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Dany Saar | Special to the Jewish News
Editor’s Note: Dany Saar of West
Bloomfield led the Friends of the Israel
Defense Forces (FIDF) Cycling Tour of
Israel Sept. 17-24. He is a former officer
in the Israeli Air Force.
ooking at war-torn Syria with
36 other American cyclists from
atop Mount Hermon, Israel’s
tallest peak, we could see smoke rising
from the fighting in the small border
towns. It was like being in a movie; we
watched the carnage from afar, but we
knew we were safe — protected by the
brave young men and women of the
IDF.
For the second year, I was leading
the cycling tour — an opportunity
for a diverse group of people, all of
whom admire and support the IDF, to
bike across the Israeli countryside and
experience the Jewish state up close.
Each trip to Israel provides some-
thing new, and this year’s tour cer-
tainly delivered. In the Golan Heights’
Valley of Tears, we met Avigdor
Kahalani, one of the greatest heroes of
Israel’s 1973 Yom Kippur War, all-time
— who, despite being outnumbered
and outgunned, kept Syrian forces at
bay long enough for Israeli reinforce-
ments to arrive and drive the attackers
back over the border. If not for that
man, the very land on which we stood
would not have been part of Israel.
It made us feel like we were living a
moment of history.
Israel affected us all deeply and
uniquely. Leon Berdy, who served in
the U.S. Navy for six years and is a
retired police officer, joined the tour
from Clinton Township.
“I didn’t realize young men and
women from 80 countries around the
world volunteer to serve in the IDF,”
Berdy told me. “The most powerful
part of the tour was meeting a Lone
Soldier from Boston — and hearing
about how this young man, still in
his teens, left home to come to Israel,
learn Hebrew and defend the country
of his ancestors. I could hear the pride
in his voice and see it written on his
face.”
Berdy was raised Catholic, but
recently found out his grandmother
on his mother’s side may have been
Jewish.
“I had wanted to visit Israel since
my uncle told me I might be Jewish —
and I can’t think of a better first expe-
rience than touring the country on my
bike,” he said.
The tour was all about bonding —
with one other, with the wounded
soldiers who rode alongside us and
with the soldiers we met at each of the
military bases along the way. It was
about experiencing the beauty of Israel
and realizing why we must protect our
homeland at all costs. I can’t wait to
see what next year’s tour brings.
JEWELRY
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14 October 20 • 2016
FIDF tour offers an up-close bond.
*
Nadav Ariel
STONE'S
Biking Israel
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FOX THEATRE BOX OFFICE • 800.745.3000
Rabbi Alon
Tolwin of
Southfield riding
free in Israel
Dany Saar with some of the wounded Israeli
combat veterans who have benefited from FIDF
rehabilitative programs and prosthetic devices
and joined the cycling tour
Leon Berdy of Clinton
Township takes a selfie with
tour leader Dany Saar.
Nadav Ariel
metro »