Rabs
Active member
This really is a good story, and sad.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/15184219.htm?source=rss&channel=inquirer_nation
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/15184219.htm?source=rss&channel=inquirer_nation
At age 16, Michael Levin stunned his Bucks County family by announcing that he would settle in Israel after high school and join the military there.
His parents didn't worry at the time. First he'd go to college, they figured, then they'd see.
Two years later, Rabbi Jeffrey Schnitzer recalled, Levin's father, Mark, pulled him aside and said: "I've got a problem."
The son, by then 18 and graduating from Council Rock High School, remained determined. The father toyed with hiding his passport.
"Mark, you know him as well as I do," the rabbi recalled saying. "You could cut his legs off and he'd still go.
"And he said, 'You're right.' "
First Sgt. Michael Levin, 22, who fulfilled his dream of becoming an Israeli soldier, was killed in action Tuesday in southern Lebanon. He was one of three Israeli soldiers killed that day.
As his parents and two sisters - his twin, Dara, and his older sister, Alisa - flew yesterday to Jerusalem for a hero's burial today, others recalled a self-confident yet humble young man whose passion for Judaism and Israel delivered him willingly into harm's way.
"Michael was always a bright, inquisitive and stubborn young man, and it was this tenacity that let him do whatever he wanted to do in this life," Schnitzer said. "This was not about becoming a hero; he had no visions of glory. He did this because he couldn't think of a better way for him to serve the cause of Israel."
Levin died instantly when an antitank shell struck a building he was searching, Schnitzer said. His death came two weeks after he prematurely ended a three-week visit with his family in Holland, Bucks County, eager to rejoin his comrades in battle.
"He said, 'This is important; I need to go there now,' " the rabbi said.
His death also came one day after his parents and two sisters were cheered by an overflow crowd at a pro-Israel rally Monday night at Shir Ami congregation in Newtown. The ovation came after a speaker recognized their son's service, reducing his mother, Harriet, to tears.
"As one, 1,200 people stood up and gave the loudest and longest salute to this family," said Schnitzer, of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Bensalem, where the family worshipped.
"A day later, I have to tell the family that their son and brother had been killed in action."
Levin will be buried this afternoon in Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem - Israel's equivalent of Arlington National - amid soldiers, prime ministers and presidents, said Jay Podolsky, director of the Bucks County chapter of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. A local memorial service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Shir Ami, Bucks County's largest synagogue, to accommodate the crowd that is expected.
Rabbi Todd Zeff plans to attend with a busload of Levin's friends from Camp Ramah in the Poconos, where Levin spent nine summers and returned for a visit July 16.
That day, Levin told friends he did not fear dying so much as its impact on his family, Zeff said. He told fellow former camper Michal Wachs, 20, of Bala Cynwyd, that living in Israel was "awesome."
"He thought of Israel as his country," she said. "He died for his country."
At Ramah, which is the camping arm of Conservative Judaism, Levin was among young people who shared his Zionistic zeal, Zeff said.
"We're all very passionate about Israel and very pro-Israel," said Ramah alumna Jessica Remstein, 20, of Richboro. "We were all behind his decision to join the army."
In Israel, Levin lived with two roommates in a small apartment in Jerusalem.
"Even though his room was no bigger than a walk-in closet, he was happy because he was in Israel," said roommate Davida Cutscher, who met Levin when she was a counselor and he a camper at Ramah.
"He had always told me that he was coming to Israel after high school," Cutscher said. "Many campers say that and do not follow through. But Mike did."
Eytan Peer, a Jewish Agency emissary who helps Jews moving to Israel, recalled Levin's will.
"He would just show up at my office in New York unannounced, having charmed his way in," Peer said. "In my entire career, I had only seen one other person so determined."
After high school, Levin entered the Nativ College Leadership Program in Israel. He then went to Kibbutz Yavne Ulpan to become more conversant in Hebrew, friends in Israel said.
Levin had to get special permission to enter the army so soon, said Tzika Aud, head of the Jewish Agency information center for new immigrants. Typically, immigrants are given an extended period to get acclimated.
Even though Levin was of slight build, he became a paratrooper and was one of the few Americans to ever serve in such an elite unit.
"The first time he parachuted, he strayed off course because he was not heavy enough," Aud told the Jerusalem Post. "The next time he jumped off a plane, they attached weights to his parachute."
Zeff said that Levin articulated his passion in a Nativ yearbook. Beneath a photo of him draped in an Israeli flag, his quote read: "You can't fulfill your dream unless you dare to risk it all."
Israeli Reports on Levin's Death
The following excerpts are from Israeli newspapers reporting the death of Michael Levin:
From Yedioth Ahronoth:
A short while ago, Michael received a special discharge from the army in order to visit his family in the United States. Upon hearing news about the outbreak of war in the north, he decided to shorten his vacation, and returned to Israel four days ago. His friends say that he went to his commanders and asked to be sent immediately to the northern border... .
Tzika Aud, who serves as a kind of adoptive father for lone soldiers from the U.S. and is the manager of the Immigrant Information Center in the Jewish Agency, said Tuesday that he couldn't believe that Michael was no longer around. "Only two weeks ago we sat and ate together in Jerusalem. He told me that he really wanted to be an officer and to go to commanders' course. He asked if I could help him. He was part of a band of lone soldiers from the States who were very close."
From the Jerusalem Post:
One of Michael's friends recalled a phone conversation he had with him about a week ago.
"I'm not worried about dying. I'm worried about what it would do to my family," the friend quoted Michael as saying.
Yossi Katz, an educator at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, said: "Mike had a great sense of humor and was one of the most loving, caring, kind human beings I ever met. He loved sports and was a big fan of Philly teams.
"In our many serious discussions together, Mike expressed his love for Israel and said that he felt he had an obligation to serve his people. Mike was a true man of action and followed up on his Zionist ideals."
