Honoring the South Shore’s ‘lone soldiers’

Lone soldiers will be honored at the third annual Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) community event fundraiser at the Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst on May 28, where about 400 supporters from the Five Towns and across the South Shore are hoping to surpass last year’s amount of $300,000.
The buffet dinner and soldiers’ tribute raises money to assist about 30 lone soldiers from the Five Towns and other South Shore communities currently enlisted with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Since 1948, about 80 soldiers from this part of Long Island have served in the IDF.
Jay Spector, a lawyer from Lawrence who serves on the FIDF Five Towns/South Shore board, said many young men and women volunteer. “They are called lone soldiers since when they get to Israel they have no family and are basically on their own,” he said. “This program provides for the needs of these soldiers, showing them that despite the distance from their friends and family, they are never alone. Besides catering to their needs while alone in Israel, the money raised provides annual flights for lone soldiers to come home to visit their families.” The Israeli government provides the soldiers with weaponry and the FIDF provides them with daily basic needs and helps them find housing, for example.
Isaac Katz, a former lone soldier from North Woodmere, served as a paratrooper and sniper in the 101st Brigade from November 2011 to September 2013. Katz said the FIDF helped him recharge his energy during his military service. “The biggest help I got as a lone soldier was a paid flight, provided by the FIDF, to fly home for three weeks to visit my family in New York,” he said. “With all the sleepless nights, backbreaking days, and all around stressful times in the army, these once a year flights home really gave me something to look forward to, and return back to Israel a reenergized and reinvigorated soldier ready to do my job.”
Evan Linder, a lone soldier who was drafted last November, had moved to Israel in August of 2012. The 20-year-old West Hempstead native graduated from Rambam Mesivta in Lawrence. He is currently serving in a special forces company, the Golani brigade. His mother, Helaine, said she is very proud of her son’s service. “I’m proud he took that huge step,” she said. “Serving in the IDF is very much what he’s always wanted to do. The Friends of IDF have helped him to understand what it means to give.”
Liron Kreitman, director of the FIDF, said that there are four programs for assisting the IDF, and the lone soldiers program is the one where most people donate funding. “Our goal at FIDF is to highlight what we do to show the community how their money goes directly to helping the soldiers,” she said. “People can give money to specific programs. They want to know where their money goes, and we are very transparent with that information, making sure they know.” The FIDF program matches every patron’s donation, dollar for dollar.
Katz said that he wanted to serve to feel a part of Israel. “Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people,” he said. “To truly feel part of the nation of Israel I felt I needed to sacrifice, just like Israelis do, and enlist in the IDF to protect the Jewish homeland. This sacrifice really put things into a whole new perspective for me of what it means to be Jewish in today’s modern world.”