{"id":1376,"date":"2014-04-28T07:52:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T07:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2014-04-28T17:41:18","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T17:41:18","slug":"israels-heart-for-the-lone-soldier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/israels-heart-for-the-lone-soldier\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel’s Heart for the ‘Lone Soldier’"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Esther Korson<\/p>\n

On my last blog before the Passover holiday, entitled \u201cPassover with a Blood Red Moon in Jerusalem,\u201d<\/a> I told about the beginning of the Passover holiday.\u00a0 Even though the Passover week is over, I\u2019d still love to share with you what life was like here in Israel during the week following the Seder itself.<\/p>\n

If you were visiting here, the next strange thing that you\u2019d notice in the shops\u2014after all the bread products disappeared\u2014 is that barbecue supplies of every sort were on display.\u00a0 During the Passover week, 3.6 million Israelis visited the national parks and recreational areas for barbecues and picnics and hikes and fun family time.\u00a0 You have to be sure that the entire country smelled like one enormous barbecue!\u00a0 And also bear in mind that since Israel is so tiny, with a total population of seven million that means that a lot of people visited those sites! And that didn\u2019t include hundreds of thousands of cyclists taking to the bike trails! (One time as a family some years ago we went for a picnic in one of the parks a little late, and we could not even find a single rock to sit down on, it was so crowded!)<\/p>\n

\"Israel's<\/a>

Israel’s Defence Forces – Photo by Ouria Tadmor<\/p><\/div>The traffic jams were phenomenal as so many people took to the roads.\u00a0 Jerusalem was the worst for snarled traffic, since not only is it a Biblical imperative to come up to Jerusalem during the Passover festival, but since this Passover coincided with Easter Sunday; many thousands of Christian tourists were here as well.\u00a0 One day during the Passover week I went to my favourite little supermarket to pick up supplies and needed to take a taxi home with the groceries.\u00a0 Usually the ride takes only 10 minutes!\u00a0 But on this lovely Passover day, the traffic was so terrible that I said to the driver, \u201cI could walk faster!\u201d We both laughed, but then the traffic stopped altogether, which was no laughing matter. It took more than 30 minutes for that usually short ride!<\/p>\n

This truly is a tiny country, but people have often commented that it feels like the Lord put a little bit of the whole world into it. (Those of you who have visited Israel will know what I mean).\u00a0 The scenery changes quickly and there are so many beautiful places to see and to visit throughout the land.\u00a0 In the spring the countryside is covered with wildflowers (there is a law preventing people from picking them so that they can be enjoyed by everybody) and it makes everything even more beautiful than normal. That helps to make this the perfect time to see the land plus Israelis love to be together!\u00a0 The hikes and picnics and barbeques and bike rides were all a big part of Passover week.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to share a little bit about Israeli soldiers.\u00a0 It seems like a diversion from Passover celebrations, but you\u2019ll see in a minute that it is not.\u00a0 Every young man or woman at the age of 18 is conscripted into the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).\u00a0 \u2014women for two years, men for 3 years\u2014plus they are available for reserve duty until the age of 49.\u00a0 As the saying goes, \u201cThey give us the best years of their lives.\u201d\u00a0 Even though they are conscripted, more than 90% of the young people say that they would enlist anyway, because they know that they are protecting their families and their country.\u00a0 The soldiers are our children, and they are treasured.<\/p>\n

There is another phenomenon that you might not be aware of, however. As the Jewish nation we are one big family and have come to Israel from almost all of the nations in the world. And there are also Jewish young people from many countries who leave the security of their homes and their families to become Israeli citizens and to serve in the IDF They are called \u201cLone Soldiers\u201d because they have no families here in the country. Special Passover arrangements are made for these young men and women, sponsored and organized by the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel\u2019s Soldiers, the Canadian Zionist Cultural Association, the IDF Manpower Directorate and the IDF Youth and Education Corps.<\/p>\n

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