Just over 100 days ago, the entire Jewish world shook to its core.
It is safe to say that almost every Jewish person on the earth changed on that devastating Saturday as we watched, live and in real-time, Hamas terrorists infiltrate our communities, slaughter around 1,300 people, parade the dead bodies of our loved ones on the streets of Gaza, rape and gang rape our women, torture Israelis in front of their families, burn and mutilate them and kidnap some 260 people from all over the world to hold them hostage.
It was nothing short of a Holocaust, maybe not in size but definitely in nature.
In almost every single war, the civilians will do everything to escape, and while that was the case for many residents in Israel, an overwhelming 331,000 Israelis abroad were waiting for hours on standby to board planes to get back home to Israel.
In one instance, Israel’s El Al airline even permitted Israeli backpackers who were traveling from Thailand to sleep on the floor of the plane as they rushed back home for reserve duty. Which other country has its citizens and reservists rushing back during such an unprecedented war?
It seems that for most Jews, Golda Meir’s words are true: “We have no place else to go.”
Already at the airport, about to board another flight
Indeed as Jewish people, without Israel, we have nothing. This idea is core for many Jews who did not grow up in Israel or no longer live there. While they were not expected to return in the aftermath of October 7, they understood that they had a responsibility to do so, not just for Israel but for Jews everywhere.
Sam is one of those reservists, currently stationed on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Sam grew up in Europe and was raised by American parents. He was drafted into the IDF in 2016 and served as a lone soldier for three years in a tank reconnaissance unit but has been living in Los Angeles for the past three years.
On October 7, Sam was visiting his mother in London and was about to board the plane back to Los Angeles before he heard the news at the airport.
“I saw the news and didn’t get on the flight [to Los Angeles]; I got a flight to Israel instead.”
Although he had no plan or understanding of what would happen, Sam was ready to return to Israel.
“Nobody had been drafted yet to reserves, but it was clear that something big was going to happen. For me, the motivating factor was solidarity with my friends who served in the army, knowing that they are responsible for keeping the country safe, and I felt responsible too.”
A decision made years ago, for such a time as this
Jake Goldson grew up in the United States and lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He came to Israel after college and was drafted into the IDF at the end of 2015 in the “Nahal” Brigade. For Jake, serving in the IDF was essential to being part of Israeli society. He had returned to the US during the pandemic, when Israel’s tourism industry shut down but was visiting on October 7, 2023, for the Sukkot holiday with his fiancee.
“I was in an Airbnb with my then-fiancee in Jerusalem when it happened, and then immediately checked in with tzevet (team) and saw that we were being called up.”
Jake had prepped for his fiancee Morgan, now his wife, to return to the US – and he joined his old unit stationed in the north with Lebanon.
When I asked Jake what drew him to stay and serve in Israel instead of returning to the US with his now-wife, Jake responded, “It was a decision I made ever since I got out of the army that if something would happen, I would always be there.”
While Jake and Morgan, had no idea how long this war would last, the two were concerned about how they would see each other from different sides of the globe. They decided to do one of the most meaningful things to show that life and love continue in Israel after such a tragedy and decided to get married while Jake was still on reserve duty. The army and many volunteers assembled a small wedding for Jake and Morgan at Ramat HaGolan.
“It was really special. It was like nothing we could have imagined, and we were so happy it turned out that way,” says Jake.
"I wanted to join my unit to do my part"
URI IS an Israeli who grew up in Israel but moved to Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife, who is completing a post-doctorate, and their three children. After his family heard what happened on October 7, he decided that although he was not required to return, he would join his old unit to serve as a reservist. He booked an immediate flight and joined his unit the following day.
“All Jews and Israelis that I spoke to in the States and that I work with felt like they had to do something and that they can’t stand [to] and hear what’s happening in Israel without doing something.”
Uri continued, “I asked myself what I could do. And although I didn’t have to, I felt like I wanted to join my unit to do my part in this horrible situation.” Uri is now stationed in the North and responding to Hezbollah fire.
Although they come from entirely different backgrounds, all three of these men, like so many others who live in Israel and outside of it, had to stop their entire lives on October 7, sacrifice time with their families, and put their careers or studies on hold to fight a war on behalf of their nation-state. While people like Sam, Jake, and Uri no longer psychically live in Israel, they understood that this was a historic fight for the Jewish people as a whole.
I asked them about any key takeaways as reservists and what outcomes they want to see for Israel and the Jewish people in the aftermath of this war.
“KEEP THIS unity. We have all kinds of people in our unit, religious, non-religious, Left, rRght, all kinds of people, and we have come together. I hope this unity and the spirit of the reservists will be reflected outside,” says Uri.
Whether you are directly connected to Israelis or not, as a Jewish person, your fate is connected to Israel. It is our home whether we like it or not. Doing nothing is not a choice when you have enemies on every side that want to commit genocide on every side.” says Sam.
What inspires me about them is that they prove that antisemitism on this scale will no longer go unaddressed.
Hamas terrorists committed a Nazi-style attack on October 7. While Israel has fought wars and operations, this is the first time in modern history that the Jewish world has taken a stance and refused to sit idly by while genocidal terrorists attempted to do what Hitler intended. Israel does not have an army for just its citizens; it is an army for Jewish people all over the world.
The writer is a social media activist with more than 10 years of experience working for Israeli and Jewish causes and cause-based NGOs. She is co-founder and COO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm specializing in geopolitics.