Harrison Resident Heads to Israel to Enlist

A group of New York residents joined the Nefesh B’Nefesh soldiers flight from New York to Tel Aviv Aug. 17 with over 60 others from across North America.

They will begin new lives in Israel as Lone Soldiers—young people who’ve left behind their homes, families and friends to join the Israel Defense Forces.

The New York group includes:

• Matan Bocarsly, 22, of Yonkers
• Adina Fadis, 21, of Swan Lake
• Menachem Friedman, 19, of Suffern
• Yuval Hadari, 17, of Harrison
• Noa Heller, 18, of Chestnut Ridge

“I guess you could say that I decided to do it because I wanted to take an active role in Jewish history and fulfill not only my own dream, but the dream of every Jew past and present,” said Friedman.

In fact, they are part of a growing national trend, with some 600 young people across the country annually forgoing the traditional post-college route by serving in one of the world’s most dangerous war zones to defend their ancestral homeland, Nefesh B’Nefesh officials said. Nefesh B’Nefesh, in cooperation with Friends of the IDF (FIDF), cares for thousands of lone soldiers serving in the IDF through the Lone Soldiers Program, which offers guidance, and support, for all lone soldier immigrants during each stage of their service: pre-immigration, pre-recruitment, during active military service, after release from the army, and during adjustment to civilian life.

“Joining the IDF was something that I always considered while growing up,” Hadari said. “My parents emigrated from Israel in 1996 and I was born a year later. Throughout my child hood, and up until now, I always listened to my father’s tales from the Shayetet 13 (navy commando) and it always kept the idea of joining the IDF in mind. The real reason as to why I decided to enlist was because I felt a sense of obligation to my people, my nation, and my land of Israel. This feeling arose several months ago during my school’s Senior trip to Poland for a week and seven weeks in Israel. While there I learned things that eluded me during my countless prior trips to Israel with my family. Gathering all this knowledge helped me come to certain conclusions about Israel’s statehood, the Jewish people, and my connection to both of these ideas that I have never thought of before I finally understood what it means, or at least would mean, to become a soldier in the IDF. It finally hit me that my calling for the next three years would be, like my older brother before me, join Garin Tzabar, return to the land of my roots, and serve for the greater good and protection of my people.

“Now I am super excited to finally be taking the next step in my life. Overall, more than anything, I am happy and really looking forward to living and being with likeminded people my age who will all be undergoing the same happy and sad moments together. I know I am really going to miss my parents, my younger and older brothers, and everything I am leaving behind to make this move, but my feelings of sadness are only matched by my enthusiasm and excitement for what fate has in store for me in this tremendous life changing journey to come.”

PHOTO: Yuval Hadari/Credit: Shahar Azran