‘When Will You Stop Donating Gear to IDF Soldiers?’
In October 2023, when I first began raising money to buy essential gear for front-line Israeli soldiers, the main question people asked was, “Where do I send the funds?” Nearly two years later, after generous contributors have given over $40 million to enable my Israel-based team to purchase vital equipment, I am increasingly facing a very different question: “When will you stop donating gear to IDF soldiers?” Though I’m not a mind-reader, I would guess that for every person candid enough to ask this directly, there are many more who are thinking it.
I have to admit that I periodically wonder whether it’s time to wind down the volunteer work on behalf of our soldiers to which I have devoted thousands of hours since the war began. I have a fulfilling position on the leadership team of Shalem College in Jerusalem and am eager to devote myself even more fully to building that institution. I would love to spend additional time with my wife Jocelyn, our six children, and their families. Moreover, it pains me that to raise money, I have to explain, sometimes publicly, that the Israeli army—which I love passionately (as I wrote here)—is underperforming in ways that undermine the safety of our troops.
Despite these occasional longings, I cannot bring myself to halt the efforts to equip our troops. There are three main reasons why I feel compelled to go on.
First, I feel an enormous sense of debt to the 100,000-plus combat soldiers who stepped forward to defend our country at one of its darkest hours. Day in and day out they have sacrificed to an extraordinary degree and risked their lives to protect all Israelis,........
© The Times of Israel (Blogs)
