A Year of Service

A Year of Service

In a moving speech a few months ago, Israel’s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett asserted that the next 50 years will be the most successful and prosperous since Israel’s founding. The engine of this renaissance, he explained, will be the hundreds of thousands of remarkable young men and women who stepped forward, starting on October 7 and for the year (plus) since, both to defend Israel, and to meet needs throughout the country through innumerable acts of service – even when, in his words, “institutional Israel” – i.e., the government – “melted down.”

Prime Minister Bennett likened this generation of Israelis to the famed “greatest generation,” which brought the United States 50 years of prosperity and glory after World War II, for they too were imbued with the values of hard work, determination, resilience, patriotism and idealism.

On October 7 itself, while the IDF inexplicably failed to mount a coordinated defense for hours, thousands of individual soldiers, former soldiers, and civilians, sprinted (in some cases literally) to the front lines, beating back Hamas terrorists in many areas and saving thousands of innocent lives. In the process, hundreds of these heroes made the ultimate sacrifice.

Since that fateful day, thousands of IDF soldiers have seen their mandatory service extended, and thousands of reservists have served almost continuously, leaving their families and full-time jobs behind to fight for Israel’s survival.

On the home front, millions of Israelis have organized innumerable new organizations and support systems for hostage families, October 7 orphans, soldiers, soldiers’ families, citizens displaced from their homes in the south and north of the country, struggling farmers, and other vulnerable segments of the population. This incredible year of service is the one silver lining to the catastrophe of October 7.

In the United States, the Jewish community, and concerned non-Jews, have also responded in a significant way. For starters, the United States has led the diaspora in raising more than $1 billion to support hundreds of Israeli non-profit organizations since October 7. Tens of thousands of volunteers have flown from the United States to Israel over the past year to help in innumerable ways, from visiting bereaved families, to staffing hospitals and army bases, to picking produce that would otherwise have rotted in the fields, partially replacing the thousands of foreign agricultural workers who fled Israel after the October 7 attack. Finally, anecdotal evidence suggests there has been a meaningful increase in the number of young men and women from the diaspora volunteering to serve in the IDF. This trend is important because, fighting on multiple fronts, the IDF is suffering from a shortage of personnel.

Unfortunately, though valiant and valuable, these efforts simply are not enough; a significant gap of unmet needs remains.

There is one group, however, that can afford to do far more: our children. Gap year programs are abundant around the world, but only a small minority of the 50,000+ Jews who graduate high school each year in the United States spend a gap year volunteering, studying, or otherwise serving in Israel. This model can and should change.

One of the sages of the Mishna, Ben Zoma, famously observed, “Who is wise? One who learns from every person.” There is a group, extremely dedicated to volunteerism, from which the Jewish community can learn a great deal: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (i.e., LDS or the Mormon church). A two-year stint as a volunteer focusing on service, or a combination of service and missionary work, is a rite of passage for a significant percentage of the church’s members after high school. Today there are almost 100,000 individuals engaged in such work full-time (some of whom are retirees, but about two thirds of whom are young high school graduates). Setting aside the missionary aspect – since proselytizing is not part of the Jewish religion – the practical reality is that these missionaries spend much of their time, for two years, volunteering in underserved communities around the world, doing what Jews call chesed (kindness). Adults need not be embarrassed to admit that the potential of tens of thousands of energetic young people dedicating themselves to full-time, or even part-time, service for a year (let alone two years) dwarfs what the adult population – with myriad family and career responsibilities – is capable of doing for the world.

The Jewish community should learn from LDS to unleash the tremendous potential of our young people to help others, including of course in Israel. In LDS communities, the mission is an important topic of discussion and education from an early age, creating energy and enthusiasm and anticipation, which translates into meaningful results, helping millions of people worldwide. The Jewish community needs to emulate this incredible model.

So does the United States as a whole. One of President Obama’s achievements was signing into law National Service Legislation that significantly increased the AmeriCorps budget. Yet, despite this, today only a small percentage of the 4 million students who graduate high school each year in the United States dedicate a year or more to full-time service. Imagine the problems that could be addressed in this country if a year (or more) of service became standard practice for graduating seniors. No doubt, these volunteers would also gain as much as they give. If former Prime Minister Bennett’s prediction is correct, such a project would help propel the United States, like Israel, to another 50 years of success, prosperity, and blessing.