Bereaved US mother: Didn't think I'd give Israel so much
Harriet Levin - whose son Michael immigrated from Philadelphia, enlisted and was killed in the Second Lebanon War - talks about his Zionism. 'I can't be in the US on this day,' she says
Harriet Levin isn't one of those people who will preoccupy herself asking why it happened to her, rather than to someone else. She's not someone who will try to apportion blame, or blame herself for allowing him to go to the army despite her gut feeling that something bad would happen.
Harriet Levin doesn't ask herself "what if" it hadn't happened. Harriet Levin believes in destiny. Her son's destiny was to die in a war for Israel and become part of this country.
"Mikey did what I always wanted to do and never did. He made aliyah to Israel and enlisted in the IDF," she said. "I always dreamed of doing more for my country, of coming and volunteering.
"After all, it's the easiest thing live in a big, beautiful house in the United States and to write a check for a pro-Israeli organization every once in a while," she explained. "I wanted to give a lot more, but I didn't think I'd give so much, that I'd give my son."
Harriet Levin, next to a picture of her son (Photo: Orly Zeiler)
Harriet Levin saw, last year and from afar, the Lebanese village where her son, Sergeant Michael Levin (22), was killed by a Hizbullah sniper in 2006. She spoke with his friends from the unit who we were with him in his final moments, asking for every detail. She keeps in touch with the medic who tried to save him.
Monday night, Harriet Levin participated in a special ceremony for IDF fallen from the Diaspora, organized in Jerusalem by the Jewish Agency's MASA project and attended by thousands of current and former members of Jewish Agency Diaspora projects.
When Mikey's good friend Aaron spoke at the ceremony of his choice to make aliyah to Israel, a decision he made the day after the sergeant was killed, Harriet Levin broke down. "He succeeded in his life's mission – Zionism, not in his life, but with his death," she said.
'Zionism was his dream'
This is Harriet Levin's third Memorial Day in Israel. "I can't be in the United States on this day," she explained. She added that this year's ceremony at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem, the same place she saw her still-living son receive his red paratrooper's beret several years ago, was particularly hard."Since his birth, I knew he would come to Israel and enlist in the IDF," she said. "It was his dream, and every visit to Israel just made it stronger." During 2001, at the height of the Intifada, he studied in Israel for several months. After witnessing the security situation, he determined not only to enlist, but to go to a combat unit.
Michael Levin followed his dream, enlisted and joined the paratroopers. When the Second Lebanon War broke out, he was visiting family in Philadelphia. He packed his bags and told his family, "I have to go back."
"After the war, we were told that he was originally assigned to guard in Hebron during the war, but he insisted on joining the fighting, even though the IDF prefers not to send lone soldiers (those with no family in Israel) to the front line," Harriet said.
Before he left, Michael was resolute in talking to his father about what would happen if he didn't make it back from the war. He said he wanted to be buried at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl.
When the family took him to the airport, his twin sister, Dara, said she knew at that moment that it would be the last time she would see him.
She missed his last phone call and only heard his voicemail saying, "it's crazy what's happening here, it's just hell. We'll talk when it's over." They never got to.
Can't escape the memories
On Memorial Day, Harriet can't escape the memories of August 1, 2006, the day her son died.
"I couldn't sleep," she recalled. "I went to work with a feeling that something bad was going to happen. All of a sudden, a representative from the consulate and the congregation's rabbi arrived and told me that Mikey had been killed. After the first shock had passed, we were asked where we would like him to be buried. We answered immediately – Mount Herzl."
Harriet was accompanied to the ceremony by a close friend and her son who came with her from the US. The former director for new immigrants at the Jewish Agency, considered the 'father of the lone soldiers' who was closely acquainted with Mikey, also joined to lend her his support, as did several of her son's friends from the army.
"There's nothing like the warmth and embrace in Israel. People in the United States say – if you need anything, call me," she explained, adding, "this is my country and if it were up to me, I would also make aliyah, but my family doesn't want to."
Harriet is returning to Philadelphia next week, but part of roots will forever be in Plot D, Row 6, at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
