NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 | 23
J
N
RIGHT, CLOCKWISE: Dr. Josh Levisohn with
his dog tag. Lailie Greenbaum with her dog
tag. Eitan Schon with his dog tag.
other side of the dog tag is the Israeli flag
and the words “Am Yisrael Chai.”
Smith gave his first batch of dog tags to
Farber Hebrew Day School, where his two
sons graduated. The dog tags were gifted
to students in grades 6-12 at an inspiring
in-school program.
“The idea is that each kid wearing a
dog tag has just one person to pray for,”
Smith explained. “They can take on a
new mitzvah in ‘their’ hostage’s honor
because right now the hostages can’t do
very much … It’s a zechus (merit) for
both the hostage and the kid wearing the
dog tag.”
Farber Head of School Dr. Josh
Levisohn wears his dog tag every day. “I
never wear anything around my neck,”
he said, “so putting it on in the morning,
taking it off at night, and seeing it in my
peripheral vision all day long makes me
think of ‘my’ particular hostage and all
of the hostages in a way that I wouldn’t
otherwise. It brings home the anguish the
families must be feeling and the urgency
in getting them home.
“These are real people who are living
under tremendous pressure every hour
of every day and they do not know their
fates,” he added.
“The least we can do is to remember
them always and do our part to help them
get released. The extra prayers I say every
morning are part of my commitment to
these hostages.”
Of her dog tag, ninth-grade Farber
student Lailie Greenbaum said, “I
wear it every single day … I feel like
I’m helping them get through this by
wearing it. I’m keeping them in the front
of my mind. When I’m davening, I’m
keeping my hostage in mind. His name
is Elroey Ben Iris.”
Eitan Schon, a Farber sixth-grader,
shared his reflections, too. “I have been
wearing my necklace since I got it. I
feel like I am helping keep their story
relevant, and I hope to wear mine until
my hostage comes home safely. I am
trying to be more considerate and loving
to those around me in honor of my
hostage who is being kept from his family
and friends.”
Naturally, the dog tags have a special
meaning for those who know a hostage
personally. Rachel and Yael Schreiber,
twin sisters from Petach Tikvah who
are currently in Detroit as part of their
Sheirut Leumi service, are wearing
identical dog tags with a specific hostage’s
name.
“We know Oren,” Rachel and Yael
shared. “He has plans for his life; he wants
to study, to get married. We spoke to his
mother; she knows in her heart that he
will come home … Wearing our dog tags
with Oren’s name keeps him close to our
hearts. We’re always thinking about him,
wondering when was the last time he ate
well, how he’s sleeping, when did he last
see someone he loves. We are not the
same people since this happened.”
The dog tags have been able to make
the enormous magnitude of the tragedy
more comprehensible, and they’ve helped
to give people, especially young students,
a sense of purpose.
The Farber shluchot were so enamored
with the dog tags, they told their friends,
shluchot in other schools. Smith soon
received requests for dog tags from Hillel
Torah in Chicago, as well as schools in
Toronto, Baltimore and even as far as Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil.
So far, Smith has been sponsoring the
dog tags single-handedly and only asked
for donations to shieldtheidf.com, which
organizes gear for the soldiers.
For further information, email avi@avismith.com.