American Jews say duty calls them to the war

The two Americans killed fighting in the Gaza Strip followed in the footsteps of scores of Jews from around the world who have volunteered to fight for Israel.

Israel calls them the lone soldiers: They are men and women in the prime of their lives who have left their parents and often comfortable lives behind in places like Sydney, London, Los Angeles and elsewhere to join the Israel Defence Forces, marching in the desert and taking up arms to defend the Jewish state.

There were about 5,500 lone soldiers serving in the military in 2012, according to the Israel Defence Forces. Groups for families of lone soldiers have recently started in Los Angeles and other cities, providing a support network as the fighting intensifies.

For Jews who left Israel before age 15 or who never lived there, service is voluntary. For many, it is a calling, a way to get back to their roots and unite the world’s Jewish population. Some have dual citizenship. Others speak little to no Hebrew and have only recently been to Israel.

Max Steinberg, 24, who grew up in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, joined six months after he visited Israel for the first time with his younger brother and sister in June, 2012, said Jake Steinberg, who spoke to The Associated Press hours after learning his brother, a sharpshooter in the Golani Brigade, was among 13 Israeli soldiers who died during the first major ground battle between Israel and Hamas. The Jewish Journal was first to report Steinberg’s death.

“He got there and felt a connection to Israel, saw that as a place he could live and be successful, and he went for it,” Jake Steinberg said.

Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, the second American killed, was from South Padre Island, Tex., and he felt that same strong connection to the country he moved to four years ago.

“Lone soldiers are a kind of star in Israel,” the Jewish Journal reports. “For Israeli kids, army service is a rite of passage. But because it is a choice for the young members of the Diaspora who redirect their own life paths to protect Israel, those enlistees are given a hero’s welcome — and a lifetime of Shabbat dinner invitations from their fellow soldiers, who become their surrogate families.”

Thousands of people attended Carmeli’s funeral in the northern Israeli port town of Haifa after a Facebook status called for Israelis to come in droves so the lone soldier wouldn’t be alone at this final resting place.

Mike Fishbein, who grew up in Los Angeles, said he was missing a connection to his Jewish identity. He spent a year volunteering and studying in Israel, and that deepened his desire to do more.

“I believe in the Jewish people and the country’s reason to exist, so I thought, I can’t just go back home to Los Angeles,” said Fishbein, who served two years with the Israel Defence Forces starting in 2009.

After Fishbein enlisted, he went through basic training, which included a 40-mile nighttime march through the desert. He lived for almost four months inside a worn tent from the Vietnam War era.

Israeli troops wondered why he would leave the palm trees and beaches they had seen in movies.

“They didn’t understand why a kid from Hollywood was there,” he said. “But after you stuck around, they would respect you.”

Josh Reznick, 24, who works for a real estate investment firm in Baltimore, briefly considered joining the U.S. military, but after living on a kibbutz for a year, he realized his calling. He served in the same unit as the two Americans killed during the weekend.

“It’s very nice living in America and everything is fine. But I’m sure people right before WWII felt the same way about living in Germany,” he said.