Helping Israel Defense Forces veterans navigate life

At age 14, Matis Yahu Brenner was estranged from his family and living on the streets of Brooklyn. Seven years later, he was undergoing training in the Israel Defense Forces’ combat commander’s course.

Rabbi Aaron Groner, of Yeshiva Ohr Yitzchak in Brooklyn, found Brenner and set him up to move to Israel and work on a farm. It was Brenner’s choice, he said, and he went, and worked on two farms. At 21 he was drafted into the IDF.

“I was one of 10 in a hard-core religious family, and I didn’t do too well in school,” Brenner, now 25, said at Congregation Aish Kodesh, an Orthodox synagogue in Woodmere, on Dec. 3. “When I went into the army, I learned responsibility, and that there’s a mission beyond yourself.”

Brenner was at Congregation Aish Kodesh for a fundraising concert for Nevut, an organization founded in September 2017 by Rabbi Ari Abramowitz, of Spring Valley, with the mission of easing the transition for IDF veterans who return to the United States.

Brenner served in the IDF for two years, mainly with the Givati combat brigade. He earned his sergeant stripes and oversaw as many as two dozen soldiers. “It was a big step for me to be in charge,” he said, adding that he was a bit intimidated by people who attended school, especially college. “I know I have street smarts and somewhat of an ego,” Brenner said, “and I tell people I have life experience.”

After 18 months of being a “lone soldier,” he was discharged. Lone soldiers are those serving in the IDF who do not have immediate family in Israel. They are typically immigrants, orphans or Israeli-born and estranged from their families. Brenner headed to California to begin civilian life anew in 2016. “I went to Los Angeles to get a new life,” he said. “I found it was very, very hard. I’ve been in New Jersey for the past year doing construction.”

Being acquainted with Abramowitz, of Chayel el Chayel, a Spring Valley-based organization that aids lone soldiers in service, Brenner learned about Nevut, which offers IDF veterans networking programs as well as personal development, guidance, leadership and mentoring opportunities. A Hebrew word that means “to navigate,” Nevut’s aim is to help them remain connected to Jewish heritage. More than 300 American IDF soldiers return to the U.S. each year, according to the organization.

“This is all about giving back and being able to be a leader in the community,” Abramowitz, Nevut’s executive director, said at the concert. He served in the IDF in 2009 and 2010, and then became a dorm counselor and assistant principal at YMAL, a Jewish high school in upstate Monsey that is now closed. “We’re building a model that could be expanded to other places,” he said, “and possibly the U.S. military.”

To expand its brand, Nevut hosted the fundraiser at Congregation Aish Kodesh. Lloyd Lazar, “the best guitarist In Israel,” according to the Jerusalem Post, performed, mixing standard Jewish songs with rock ’n’ roll-style numbers sung in English and Hebrew.

Abramowitz said that he had a path to follow in his post-military life, first becoming a rabbi and then working at the yeshiva. He saw, however, that many other former lone soldiers were having difficulty making the switch back to civilian life. “The transition for me was different — I was busy and had a lot structure,” he said, crediting his mother for pushing him to become a rabbi and his wife, Rochel Shira, for helping him create Nevut. “A lot of guys don’t know what their next move is.”

Joining forces with Dr. Eric Pollak, founder and executive director of the Shiluv Center for Lone Soldiers in Woodmere, Abramowitz also began the Leadership Initiative roughly a year ago. It’s a monthly discussion group for veterans that focuses on establishing positive relationships and building self-esteem, and offers them the chance to share their experiences.

“After coming back to America, there is no structure, and for many of the soldiers, their friends are in college or getting jobs,” said Pollak, referring to Sebastian Junger’s book “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging” in explaining why the Leadership Initiative, and Nevut, could be successful in their related missions. In the book, Junger illustrates how people are stronger when they bond. “We have guys who are having similar struggles,” Pollak said, “and [we] help them to readjust and get them going.”

Israel Romand could be considered an early Nevut success story. Though he doesn’t lack confidence, Romand, 24, was short on professional experience, and after he completed his 18-month IDF service with the Nahal Brigade in February 2015, he tried to bluff his way into a sales manager’s job at Gene ID. “It was a huge transition,” he said. “The mentality is that no one else is going through what you’re going through, and you ask, am I alone in the world?” he said before the concert began.

Working in Rockland County, Romand learned of Nevut, and got involved with the organization — and eventually landed a job at Gene ID. He is now the sales director at Sleek Marketing and is the marketing manager for Ark Mortgages. “My own transition was very healthy,” he said. “Applying for that sales manager job, the guy was giving me an opportunity to sell myself.”

For Brenner, life is much better now than when he was 14. He has reconnected with his family. A few of his brothers live nearby, in New Jersey, and his short-term plans include getting married and starting a family. “Get involved as a general rule,” he said when asked what advice he would give returning lone soldiers. “It’s made me get beyond myself.”

For more on Nevut, go to www.nevut.org.