26 | AUGUST 10 • 2023 

OUR COMMUNITY

I was delighted. “You’re right 
now wrapping a present for his 
son and daughter-in-law who 
are watching my kids while I’m 
here!”
The highlight of the trip 
was Friday morning. We were 
booked for classes at Nefesh 
B’Nefesh, but Momentum 
founder Lori Palatnik instead 
started talking about heroes. 
She said, “Lone Soldiers are 
heroes and their mothers are 
also heroes.
” She called us 
mothers up to the stage to 
be recognized by the other 
Momentum groups present. 
Then Lori said, “We have a 
present for these moms, many 
of whom haven’t seen their 
child in more than a year.
” 
The doors opened, music 
started playing and in walked 
our soldiers, in uniform, each 
holding a rose for their mom. 
Bentzi kept asking me, “Why 
are you crying? We just went 
out for dinner together last 
night!” It was a beautiful, emo-
tional morning, a feel-good 
story which — to our pride and 
delight — made the national 
news in Israel.
Our soldiers joined us for 
a restful Shabbat at the Prima 
Royale Hotel in Jerusalem. It 
was fun to see the girl soldiers 
snuggle with their moms after 
lighting Shabbat candles, while 
practically every single boy 
soldier told their mom, “I’ll see 
you at dinner!” and left. 
After the Friday night meal, 
our soldiers collected the left-
over wine bottles and met on 
the scenic rooftop of the hotel 
where they connected and 
bonded through the night, to 
the immense gratification of 
us moms, who had also started 
to bond like sisters. It felt like 
nachas. 
Best of all, I was there for 
one of Bentzi’s tekesim (military 
ceremonies). He’
d already had 

two during his service and I 
watched them at home with the 
help of the Kotel webcams, real-
ly feeling the distance. This was 
a smaller tekes on his base, to 
mark the successful completion 
of a pistol course, and it was 
very special to be able to attend 
in person. The entire event was 
in Hebrew so, of course, I didn’t 
understand what was going on 
… until in the middle of the 
proceedings, one soldier got 
down on bended knee in front 
of his girlfriend while someone 
else threw confetti over them. 
That, I understood! The lan-
guage of love! 
It was a wonderful week, a 
journey of exploration of Israel, 
the army — and myself. It was 
especially a joy connecting 
with these incredible powerful 
women from around the world. 
To round off the week, 
Bentzi, who was due for his 
meyuchedet (free month-long 
visit to his family) flew back 
home with me. We decided to 
surprise the family, so I told 
them I would be bringing back 
a “big present.
” I had the fam-
ily sit on the couch with their 
eyes closed and then videoed 
the delight on their faces when 
they opened their eyes and saw 
Bentzi for the first time in more 
than a year. 
Each Lone Soldier is like 
a living, walking, breathing 
piece of Israel and to have ours 
back home is stretching the 
inspiration from this uplifting, 
beautiful trip, keeping it alive 
just a little longer. I am so grate-
ful to G-d I finally made it to 
Israel (twice!), to Momentum, 
my fantastic leaders Stacie 
Stufflebeam, Rocky Brody and 
Lisa Herman and for the beau-
tiful new friendships I forged in 
this exotic group. 
May all the soldiers in the 
IDF remain safe and healthy 
always. 

continued from page 25

 

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