Dear Family,
I hope this email finds you safe and well.
Amidst the difficulty and upheaval over the past months and weeks, I thought you would appreciate a moment of inspiration – BFL style!
In 2006 Dror Kandelshen, then 23 years old, was called to fight as a reservist in the Second Lebanon War. During a mission, Dror was misidentified as a terrorist by one of our forces and was tragically shot in the head by a bullet. He was evacuated to Rambam Hospital in critical condition and given little chance to survive. Miraculously, Dror beat all odds and lived. Though he is paralyzed on the right side of his body and requires a wheelchair, he is incredibly strong and his spirit shines.
Since Dror’s injury, he has dreamed of riding a bike again, something he used to love doing. Over the last few months, the BFL Medical Project worked silently to find a solution for Dror to not only be able to drive his wheelchair independently, but allow him to ride it like a bike as well. After much research, the BFL brothers surprised Dror with an electric wheel that attaches to his wheelchair effectively making his chair an off-road mountain bike of sorts. Last Friday before Shabbat, our Cycling Project rode over to Dror’s neighborhood for a team ride with Dror as the leader! (Dror is in the middle of the photo in the white shirt)
At BFL our mission states that we not only help injured soldiers reclaim their lives but to enable them to fulfill their dreams. This was Dror’s dream and there was no way we were not going to make it happen.
Five miles into the ride, Dror crashed his bike. For a split second, no one moved, then as if coming out of slow-motion every one rushed to help Dror get back on his bike. Now with an injured leg, Dror turned to us and said, “I loved this ride but I loved falling even more. This is one of the first times I felt like a regular guy again and I’m happy I got injured.” At that moment Dror became our teacher and us his students.
This is why we have projects like the Cycling Project. It is tough and challenging but more importantly, it creates a platform for our brothers to help heal each other and even fulfill dreams. We have over 45 BFL members who ride in this amazing project and now we just added our 46th brother.
We would like to thank the Medical Project and the Cycling Project teams for giving Dror the opportunity he had been dreaming about – to cycle again and for knowing he is simply one of us, like every other brother.
At BFL nothing can stand in the way of a dream.
Shabbat Shalom from Israel,
Yaniv
PS. With the government’s lifting restrictions, this week we were able to host our annual scholarship event. Forty-five of our university scholarship recipients came together for a special evening where they learned about the program, and especially the different volunteer opportunities that are part of their responsibility as scholarship recipients. We know they will do great things for the country.
