NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 | 25
In that way, Shira set up
more than 100 Lone Soldiers
with host families. She
matched her parents with a
certain Lone Soldier called
Menachem Brown who
visited his host family one
Shabbat. He immediately
caught Shira’s eye.
“I already had his phone
number, so I made a move,”
Shira said. She called him
after Shabbat and asked him
out. They married in 2018,
four days after Menachem
finished his service.
According to the Lone
Soldier Center, about 50%
of Lone Soldiers in the IDF
grew up in Israel, but their
families are unable to care
for them or disapprove
of them joining the army.
Menachem had grown up
in Har Nof and fell into that
category.
When they married, Shira
knew her husband was a
reservist; he trained once a
year, and there was a chance
he might be called up to
serve again one day. That
knowledge didn’t make the
reality any easier. When
Menachem was called up, he
trained for two days and was
then sent to the breached
fence on the border of Gaza
for guard duty.
Menachem is part of
Givati, a combat unit, and,
according to Shira, seems
quite content to be reunited
with his old unit, despite the
terrible circumstances.
“It seems like a bittersweet
reunion. Menachem is with
his friends and doing just
fine,” Shira said. “Whenever
we speak, I hear music
playing in the background.
Just yesterday, he said, ‘I’ll
call you back, I’m busy’ and
I heard someone say, ‘Please
pass the steak!’ He was busy
because he was enjoying a
barbecue!”
Shira considers herself
fortunate; she hears from
her husband once a day.
Some soldiers are in Gaza
with no access to their
phones and they haven’t
spoken to their terrified
“Shero” wives in weeks.
Twice since the war broke
out, Menachem was allowed
to come home for 24 hours
at a time, which Shira said
was incredible.
“It’s like a roller coaster,”
Shira described. “There’s
all this fun prep before,
cooking and baking with
the kids, we’re so hyped
up. Then he’s home and it’s
heaven! Nothing else in the
world matters. We just want
to breathe him in. Then
when he leaves, it’s a huge
crash; it’s so painful.”
Shira’s moshav has been a
huge support. The Sheroes
have free group therapy
once a week. Dinners.
Invitations for Shabbat
meals. Shira’s backup
plan for if things become
unbearable has been to
camp by her parents, who
live in Beit Shemesh, almost
two hours away, but so far
she hasn’t needed it.
She feels uplifted by the
support of her moshav
and is eager to get more
love and support to all the
overlooked hard-working
wives who sacrifice so much
and are juggling so many
responsibilities single-
handedly while holding
down the home front so
that their men can go out
worry-free to rid the world
of Hamas.
For more information, to donate or
support these Sheroes, check out
shirabrown.com/sheroes.