\u00a0Thousands of young people leave their home countries each year to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Known as \u201clone soldiers,\u201d they make up about five percent of the IDF\u2019s roughly 170,000 troops, and unlike most of their peers, they do it without family nearby.<\/p>\n
For many, the decision is not sudden. Max Long, who grew up in Boston, says his path to Israel developed gradually.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was something that didn\u2019t happen overnight,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a deep connection to the understanding that wherever we are in the world, Israel is our home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the reality on the ground can be tough. Moving to a new country is hard enough. Doing it in a different language while serving in the military adds another layer of difficulty and, in many cases, a sense of isolation.<\/p>\n
For Levi Preger, those moments of loneliness were often the most ordinary ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust before you\u2019re about to go home, your friends are talking about seeing their parents,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I know that I\u2019m going back to an empty home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lone soldiers face life alone: NGO helps foreign recruits adjust in Israel<\/p>\n
Preger joined the IDF in 2019, but the path that brought him there was unexpected. He grew up in the Netherlands in what he describes as a traditional but not particularly religious household, with no visible connection to Judaism. That changed when he was 17.<\/p>\n
He discovered that his family had Jewish roots on his mother\u2019s side, something that had been kept hidden for decades. After World War II, his great grandmother chose not to speak about her Jewish identity, likely out of fear that another Holocaust could happen.<\/p>\n
The discovery reshaped how Preger saw himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of a family secret that was lost during the war,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we found out, and it started the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following this, and a Birthright trip that exposed him to Israel and fellow Jews for the first time, Preger chose to enlist in the IDF.<\/p>\n
Like many lone soldiers, the challenges did not end when his service did. Adjusting to civilian life in Israel can come with a different set of hurdles, from finding housing to navigating paperwork, without the safety net most Israelis rely on.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t realize what you\u2019re missing until you need it,\u201d Long said. \u201cA guarantor, a lawyer, someone to help with a contract. Most people just call their parents. Lone soldiers don\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After finishing his own service in 2019, Long decided to try to fill that gap. He founded Growing Wings, a nonprofit aimed at helping lone soldiers transition into life after the army, whether that means finding a place to live, help with the notoriously tricky Israeli bureaucracy, or simply having someone to call.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve created a kind of hub,\u201d he said. \u201cIf someone comes to us with a problem, we\u2019ll find the person or organization that can help, and then we actually follow up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preger was one of the first people to turn to Growing Wings. Just weeks before enlisting, he found himself without housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Max, \u2018I\u2019m drafting in two weeks and I have nowhere to go,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cHe set me up in an apartment with other lone soldiers. That\u2019s when I realized this was something different. They actually stay with you through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The community the organization builds has also been shaped by loss. Ariel Lubliner, a Brazilian born lone soldier who served alongside Long and later mentored younger recruits at Growing Wings, was killed in Gaza last August.<\/p>\n
At Israel\u2019s first Memorial Day ceremony dedicated to lone soldiers, Long laid a wreath in his memory, and for others who never made it home.<\/p>\n
Among them was Josh Boone, an Idaho born sniper known as the \u201cBear Jew,\u201d who died by suicide in January. His partner, Keren, also laid a wreath at the ceremony.<\/p>\n
Back to life: farm helps Israeli veterans heal the scars of war<\/p>\n
As Israel grapples with growing mental health challenges among veterans, exacerbated by the events of the last three years, Long says the solution often starts small.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk a lot about mental health,\u201d he said. \u201cBut sometimes it\u2019s just having someone check in on you. That can be the difference between life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the thousands of lone soldiers who arrive each year, this kind of support can make all the difference. What begins as a solitary journey, Long says, does not have to stay that way.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Lone soldier\u2019 sounds like you\u2019re alone,\u201d he said. \u201cBut community is how you get out of that. I\u2019m here to help because someone helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0Thousands of young people leave their home countries each year to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Known…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-403670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}