Comments on: The soldier I won’t be

By: Cool Cat

Cool Cat — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:16:03 +0000

John Hagee has a Zionist agenda. He is more a politician than a preacher. God loves Jews, christians, muslims, hindu etc……..The only reason the Bible says these last days Jews are synagogues of Satan is because they are Anti-Christ, spread lies about Jesus and kill many innocent Palestinians for Muslim land(Israel)

By: Zachary Sandman

Zachary Sandman — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 02:51:35 +0000

I am not sure that approaching the difficult decision of joining the army–American or Israeli–is best done through the lens of "necessity." The great fathers of the United States and the bold leaders of the Zionist movement did not act simply upon the principle of "necessity." If that were true, I doubt anything resembling the United States or the State of Israel would be present today. Rather, the decision to found a nation–and the personal decisions we make today whether or not to defend our nation–are made because of a deep belief in something. I expect that you would find that the young men and women serving in the Israel Defense Forces are not simply there because there are made to be nor simply because of a "necessity," but also because defending the State of Israel and the Jewish people is a cause they truly believe in. And I do not think that you would ever dream of saying to one of the tens of thousands of mothers, wives, and children of brave soldiers who have perished protecting our freedom in the past decade that there was "no real necessity" for the sacrifice their loved one made. So please do not fool yourself and your audience with the question of "necessity." Instead, please ask yourself what you believe in and make that the grounds upon whether you consider the question of whether or not to serve your country.

By: Rachel Selby

Rachel Selby — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:17:35 +0000

I'm not quite sure what to make of this article. It seems you are saying: thank you Israeli young men for serving our country and risking your lives to do so but I won't be joining you because I don't have to. I don't blame you but it's not particularly helpful to Israel or our soldiers to read, "phew I don't have to join the IDF although I'm very grateful that others do."

By: Rachel Selby

Rachel Selby — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:17:35 +0000

By: Lee Kansas

Lee Kansas — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:56:29 +0000

Your words teach one very important lesson for American Jewish families: the value of the Year Course Gap Year program. You have learned so much about Israel and yourself in this year. May many others take advantage of this opportunity.

By: Lee Kansas

Lee Kansas — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:56:29 +0000

By: Robert Lakin

Robert Lakin — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:58:37 +0000

Wow, Ari, I cringed reading "as an American, there is no real necessity for me to join the military". Did you think how that statement would sound to the thousands of American service members who, for financial reasons or simple sense of obligation, it IS a necessity to join the military. It smacks of the same holier-than-thou attitude that I see here in Israel — as an oleh — from hareidim who see no real necessity of joining the Israeli military.

My real question is this: so, you went back to America. Now what? Now what are you going to do to be of service to your country — America and/or Israel? Now what are you going to do to be of service to the Jewish people? Now what are you going to set out to accomplish so that your blog post won't lead people in Israel to see you as just another dilettante getting on and off the tour bus? Shabbat Shalom.

By: Howard Copelan

Howard Copelan — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:16:02 +0000

that was in the old days, from after 1973 the IDF is the only army an american can serve in without the threat of loss of US citizenship.

By: Zvi Peretz Cohen

Zvi Peretz Cohen — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:11:51 +0000

I was a member of the 1963-64 Year Couse. In 1968 I joined the IDF Engineering Corps for three years and gave up my USA citizenship. You are invited to do the same. That is Zionism.

By: Zvi Peretz Cohen

Zvi Peretz Cohen — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:11:51 +0000

I was a member of the 1963-64 Year Couse. In 1968 I joined the IDF Engineering Corps for three years and gave up my USA citizenship. You are invited to do the same. That is Zionism.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:12:21 +0000

Nice article. You talk about how you feel that Israeli youth joining the army is more "harrowing" than you going to college, and why you didn't sign up for the U.S. army. What you leave unsaid is why you didn't sign up for the Israeli army. I know many American youth your age who have done just that. To be clear, I'm not saying this in any way as a judgment. You're not required to, and it's your decision. It's just that, if you admire what Israeli youth are doing, and if you feel that unlike the U.S. army, the Israeli army needs every last person, then it seems curious that you only discuss the fact of your not joining the Israeli army and not why you wouldn't.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:12:21 +0000

By: Jesse Socher

Jesse Socher — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:06:24 +0000

Consider Mahal. The IDF defends not just Israel but Jews everywhere(Entebbe for instance).18 months service in the Jewish army will be far more educational and make you a better person and writer than any college in the US. Go for it! My 18 yr old son is at Mechina Avnei Eitan with a group of American boys being prepared for the IDF.

By: Sarah Bee

Sarah Bee — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:29:47 +0000

And this, Arsen, is why you need to be a leader in the public eye!

By: Daniel Kuhn

Daniel Kuhn — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:17:14 +0000

There are many roles to support the Jewish state here in the U.S. that many feel is more important than serving in the IDF, especially given the fact that less people here are willing and able to do it. Guilt you need not feel, but pressure to act you should.