For most Israeli soldiers, being released from base for Rosh Hashanah means going home. For others, the word “home” is precisely where things become complicated.
Some are new immigrants who came to Israel without their families. Others grew up in Israel but, for personal or family reasons, do not have a stable home to return to. And among some young Haredi men who enlist in the IDF, military service can also change their relationship with the family or community in which they were raised.
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For lone soldiers, ‘going home’ can be the hardest part of leaving the base
(Photo: Kfir Traube, Arzieli Association)
As soldiers across the country prepare to leave their bases for the Jewish New Year, a new project in Ariel, in the West Bank, is trying to give those without a family support network something that cannot be packed into a military duffel bag: a place that belongs to them.
‘Where are you for the holiday?’
For most soldiers, the question barely requires an answer.
At home. With their parents. With their siblings. Around the same holiday table waiting for them each year.
For Menachem, a pseudonym for a Haredi soldier serving in a combat role, the question is much more complicated.
“In the army, you’re part of a team,” he said. “There are people around you all the time, and you know exactly what your role is. It’s actually when they tell you, ‘Shabbat shalom, enjoy being home,’ that you suddenly realize you don’t have what everyone else has.”
The feeling becomes particularly sharp around holidays, he said.
“You don’t want people to feel sorry for you, and you don’t want to have to look for a family to host you every time. You want to know there’s a place you can simply go to and feel at home.”
It was encounters with soldiers in precisely those moments that led Kfir Traube to a different approach to supporting them.
Building a home for lone soldiers
(Photo: Kfir Traube, Arzieli Association)
Through his work helping soldiers, Traube repeatedly saw what happened after the larger moments of military service were over: the equipment came off, friends scattered to their families and a soldier who appeared strong and independent suddenly had to work out where he would sleep that weekend.
Together with the Arzieli Association, Traube is now leading an effort to establish a home in Ariel for lone soldiers, a term commonly used in Israel for service members who lack close family support in the country.
“For a long time, we would go to soldiers and bring food, equipment, treats, anything we could,” Traube said. “But at some point, we realized there was one thing you cannot bring to a military base: a home.”
“You meet a combat soldier who gives everything he has, and then the weekend comes and you realize he doesn’t really have anywhere to return to. For me, that was where the idea was born. Not to give him another meal, but to give him a key.”
Different soldiers, the same need
The planned home is intended for soldiers from a range of backgrounds, including secular, religious and Haredi troops, young people who moved to Israel alone and Israeli-born soldiers who lack a permanent family support system because of personal or family circumstances.
The project is also in contact with IDF officials involved in integrating and supporting Haredi soldiers, reflecting the different needs that may arise among those who use the home.
A soldier who immigrated to Israel alone may need an Israeli family or community to help guide him through everyday life. A Haredi soldier may also need an environment in which he can continue observing his religious lifestyle without having to explain himself.
Others simply need a permanent address.
A place to leave clothes, wash their uniforms, open a refrigerator, sleep and know that the next time they are released from base they will not have to start searching for somewhere to stay all over again.
That is why Traube says the goal is not to create another hostel or temporary accommodation.
The aim is to create a home.
Organizers envision a place where soldiers are known by name, share Shabbat and holiday meals and receive support with personal matters outside military life, providing some of what most of their fellow soldiers receive naturally from their families.
When ‘home’ needs an address
Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, that mission takes on additional significance.
In Israel, the holidays are closely tied to the idea of home: the family table, familiar food, traditional blessings and the people waiting for you to walk through the door.
For soldiers serving without a family support network, none of that can be taken for granted.
The Arzieli Association is now working to complete the house and raise the resources needed to operate it.
For Traube and the organization, however, success is not measured only by how much money is raised.
The test is far simpler.
The next time a commander tells a lone soldier, “You’re released, go home,” they want the word “home” to have an address.