Baltimore Jewish Times • jewishtimes.com30

Ira GewanterSpecial to the JewishTimes

No one expected Joshua Reznick, JeremyPetersen andAaron Schwartz to jointhe Israel Defense Forces — let alone earn

recognition as elite soldiers.Alongwith the rest of their peers who graduated

from high school in the late spring of 2008, thetrio could have become college seniors this pastMay.Likemany young people,their conversations oftenfeature dating dilemmas,favorite films,career aspira-tions and spirited debates about their hometownRavens andOrioles.But for the past 18 months, all that took a

backseat to serving as voluntary soldiers in Israel.They eschewed a lifestyle with no greater stressthan waking up for the occasional 8 a.m. class andcramming exams for 5 a.m.wake-up calls,barelydigestible military rations and nerve-racking dailypatrols along volatile international borders.Why? For them, the question launches a conver-

sation delving deep into their struggles and triumphsto claim their identity as American Jews.

Family RootsFrom an early age,Reznick says, they understoodthat“being Jewish meant extra responsibility.”Their primary charge was to live in accordance

with their families’Orthodox traditions.This meanteveryday life replete with communal and personalrituals.As students at Baltimore’sYeshivat Rambam,Reznick’s and Schwartz’s school days were splitbetween Judaic and secular curriculums.The samewas true for Petersen,who left Baltimore for high

school at theTorahAcademy of Bergen County inNew Jersey.Over time, their Judaic practices began to feel

less like a genuine expression of their personal spiri-tuality and more of an act of devotion for thepeople they loved.As Schwartz says,“Kids ask questions like‘How do

I knowwe both see the same thing whenwe agreethat something is blue?’ There’s really no answer tothat sort of question.But the bottom line is that wejust weren’t seeing the same‘blue’as everyonearound us seemed to expect us to see. Instead ofalways focusing on what might be going on behindthe scenes,we were more interested in focusing onthe world as it was right in front of us.”This increasing disconnect was frustrating.“All of us have at least one parent who is a ba’al

teshuva [Jew who adopts an Orthodox observantlifestyle by choice],”Schwartz says.Reznick adds,“Mymother and Petersen’s father actually convertedto Judaism.Their stories were all about finding yourown way in life and the obligation to support whatyou believed was true,even when it was unpopularor difficult. In a way it’s funny,because we took this[principle] to heart and it made it harder for us toconnect with our community.”The year after high school,Schwartz and Petersen

traveled to Israel on aTaglit-Birthright Israel trip,the free 10-day experience in the Jewish state.Whilethere, they met up with Reznick,who was enrolledin the Israel-basedYoung Judea’sYear Course.Together, they reflected on being in a nation at

a pivotal stage in its development,which theyroughly embodied in themselves as individuals.Both were confronting the challenges associatedwith emerging adulthood— an awareness of one’s

grown-up muscles,paired with an uncertainty ofthe impact their power could have on the world.They were immediately inspired by what

Schwartz calls“a more inclusive Jewish society.” Inhis words,“[Israel] values compromises to keep Jewstogether more than conclusions that might pullJews apart.”For his part,Reznick was“deeply movedby the state offering all Jews citizenship, regardless oftheir ethnic origins, religious or political beliefs.”That is not to say that they mistook the coun-

try for a Jewish utopia.As Reznick says with alaugh,“Everywhere you go [in Israel], completestrangers feel obligated to tell you all about howthey live and think.”

Yet when considering their own evolving rela-tionship with their Jewish identity, they found thiscultural conversation liberating.“InAmerica, Jewish groups can remain separate

— and they usually do,”Reznick says.“This isbecause they do not depend on each other foranything major. It’s more like an ‘agree to disagree’

coverstory

HeedingTheCallLessons learned by

three friends nowback in Baltimore afterIsrael army service

“Our friendship reallykept us going.”

Joshua Reznick

July 22, 2011 31

arrangement.You go your way, I go mine.”Schwartz adds:“In Israel, all these different types

of Jews can vote.So in a basic way Israelis all acceptthat their future is bound together — it’s shared.”For Petersen, there are unique parallels between

the exploration of hisAmerican and Jewish identi-ties.“That does not mean I think being Jewish andAmerican are the same thing,”he says.“I mean thatjust asAmericans can stick together while beingfree to decide how to express their heritage,webelieve Jews should have that same choice.And inIsrael, that possibility still exists.”Their determination was sealed during a shared

visit to Mount Herzl, Israel’s state military cemetery.In particular,visiting the grave site of MichaelLevin, a young man from Philadelphia whowent into the IDF and died in the service,wasespecially meaningful.

“He was so much like us,”Schwartz says.“Heloved baseball and had even been to a Phillies gamewhile on furlough in the U.S. just a few days beforehe was killed in Lebanon.Now his grave is coveredin letters,photos and even Phillies caps.Being therecaused us to internalize how being part of such asmall group really magnified the significance of anycontribution.We knew that we could pick upwhere Michael left off.We would be soldiers.”

Call Of The IDFThe military anywhere is not an environment mostpeople associate with nurturing personal autonomy.But the IDF’s central role in Israeli life dramaticallyunderscored more immediate and extreme threatsto Jewish autonomy than any internal differences.“Our ancestors were exiled from [ancient] Israel,”

Petersen says.“And the reason most modern-dayIsraelis wound up returning is only because less thanone or two generations back, they found themselvesexpelled from all the countries their ancestorsthought were safe.”Petersen draws a full circle in the air with his

index finger,emphasizing the cyclical trajectory ofJewish history,before he adds,“And Jews still haveto fight for the right to live here, too.”Such an outlook convinced these young men

that the best way to ensure a diverse Jewish futurewas by protecting those who helped to createits possibilities.“We know we have great lives inAmerica, and

it’s highly unlikely that we would ever need a placeof refuge,”Reznick says.“We don’t plan to makealiyah because our [immediate] families are inAmerica. It’s easier to start a career and build a lifeinAmerica.But the fact that our situation is unfor-tunately more of an exception than a [historical]rule,combined with the fact that Israelis are com-mitted to defending us and all Jews,made us wantto give something back.”Each of them readily cites the reasons for their

unusual path being the perfect fit.“We are all physical guys who absolutely love

physical challenges,”Reznick says.“We love sports,and participated on all our [respective] schools’varsityteams.Representing Baltimore in the MaccabiGames was a real highlight of growing up.That reallystood out because it was one of the few times wesaw the Jewish community not only support ourathletic interests,but take pride in our achievements.The IDF seemed like a natural way to build onthat spirit.”Moreover, Schwartz and Petersen personally

reference the military service of family membersthey admire.Schwartz’s brother, Jonah, served in the IDF

Nahal Brigade from 2004 to 2006.“I saw histransformation from just a kid to a committed adultin that short time,”Schwartz says.“Seeing howmuch it meant for him to be able to stand up forwhat he believed in made me inclined to seek thatsame transformation for myself.”Petersen is likewise proud of his uncle,Bruce

Mandel,who served in the IDF’s legendary GolaniBrigade during the first LebanonWar in 1982.Still, their decision raised a loyalty dilemma:

Was enlisting in a foreign military compatible withhonoring theirAmerican heritage?“I guess for us it’s not eitherAmerica or Israel.

It’s both,”Reznick says.“None of us seeAmericanideals as being separate from Israeli ones.Americaitself recognizes this special relationship because itallows us to serve in the IDF without having togive up ourAmerican citizenship.That was a bigdeal for all of us.”Petersen is particularly affected by this concern.

His cousin Carter Ham is the four-star U.S.generalwho commands all the U.S.armed forces stationed inEurope.Hewas an equally high-profile commanderin Iraq and recently also assumed command ofU.S.Army forces inAfrica,where he oversaw thestart of the U.S. bombing campaign against Libyauntil passing command to NATO forces.

Israel’s ‘Lone Soldiers’In Israel a chayal boded or“lone soldier” is usuallya non-Israeli who voluntarily serves in the IDFalongside native Israelis.

However, they fit a general classification: Theyare usually new immigrants, foreign volunteers,orphans or Israeli-born but estranged from theirfamilies. If from abroad, they are not required torelinquish their native citizenship or accept Israelicitizenship during their military service.

In 2011,more than 5,000 young people frommore than 40 countries were participating in theprogram.They serve at least 18 months in theIDF, but 14 if army ulpan is not required.

The program is only available for foreigners iftheir parents have never held Israeli citizenship. It isfor men ages 18 to 23 and women ages 18 to 20.

The lone soldiers are offered a monthly salarythat is double that of a regular Israeli soldier, assis-tance in housing expenses and special leaves —one month each year to visit their families.��Source: idfinfo.co.il/Lone_Soldier_Chayal_Boded.php?cat=a1and mahal-idf-volunteers.org/about/join.htm .

Back In Baltimore: After being recognized for outstanding service in the Israel Defense Forces, Jeremy Petersen, Aaron Schwartz and Joshua Reznick are back home and preparing for their American lives.

PHO

TO Z

OE

GEW

ANTE

R

Baltimore Jewish Times • jewishtimes.com32

So it’s no surprise that Petersen excelled inROTC — the voluntary college military trainingcourse he joined during his freshman year at theUniversity of Maryland.He even seriously considered the American

military. “All through college I would have had mytuition and books paid for,” Petersen says. “I wouldhave been given a small living stipend. And aftercollege I would have begun as an officer.”Ironically, Petersen credits his family’s longstanding

tradition of American military service for sendinghim to the IDF.“For my family, the military has absolutely noth-

ing to do with chasing perks or prestige,” he says.“They understand ‘military service’ as a euphemismfor what should really be called ‘military sacrifice.’They take pride in their willingness to sacrifice forthe betterment of their family and community. Andthey continue signing up even though they knowfirst-hand that it can lead to personal tragedy.” He pauses somberly, recalling his cousin 1st Lt.

Michael Johnson, a Marine killed in Afghanistan in 2008.“That kind of sacrifice can only be made once,”

he says. “The way I see things, my family is Americanand my family is Jewish, and I believe you go towhere you’re needed most urgently first. And at themoment, it seems like my Jewish family is stretchedthinner than my American family. That’s why I chosethe IDF.”

Overcoming ChallengesChoosing the military as their path was empowering,but the journey forward was fraught with struggles.“First there was finding a place to live, and then

there was settling in without being around familyand the culture you’re used to,” Reznick says. “And

the worst part is the languagebarrier. We all learned old [bibli-cal] Hebrew in school so we hada head start on people who hadnever even seen the letters. Butyou can definitely feel alone.Our friendship really kept us go-ing. We were lucky to have eachother.”After enlisting, their status as

“Lone Soldiers” — those with-out immediate family in Israel— provided benefits to tem-porarily ease their burden. Theyreceived additional money tohelp pay rent for a place theyshared in Jerusalem. They alsohad army advocates who special-ize in helping foreigners navigateIsrael’s legendary bureaucracy. They all agree that the most important

benefit was the assignment of host families.“Each family went above and beyond,” Reznick

says. He laughs, adding “They even did things for usthat our families at home would never think ofdoing — like our laundry.”Once in the service, everything was different.

First came a month-and-a-half ulpan, an intensivelanguage immersion program. Petersen describesthe 10-hour days as “miserable, but necessary.” After completing the course, it was off to joinregular recruits for six weeks of basic training. (See sidebar “Basic Training’s Basic Facts.”)As anticipated, all were assigned to infantry.

Schwartz was pleased with his placement in NahalBrigade, proud to follow in his brother’s footsteps.Reznick and Petersen were dismayed; they had settheir sights on serving in the Golani Brigade, a first-responder in major conflicts. Now fluent in Hebrew, they felt confident in

voicing their opinions. On the day they werescheduled to depart for Nahal, Reznick and Peterson outright refused to board the bus. “We began our military service by disobeying

orders,” Reznick says with a laugh.Following heated debate, including threats of

military prison, their ulpan instructors voluntarilyadvocated on their behalf. It worked. Both weresent to Golani. Now the days were long, starting early and often

stretching well into the night. The difficulty oflearning new skills was compounded by havingtheir bodies physically stretched to the limit. There were constant drills, marching and weaponstraining, and often little or no sleep. They learned about themselves and their limits.“The value of a minute becomes totally different

than you ever imagined,” Schwartz says. “Officerskeep challenging you to do more and more in thattiny slice of time. Before you know it, you’re doingthings in a minute you never have thought you could accomplish in 10 minutes. Overall, you learn to appreciate what you can actually accomplish in a day.”Reznick adds: “The goal is to make sure we are

over-prepared. This isn’t like spring training [inbaseball]. Mistakes don’t get you sent down to theminors for more seasoning. You have to succeed because your life and other people’s lives will depend on it. And it’s not just repetitive muscle

coverstory

The course includes: • Run roughly 1/4 mile• Scale a 7-foot concrete wall• Move along 15-foot-long parallel bars elevated 5 feet above the ground

• Jump over a small bench• Run through two rows of 12 tires each• Navigate 15 feet of monkey bars 12 feet off the ground

• Jump off a bench over a 3-foot trench• Scale a 4-foot wall• Climb a 12-foot rope

• Crawl through a cage that is 2 feet high and 20feet long. Leap from one telephone pole stumpto another (a square area of eight stumps longand eight stumps wide). Run and jump onto an8-foot-high balance beam that is 15 feet long.

• Jump through a cut-out of an open window• Run up and down a 15-foot-high pyramid made of telephone poles lying laterally without railings

• Crawl through a long cage 1foot high and 10 feet long

• 400-meter sprint to the finish line

IDF Basic Training’s Basic FactsTo be combat-ready, each IDF soldier must complete the obstacle course in full combat gear, which weighsroughly 55 pounds — including a gun vest, six magazines and two canteens — in under 10 1/2 minutes. JoshuaReznick’s time of 7:20 and Jeremy Petersen’s 7:23 placed them in the IDF Olympics Competition.

Brothers In Arms:Jeremy Petersen, Joshua Reznick

and Aaron Schwartz

PHO

TO Z

OE

GEW

ANTE

R

July 22, 2011 33

memory. It also means training yourself to identifywhen it is important to stop and think critically. Allthis needs to become second nature.”While understandably important, maintaining

this intense approach definitely took its toll. Petersen exhales. “There are times you’re going

to want to quit, times where you’re just going towish you were hurt so that you would not have tofinish,” he says. Reznick elaborates. “It’s so painful, and you’re

doing something that’s so hard, that your mindwanders to crazy thoughts.”He recalls a “ridiculous trek” as cars slowly rolled

by on the road. He thought, “Hey! If this car rollsover my foot I will not have to continue this!”Then came War Week — the culmination

of their training — a full-scale active combat simulation, staged in the Golan Heights.“You’re carrying all your war necessities, which

is nearly your entire body-weight, not sure of thedestination,” Petersen says. “Things change in real-time. Even our commanders don’t know what isgoing to happen next. This is training for them, too.” Schwartz describes “running on no sleep and little

food. This puts it all in perspective. It’s not like aHollywood glamorization. This is not a game — it’sawful and you realize how much our country andits soldiers went through in its War of Independ-ence when they had imperfect training and theirequipment was a third what ours is.” After defeating the faux enemy, there was one

final push — the long five-hour hike back to base,which began at 2 a.m. “Finally, we reach a point where the base is in

sight. You think it’s over,” Reznick says. “You’rementally and physically just … through. Themarching has lulled you into a rhythm, and you’vebegun to think about what it is going to be like torelax. Right then, our commander shouts, telling us

that, ‘We left the base through the back as trainees,and now we have earned the right to enter throughthe front as warriors.’“This barely sinks in before we are ordered to

run back to base at full speed. Even now it seemsimpossible. But everyone does it. On arrival, everyoneis shaking, desperately waiting for the command allowing us to put down our equipment. Instead, wewere commanded to sing ‘Hatikvah.’ I cannot evenimagine what we must have sounded like. Andwhen we were finally allowed to put down ourgear, we couldn’t just throw it down and collapse.Everything had to be orderly because it otherwisewould demonstrate a lack of control. You finallyrealize how far you’ve come, and what you’re capable of accomplishing. It’s very special.”

Best Of The BestLike all team players, the trio is hesitant to acknowledge personal accolades over the achieve-ment of their fellow soldiers as a group. Yet their personal recognition is impossible to

ignore, particularly for foreign volunteers. In the general obstacle course — mandatory for

all recruits to prove combat readiness — Reznickand Petersen proved a cut above. Out of more than500 Golani recruits, Reznick logged the best time;Petersen notably ranked a close second. That putboth among the top 120 combat soldiers in the entire IDF, an achievement publicly celebrated at adinner hosted by then-IDF Chief of Staff Gen.Gabriel Ashkenazi.Moreover, Reznick and Petersen were nominated

by their commanders to fill two of the 40 spots reserved from a field of 3,000 Golani soldiers to represent the brigade in the intramural IDFOlympic competition. In the graduation ceremonies when each

soldier is awarded his or her respective beret, all three were individually acknowledged for exceptional service.IDF tradition dictates that a commanding officer

gives his beret to an MVP soldier. Schwartz, a com-munications soldier, was given the honor. Likewise,Reznick and Petersen, machine-gunners, receivedberets from their individual unit commanders. Then for Reznick came the punch. A punch so

forceful it completely knocked him to the ground— another traditional military honor bestowed inrecognition of each unit’s toughest soldier. Reznick laughs as he remembers the shock. “It’s

this somber official ceremony,” he says. “Everyone isin line awaiting their commander to arrive with theirberet. My father was there from America in honorof the occasion. We are all standing at full attentionand when they get to me, I am flat-out leveled. Bythe time I stood up to receive my beret I knew Ihad officially made it. No one could take that away.We had all made it.”

Back In BaltimoreHaving served in combat units for more than 16 months, all three earned the rank of Sergeant.before their honorable discharge. Their active dutyhad been split between time patrolling Israel’s bor-ders with Lebanon and Gaza. Now they were readyto depart and begin the next phase of their lives.Reflecting on their service elicits impassioned

responses. Foremost is the conviction that they haveearned membership in every Jewish community. “From the most Haredi [Orthodox] to the most

secular Jews, we know we served to protect all ofthem equally,” Reznick says. “We did more than putour money where our mouth is. We actually putourselves on the line. At any Jewish table, we canhold our heads up high.”Perhaps most importantly, they have won some-

thing profoundly more personal — the right to belong while being themselves. “The same people who always told us our

approach to Judaism was all wrong still think that we’re wrong,” Schwartz says. “But even thosepeople now embrace us. Our commitment mattersto them, too.” Petersen addresses how claiming their autonomy

will continue to serve them going forward. “In the grand scheme of things it’s only been a

year-and-a-half of our lives,” he says. “Look at theexperiences we’ve gained — more life experiencethan most kids could ever gain in all four years ofcollege. Not that college isn’t important. We allplan to finish college. But the discipline we’velearned, and the understanding of how muchevery person matters in terms of their potentialimpact on the world, has really prepared us tomake the most of our time in college next yearand wherever we go next.” They hope that their story of self-discovery

through service will inspire others to do the samein all Jewish communities. Yet they also insist thatmilitary service is not the only way to help.“If you want to contribute to Israel, it doesn’t

have to be the army,” Schwartz explains. “Thatjust happens to be the choice that worked best forus. Simple things like making donations or evenjust advocating are other great ways to contribute.Israeli universities are top-notch and you canstudy there. Art, film and music are huge. Otherpeople can contribute in ways that we nevercould. Israel is so much more than just beingabout reliving the Bible. It’s about taking part inshaping the future of our people.”As Reznick says, “All of us still plan on living

in America. But it feels great to know that we’vecontributed part of our lives to a society that is basically our people’s greatest project.” ��

Ira Gewanter is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.

With The Big Brass: Jeremy Petersen(left) and JoshuaReznick (right) shared a Sukkot meal with now-former IDFChief of Staff Gavriel Ashkenazi.

PHO

TO P

ROVI

DED