November 22, 2012 / 8 Kislev 5773 10 am Israel Time

The conflict in Israel’s South has brought out the best in the global Jewish family. Together with lone immigrant soldiers and new young immigrants, representatives from a UJA Federation of Greater Toronto solidarity mission packaged 200 parcels of sweets at The Jewish Agency’s Ulpan Etzion Absorption Center at Beit Canada in Jerusalem today. The packages will be delivered to soldiers serving near the Gaza border.

UJA Federation of Toronto donates 200 parcels to lone immigrant soldiers.

The representatives from UJA Toronto landed in Israel on Monday morning for a 72-hour solidarity mission. They were briefed by government officials, met with senior Jewish Agency staff, visited respite locations, and toured various communities under fire in the south. “There was a Code Red alert while our group was in Ashkelon, and we took shelter in the safe-room of Toronto House,” Arnie Aberman recounts with a smile. One of the eight Canadians who joined the mission, he is a member of Beth Tikva Congregation in Toronto, and before his retirement, was Dean of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Aberman wants his fellow Canadians back home to know that Israel is operating as usual, and that he has felt very safe during his visit. Saying that he came to learn more about Israeli military, political, and social operations at this time, he added that he and the rest of the group especially came to show Israelis that they are not alone. “We are one family. That is our message.”

 
Tatiana Veksler, 26, a new immigrant from Ukraine studying at Ulpan Etzion.

Baruch Kotsewa, Director of the Ulpan Etzion Absorption Center, thanked the group from Canada for showing their solidarity at this time, and observed that although the visitors have not come to live in Israel, they too have “made an Aliyah” – because through their actions, they have “brought themselves, and us, up.” He turned to the soldiers and told them to keep safe.

The Toronto mission brought with them 200 letters, written in Hebrew, from the Associated Hebrew Day School in Toronto. These letters were attached to parcels of sweets that they packed and donated to lone soldiers at the Gaza border.

Kotsewa encouraged the new immigrants to add their own letters as they assembled the packages. He stressed the impact that such letters have on soldiers at the front, citing the fact that soldiers often become close to the people who write them letters – with the potential for a lifelong connection. “You never know what will happen,” he added with a smile. “It can be a sort of shidduch.”

“A” from Los Angeles and “J” from France, two lone soldiers on The Jewish Agency’s Nativ (Jewish Heritage Education for Immigrant Soldiers) program—whose infantry brigade is currently meters from the Gaza border—also thanked the mission, and the students of Ulpan Etzion.

Motti Schnitzer, currently volunteering with lone soldiers, thanked The Jewish Agency “for the amazing work it is doing.” He felt very emotional to be back at Ulpan Etzion, which was his first home in Israel when he arrived four years ago. “In 2009, they did not have group flights from Belgium, and I arrived in Israel all alone. Ulpan Etzion, Baruch, and the staff here are the reasons that I am still in Israel. Ulpan is not just a place to learn Hebrew and Israeli culture, but to make connections. I have been in Israel four years, and still my best friends are those I met here.”

He gave the students the message: “Keep living! If you want to party,  go party. We can beat terrorists by sending them the message that they cannot terrorize us.”

Motti Schnitzer, 32. “It is important for us as soldiers to know what we are
fighting for.”

Motti remembers being on campus at the University of Antwerp during the Second Intifada, and being one of the only people who openly defended Israel. During his summer break in 2003, he volunteered at Soroka Medical Center at Be’er Sheva. A week after his return to Antwerp, a suicide bomber detonated on the same bus that he would take in Be’er Sheva. It was too difficult for him to be away from Israel in times of crisis, and he decided to return.  “Although I carry both Belgium and Israel in my heart—I have family and friends there—in Belgium, I never had this feeling of being Home which I have here. So I decided to make Aliyah as a lone soldier.” Motti, who holds a Masters degree in Communications, naturally joined the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

Motti remembers receiving packages when he was in the army, and that although to the outside, it may seem like a small gesture – as a soldier he could not believe that someone was bringing him such a gift. “It is important for soldiers to know what they are fighting for,” says Motti. “We have an amazing state which is continuing to support the weak among us.” He said that it was often lonely not having somewhere to go for weekends, but people in the street would invite him for Shabbat. “When I sat at those meals, I knew that I was fighting for their families.”

There are currently approximately 6,000 lone soldiers enrolled in the IDF. Motti says that the prevailing sentiment among them is that this type of conflict underscores a major reason they’re here in the first place:  to be available to defend their people and their country in times of trouble.

Like the men and women of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto mission, these soldiers feel that when one’s family is in danger, it is precisely the time to step up.

Ulpan Etzion students write letters to add to parcels donated by UJA Federation of Toronto to be sent to lone soldiers at the Gaza border. 

Members of the mission and Ulpan Etzion students give care packages and letters to the lone soldiers.