JANUARY 7 • 2021 | 27
A
fter the Friends of the
Israel Defense Forces
organization (FIDF)
appointed Rabbi Steven Weil
as its new national director and
CEO in September, Weil has
stated that after spending the
last 30 years of his life trying
to help build American Jewry,
his new role is an opportunity
to build Israeli Jewry, which he
believes is “the ultimate future
of the Jewish world.
”
Weil began his new role on
Sept. 16, succeeding Maj. Gen.
(Res.) Meir Klifi-Amir, who led
FIDF for the previous six years.
FIDF was established in 1981 by
a group of Holocaust survivors
as a not-for-profit humanitarian
organization with the mission
of offering educational, cultural,
recreational and social pro-
grams and facilities that provide
support for Israel’s soldiers.
Weil is the former rabbi of
Young Israel of Oak Park and
was heavily involved in the
Jewish Federation of Metro
Detroit and the greater Detroit
Jewish community in his time
here from 1994-2000. Weil also
had an 11-year tenure as the
senior managing director of the
Orthodox Union.
Weil believes people assume
the FIDF is about “buying bul-
lets and machine guns for the
soldiers” and says that is not at
all the case.
Under Weil’s leadership, he
says FIDF will continue to run
scholarship programs and social
justice projects to aid cur-
rent and former IDF soldiers.
One program, the IMPACT!
Scholarship Program, helps
combat veterans who cannot
afford the cost of higher edu-
cation, sponsoring students
at more than 80 institutions
throughout Israel. Since 2002,
over 16,000 students and alum-
ni have been sponsored.
“It’s the first time in the
history of these families that
anyone’s gone to university,
”
Weil said. “We’re giving them
the opportunity, not just the
three years that they gave to the
Jewish people in the army, but
an opportunity to give 60, 70
years of their life to building the
future of the Jewish people.
”
Each IMPACT! student vol-
unteers in the community for
a total of 130 hours every year,
paying it forward by helping 26
different organizations.
Other programs include
Horizon, where FIDF pays
two-thirds of the university
scholarships for soldiers who
are financially challenged, and
Project Overcome, which helps
at-risk youth with mentorship
and funding of high school and
college education.
“What we’re doing is building
the future of the Jewish people
by creating strategic and trans-
formational solutions that enable
the soldiers to become contrib-
uting members of society for the
rest of their lives,
” Weil said.
The FIDF directly supports
about 118,000 soldiers every
year, according to Weil.
“Our goal in Israel is that
no Jew is left behind, and no
Jew isn’t provided a chance to
succeed and thrive,
” Weil said.
“That’s our goal, to fund those
opportunities.
”
ABRAHAM ACCORDS
The Abraham Accords, which
were signed the day before Weil
began his new role, are ground-
breaking to FIDF’s mission and
the soldiers they help on several
levels, according to Weil.
“Whether it’s the banking
industry in Bahrain or the tech-
nology and international trade
industry in the UAE, it provides
an incredible job opportunity
and job market for the gradu-
ates of the IDF,
” Weil said.
Weil also says, “a lie that’s
been perpetrated for the last 30
years” that “until the ‘Palestinian
issue’ is settled there can be no
peace in the Middle East” has
been ripped apart because of
the Accords.
“In the minds of Israeli Arabs,
in the minds of Palestinians,
there’s now a future,
” Weil said.
“There’s now hope and the
opportunity of all of Abraham’s
descendants being able to func-
tion the way they should have
for the last 70 years.
”
Weil says the FIDF hopes the
Abraham Accords expand to
more countries.
“What’s extremely important
is that tens of millions of Arabs
will now be raised in a world
where they’re not taught Jews
are apes and pigs, and Israel
is the devil, but that Jews are
human beings who they can
have real relationships with and
can contribute to the benefit of
the Muslim world,
” Weil said.
Weil doesn’t believe the FIDF
will be affected by the change
in U.S. presidential administra-
tions as the organization is apo-
litical, but believes the majority
of both parties understand and
internalize the value of Israel to
America, the world and to sta-
bility in the Middle East.
No matter what, Weil said
he hopes IDF soldiers feel the
support from American Jews,
donors or not.
“I hope that every young man
and woman who gives between
two and 10 years of their life
to the Jewish people knows
that all segments of American
Jewry appreciate their sacrifice,
commitment and loyalty, and
that all segments of American
Jewry are invested in their
growth, future and their ability
to continue to give to the Jewish
world,
” Weil said.
For Weil, the memories of his
time in the Metro Detroit area
are reflective of how he wants to
lead the FIDF and give back to
the soldiers.
“The six years our family
lived in Southeast Michigan and
were able to participate with the
Detroit Jewish community are
six of the most incredible years
of our life,
” Weil said.
“The kind of warmth and
love that existed in the Detroit
Jewish community is the kind
of warmth and love we want
to bring to the soldiers, these
young men and women who
are the future of the Jewish
people.”
Ex-Detroit rabbi has big plans for
Friends of the IDF.
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
‘No Jew Is
Left Behind’
ERETZ
COURTESY OF THE FIDF
Rabbi
Steven Weil