Dear Family,
Firstly, on behalf of our over 860 BFL members and their families, SHANA TOVA. Thank you for your care, support, and love. May it be a year of blessing for your family.
This week marked our annual retreat to Eilat and this year the event took place under the banner of the most severely wounded. Unfortunately we have many brothers in this category, but for this BFL was created.
Each day of this retreat our special brothers were given focus, support, and encouragement from our members. These soldiers, who have been through more than the rest of us can even imagine, are the real heroes of Israel.
We also wanted to do a retreat activity where every one of our soldiers would be on equal “footing” no matter what their injury. We chose a dive off a coral reef. One of our incredible soldiers from this group who dove for the first time is a BFL member named Andrei.
Andrei is from Herzliya and served in the Border Police. One day in the summer of 2002, Andrei and his team were called to a mission in the middle of the country. They had no idea that they were driving into an ambush.
When they arrived, Andrei’s commander was the first out of their vehicle and he immediately was shot in the head by the terrorists and died. Andrei immediately tried to pull his commander back into the vehicle and at that moment he was shot as well. The bullet struck Andrei’s spine and he was critically injured and unable to move. Just as the terrorist approached Andrei to shoot him again, another soldier from Andrei’s team struck the terrorist with his jeep, saving Andrei’s life. Though Andrei is now paralyzed from the chest down, he is doing everything he can to thrive.
Diving underwater was amazing for Andrei and even more amazing for us to watch him. Andrei told us that under the water, we are all equal. One of our soldiers caught the moment on film. Please take a moment and I hope you will be as inspired as we were.
Again, Shana Tova to you and your families.
We love you.
Shabbat Shalom from Israel,
Arale