2nd Lt. Yosef—who has served as a combat soldier and a drill sergeant—hummed the niggunim during the Friday morning service, he was reminded of those he heard in his 25-family community in Oregon.
“It’s a real pleasure to be here, to see all the support that we get from the community here, especially the young generation,” said Capt. Guy. “They’re educated to appreciate the IDF and to support Israel. It’s not taken for granted, and we’re very thankful for that. It’s always exciting to meet the young generation, and to hear their praying here, it feels like coming to our family from overseas, and being part of something bigger than us.”
Capt. Tal has as much fun sitting among the fourth graders as he did standing in front of them telling stories. He got a hearty laugh when he described how Israeli seamen start the day during their training. Said Capt. Tal: “We get up early, at four o’clock in the morning, and we run into the cold water for a morning swim. It’s called ‘good morning to the sea.’ We yelled, ‘good morning!’ to the sea, and then we ran into the cold water and run back out.”
The trio spoke to students in grades three through six about what life is like in the Israeli armed forces, the challenges of being a combat soldier, performing search and rescue operations in a building struck by a missile, how COVID disrupted their operations and training, and the kinds of bonds formed when a common cause goes deeper than mere operational success.
“The only reason why we’re sitting here is because we’re the newest link in a chain of Jews who white-knuckled their way through history,” said 2nd Lt. Yosef, who commands a 24-person unit usually deployed in the West Bank, and often tasked with search and rescue. “It’s now our responsibility to ensure the next generation and the next generation.”
Following the sixth-grade presentation, the three soldiers gave Israeli Navy baseball caps to the two classes, and greeted a fellow veteran’s daughter: Wise School teacher Amy Burch, whose father served in the Israeli Navy for 25 years.
The visit was made possible by the Wise School community’s involvement with the Friends of the IDF and the Barcohana family. This past spring, Wise families donated to fund a shelter for Israeli soldiers operating the Iron Dome system at a remote desert outpost. If you are interested in learning more about the FIDF, visit their website: https://www.fidf.org/
