Thank You, UJC MetroWest!

by Private Gilad Skolnick, IDF

I had a feeling that I would have a good time when I was invited by the Jewish Agency for Israel to an evening of meetings with some Americans from Jewish communities from all over the U.S. I had the fun of watching them get fed on some fine army cuisine, but I never expected it to be a moving and touching experience that weeks later would still resonate in my mind.

A year ago, I made aliyah. I was born on a kibbutz less than a mile from the Gaza Strip, but when I was six, we left Israel for a suburb of Boston. After finishing a BA and master's degree and partaking of just about every Jewish Agency program available, I couldn't stop thinking about being in Israel. I knew I had to return as soon as possible.

Upon arriving here, I lived in an absorption center for five months, spending 20 hours a week sharpening my Hebrew. I was then drafted into the IDF. It rarely rains here, but for my one month of outdoor basic training, it rained constantly. It was there that we learned to shoot in the dark, in the light, march, make our beds, and produce creative meals with cans of kosher spam.

Currently, I serve on the main IDF base in Tel Aviv — the Pentagon of Israel. There I am an analyst, responsible for researching how international public opinion and media view the IDF and related issues. It is fulfilling to be able to help a cause that I believe in and experience what all Israelis go through. We track everything under the sun, and while it is difficult to often see Israel unfairly portrayed in a negative light in the press, some things are uplifting, such as reading that support for Israel among Americans is at a 20-year high.

As a Lone Soldier serving full time in the army, I have many more everyday responsibilities than most Israeli soldiers. As I do not have parents to live with, I need to maintain an apartment, worry about food when I'm not on base, find creative ways to stretch a stipend of a few hundred dollars a month, do laundry, and navigate the challenging Israeli bureaucracy in Hebrew.

Not long ago, along with some of my colleagues, I was brought to a remote paratrooper base in the Negev desert to meet with donors and community leaders from the North American Jewish Federation. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Michael Katz, the Director of Donor and Corporate Development at UJC MetroWest. I learned all I ever wanted to know about this incredible community and more. It was heartwarming to meet so many people who care so much about Israel and are taking the time and putting in the effort to assist the country.

We learned about the many programs of the Jewish Agency, such as the Lone Soldiers program, which helps people like me who do not have immediate family living in Israel. I was especially excited to learn that I will be receiving career assistance and advice after I finish my army service. We also had a moving speaker tell us about the Nativ program she completed, which helps children of interfaith marriages officially convert while in the IDF. There were other speakers and the evening ended with some great Israeli dancing. On our bus ride back, all of us soldiers became engrossed in a conversation about how moved we were, seeing so many people come here and show their support. Thank you, UJC MetroWest, for all your support and assistance. It means a lot.

Private Gilad Skolnick is an IDF soldier who made aliyah a year ago.

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