Lev Lechayalot: Women Holding It Together in the Service of Israel

Excerpt from article in The Jerusalem Post By NECHAMA DAVIS

Lev Lechayalot reaches out to female soldiers and women serving in the Border Police all over the country, be they lone soldiers or those in combat.

As we still mourn the terrible losses on Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023, and in the war since, we also reflect on the many inspiring and creative initiatives of Jews all over the world, and Israeli society in particular, to support the war effort.

One such project is Lev Lechayalot, the brainchild of Rabbi Shalom and Rebbetzin Lynne Myers, veteran South African immigrants who run the Emek Learning Center community and Emek Lone Soldiers in Jerusalem. Through Lev Lechayalot, they reach out to female soldiers and women serving in the Border Police all over the country, be they lone soldiers or those in combat.

The idea began on Simchat Torah 2023 when the couple saw their sons donning their army uniforms and reporting for duty. Within weeks, they managed to provide a barbecue for the unit of one of their sons in central Israel. (The sons who were in Gaza and the North were impossible to get to.) Lynne was struck by how the male soldiers benefited from the warm “hug” the event was giving them but that the female soldiers stood on the side, not part of it. She went up to them and started talking to them and hugging them. The response to her warmth was overwhelming. At that moment, she knew that she and her husband had to do something for female soldiers. And for their mothers, especially those overseas.

A vision and a mission: Helping out the young women serving in the IDF, Border Police

Lynne Myers is a woman with a vision and a mission: to show appreciation and love to these young women and to be there for them while they serve our nation in these dangerous and challenging times.

At first, the Myers couple organized sushi parties for the girls on the bases and brought gift packages for each soldier. These packages were comprised of items that were donated by women from all over the world, such as mascara from a woman in the UK, biltong (beef jerky) from a woman and her friends in South Africa (so far 130 kg of it), and hand-knitted woolen hats from women in Australia. The list goes on and on as women, in Canada and the US as well as within Israel, find creative and personal ways to send donations of goods or money.

 

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