The first week of my planned Rabbinic Torah Seminar (RTS) at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem was cancelled due to the war with Iran. After making plans to visit friends, I still had one unplanned day. I hoped to visit a rehabilitation center for injured soldiers. It wasn’t clear how this would work, nor whether it was even possible.
On the Sunday morning in Swampscott/Marblehead before I flew to Israel, I visited Bob Ogan. He mentioned that he might have a connection for me. The next day I received a text from Guy Ronen of Brothers for Life, an Israeli nonprofit that supports wounded combat soldiers. Their center was located in a place I’d never heard of: Kfar Truman.
Kfar Truman, named in honor of President Harry Truman for his support for the founding of the State of Israel, turned out to be right next to Shoham—where I would be staying with the Shmueli family. Baruch Hashem. I could borrow a bicycle and visit Brothers For Life.
Brothers For Life serves only combat soldiers who are injured in operations. When a soldier is injured, a liaison officer alerts the organization. Soon after, a representative—someone who recovered from the same injury—visits the soldier in the hospital. Once discharged, the injured soldier begins day rehab at the Brothers For Life campus in Kfar Truman, surrounded by fellow injured veterans and mentored by someone who truly understands what they are going through.
Together, these warriors (men and women) rediscover not only the will to live, but re-ignite the will to dream, finding purpose within new bodies and new realities.
