We close this brief week (shortened due to the holiday of Shavu’ot) with two glimpses of very different sorts of stories that describe the lives of IDF soldiers, stories that are a bit off the beaten path, but that Israelis hear and read about regularly.
Headlines like the one below about a soldier seriously wounded are tragically not unusual in the Israeli press, either in Hebrew or any other language. Though IDF statistics on wounded soldiers are not updated consistently, the IDF has said that approximately 10,000 soldiers have been wounded in the war, about 1,000 new cases are opened each month (that number has likely dropped in recent months) and that somewhere around 750 have been seriously wounded.
The family of one seriously wounded soldier (NOT the soldier references in the TOI screenshot above) posted a video of their son, Niko, being visited by the new IDF Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, whose appointment took effect a couple of months ago. The family wanted the video spread so that people will have a sense of the profundity of some of these grievous wounds, and the critical roles that families play in being their sons’ and daughters’ voices.
And then there are stories that are much more heartwarming. The following story came out this pasts weekend in Yedi’ot Achronot, and was timed to coincide with the holiday of Shavu’ot, which we just celebrated this past week, because the story of the book of Ruth is the story of someone joining the Jewish people.
The headline reads צו גיור“Tzav Giyur” (An Order to Convert) which is a play on the real phrase, צו גיוס “Tzav Giyus” (A Draft Order).
The sub-headline, in the middle-sized print, reads:
In the shadow of this war, increasing numbers of non-Jews who live in Israel are seeking to become part of the Jewish people — many of them combat soldiers in the IDF who have been in battle. ⚫️ Michael, who was wounded as a reservist: “When the war started, I asked the [rabbinic] conversion court to speed up the process. I wrote them that I was in Gaza, and that if God forbid something were to happen to me, I want to die as a Jew.”
In the text of the article, Rabbi Seth Farber, who has appeared on our podcast several times on a variety of subjects, and who heads the organization Itim, which among other issues, helps people navigate the world of the rabbinate, often with regard to conversion, says, “In our conversion court, we’ve seen during the war a rise of 50% in the numbers of people who wish to convert. People wish to be part of the story of the Jewish people.”
The war is changing lives and families in ways that are far from the headlines that most of us see. Some are heartbreaking, but in some cases that are too important to overlook, there is also cause for pride — and for hope.
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