Me ro
IDF Lt. Anaelle
Alaa says that over the 30 years the program has been
conducted, different things have been tried, but female
0 commanders work best.
a.
"Women are much more sensitive and have much
better communication skills:' he explained. "They come
with energy, with special spirit and values and with a lot
of ideology."
He adds the practical consideration that the young
men "usually will not hit their [female] commanders."
Heymann believes "the secret of success" is that
young women like her "haven't experienced such prob-
lems in their life. They will believe that he can be a
soldier — they don't just say it, they actually believe it.
They really fall in love with the soldiers: they don't just
see who they are, but what they can be. They know he's
not a bad person, but he acts like this because he's had
such bad things in his life."
"It was a very cool look into what the soldiers who are
- Shiro Moree, Franklin
having a hard time in their lives do to get into the army:'
said Jesse Adler, 14, of Farmington Hills, who attended
the film with her mother. "I really enjoyed it because
I know a little Hebrew [the film was in Hebrew with
English subtitles], and it's a side of Israel I've never seen!'
Shiro Moree of Franklin, an Israeli who is on the
Marwil Film Festival committee, said, "It brings back
memories from my service. But where I served disci-
pline was never an issue. The commander said some-
thing, you listened, and you did what you were told. The
fact the military takes an active role in bettering Israeli
society and not just military goals is admirable."
The two IDF commanders also visited Hillel Day
School in Farmington Hills and Akiva Hebrew Day
School in Southfield.
"We explained that people living in Israel are just like
us, and some of them have struggles:' said Rob Bardach,
Hillel's division head for grades 5-8.
He helped prepare the kids for the soldiers visit.
"It's not just a military mission; it's a national social
"I saw in the kids a realization of something about
mission:' explained Lt. Anaelle Heymann, a 21-year-old
Israel, about not turning your back on a segment of
platoon commander at Havat HaShomer (Farm of the
society and the need to help those who need special
Watchman). "We want him to be a productive citizen, not
assistance he said. "The kids were blown away about
a burden on society, and to have a regular, normal family
what was said about pride, honor, self-respect and self-
and a good life."
discipline. It went very well with what we work to teach
The staff reviews the records of those refused enlist-
them."
ment and works to convince them to enter the program.
The film shows how the team of officers discusses each
individual and works to instill discipline, teach skills and
You Can Help
provide support and encouragement so they will succeed.
FIDF's Eitan Program helps support the young sol-
It's not easy, but Alaa says that over the past five years,
diers graduating from the Havat HaShomer Base
the program has an 85 pecent success rate, with about 70
by advancing their integration into the military and
percent then fulfilling their three-year IDF commitment.
society, supplying them with tools to complete mili-
"It is really an amazing place he said of his base. "The
tary service and with vocational training once they
excitement you feel during the movie is what we feel
complete their service. For more information and to
every day. The [graduation] ceremony you saw at the base
donate, go to www.fidf.org .
is the most exciting ceremony in the IDE"
His enthusiasm and commitment to the IDF and Israeli
society is even more impressive because he isn't Jewish,
but a member of the Druze community that has distin-
guished itself in the IDF since the founding of the state.
An Israeli success story himself, he has just received his
Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan.
"The fact the
military takes
an active role
in bettering
Israeli society
and not just
military goals
is admirable."
Heymann and
Shiro Moree
of Franklin
Miss
ommander!
IDF's special base aims to ease
troubled young men into military service.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
T
he colonel who is the commander of Havat
HaShomer — an Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
base between Nazareth and Tiberias in the north
of Israel — is no softie. He's a battle-tested paratrooper
and among an elite group of Israel soldiers.
Nonetheless, he says he cries almost every day.
"I see soldiers who start with nothing and finish,
sometimes, with the first success in their life — and with
hope," he told an audience of more than 200 people at the
Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Col. Alaa (last name withheld) was in Detroit to talk
about the special base he commands that provides a last
chance to young Israeli men who have been refused entry
into the IDF because of personal problems. These can be
a criminal record, a history of violence, drug or alcohol
addiction, educational failure, an inability to work with
others or follow orders, or a combination that adds up to
something the IDF isn't equipped to handle. That's where
Col. Alaa and his base of women commanders comes in.
The dramatic, challenging, raw and very human story
of their intervention in the lives of these troubled 18- and
19- year-olds, is told in the 2009 Israeli film Yes, Miss
Commander, which was shown Feb. 10 by the Michigan
Chapter of the Friends of the IDF in cooperation with the
JCC Marwil Jewish Film Festival.
18
February 17 2011
Tough Yet Compassionate
Many in the audience were interested in knowing why
these tough young men were assigned female commanders.
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