Campaign seeks to raise NIS one million for IDF Lone Soldiers

Israel has an estimated 6,300 lone soldiers serving in all capacities and ranks in the IDF.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 09:11

Solomon Shapiro (center) at the IDF induction center in Jerusalem, September 2020 (photo credit: JACOB BRONSTEIN) — Solomon Shapiro (center) at the IDF induction center in Jerusalem, September 2020

(photo credit: JACOB BRONSTEIN)

A new campaign will be launched Tuesday by the Lone Soldier Center (LSC) in order to raise NIS one million from Israelis and overseas Jewish communities throughout the high Jewish holidays, which will aid the new recruits in their transition to IDF military life without the help of immediate family.

The LSC is a non-profit organization established in memory of Michael Levin, a former lone solider killed during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, that helps these soldiers get through the toughest time of their lives.

Israel has an estimated 6,300 lone soldiers serving in all capacities and ranks in the IDF, who are conferred this unique status under certain conditions such as not having parents in the country, immigrants, orphans and those estranged from their families. In many cases and unlike native Israelis, lone soldiers typically do not have hot meals awaiting them on Friday night upon returning home from their bases on leave, or someone to help them with their laundry.

For one new recruit, Solomon Shapiro, 24, who made aliyah from Great Neck, NY, a year ago, the process of IDF induction and adjusting to Israeli life has not been an easy one amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“All my family is back in America,” Solomon said. “It isn’t going to be the easiest, but I know it’s the right decision for me. The pandemic is going on but the army still has to function.”

As parts of the LSC's services, it operates nine apartment homes offering low-rent housing to about 100 soldiers in Jerusalem, Petach Tikva, Herzliya and Ramat Hasharon, in addition to social clubs geared for 1,000 soldiers throughout the country.

“We provide the soldiers’ necessities, logistical and emotional support,” says Michal Berman, the organization’s CEO. “The social clubs are a place for them to hang out and meet each other,” notes Berman. Nevertheless, the CEO highlights that often lone soldiers struggle with the necessities.

“They need basic things like clean underwear, a toaster, somebody to look after them when they are sick…” she points out. “We have hundreds of volunteers who cook and do their laundry for them – many of them former lone soldiers or other immigrants.”

Apart from helping lone soldiers with necessities, the organization also assists them with navigating Israel's complex bureaucracy and attend military ceremonies in lieu of the parents, who may not be able to make the trip to Israel.

“They say this encourages them,” says Berman. “They are amazing heroes who decide to come here to serve, and they deserve our support.”

To join the effort: https://www.charidy.com/lsc