Sitting down with an IDF reservist: Student, spouse, father, warrior
"When I return from reserve duty, I need to rest but usually cannot, as there is work, studies, exams, and family life to catch up on. But I am proud and happy to serve, like all us reservists."
IDF RESERVIST with his toddler outside Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl, May 9.(photo credit: FLASH90)BySHLOMO MAITALMeet Amotz , an IDF combat reservist now serving another long stretch, warrior, Technion student and teaching assistant, spouse, father.
The name is a pseudonym. IDF reserve soldiers have been threatened with arrest when abroad by pro-Palestinian activists employing the International Court of Justice genocide calumny. I choose not to give them ammunition.Amotz is a student of electrical engineering at the Technion. He works as a teaching assistant as well, and, in my opinion, excels at it, as he does in everything he tackles.
Amotz is married to Chava, an architect, and is father of their daughter, Bruriah, age three. (Those are pseudonyms as well.) Chava is expecting another child. The couple live in Technion student dorms.
Amotz serves in a renowned special forces commando unit. As I write this, he has begun another long stint as an IDF combat reserve soldier. Reports indicate there are 169,000 IDF soldiers on active duty, and some 465,000 in the reserves. In the ongoing October 7 war, some 350,000 reserve soldiers were reported to have been called up to defend their country. Many returned home hastily from abroad to join their units.
Student, instructor, spouse, parent, warrior. This is the reality many Israeli men and women grapple with, playing multiple roles and juggling them now for 453 days, as I write this.
I choose to tell Amotz’s story in his own words. In my view, Amotz is an outstanding teaching assistant, a diligent student, loving spouse, dedicated father, and brave warrior. I salute him and many thousands like him, who defend their country with courage and sacrifice. More than 800 Israeli soldiers have died in battle, which includes 43 women.
Here is Amotz’s story, in his own words:
“I was a yeshiva student, studying Talmud mostly and learning secular subjects for no more than two hours daily. I did not do the full high school matriculation exams. As a yeshiva student, I initially planned to do abbreviated IDF service. But after Operation Pillar of Defense, the eight-day campaign in Gaza in November 2012, I decided to do full IDF service.
I studied at yeshiva in Hebron, then in Yeruham. My leg was injured in an accident, causing severe infection, and for a time it was not clear if I would walk again. I was determined to recover, worked out hard, and eventually I did recover fully. I volunteered for an elite commando unit, even though I was less physically fit than most of the other recruits. [Candidates for special forces units go through a rigorous week-long ordeal during which, among other things, they carry a heavy sandbag up a high sand dune, come down, and repeat this up to 30 times or more.]
IDF soldiers conduct training exercises near the northern border and at command headquarters, September 30, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)I think I made it because of willpower rather than fitness. Soldiers in the unit did strenuous exercises to raise their heart rates to 200 beats a minute – not an easy goal to reach for a fit person. For me it was easy, as I was less fit.Eventually I was released from this unit and joined another commando unit, serving as a team leader. In this unit, I managed to come up with a number of innovative ideas related to the use of specific equipment; these ideas were tested and adopted widely.
After my IDF service, I began studies at the Open University. Later, despite having only a partial matriculation diploma, I was accepted to the Technion because of my high grades.
Well before the October 7 war, I did long stretches of reserve duty. In Operation Swords of Iron, I was called up and served in Gaza. Several times I was called up, then told that the call-up was deferred. This was disruptive to my studies and married life.
I have been trying hard to catch up with my studies and complete the semester exams. My goal is to add an undergraduate degree in physics to an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. The Technion’s combined electrical engineering/physics program is difficult and challenging, but knowing physics is important because it explains the theory underlying engineering principles.
My wife is a talented architect who has put her profession on hold. She had to quit her full-time job and can do only temporary work. This has caused us some economic hardship. When I return from reserve duty, I need to rest but usually cannot, as there is work, studies, exams, and family life to catch up on. But I am proud and happy to serve, like all us reservists.
My wife is incredible. She has enormous strength and sends me off to serve in the IDF with pride. Our little daughter has become frightened of loud noises. I am an optimist. I see many good things happening and meet many good people. I think today, after October 7, people are far less judgmental. Most people have moved on, moved forward from the bitter dissension we had before October 7. In the reserves, leftists and rightists fight as a unit and are brothers.
In my opinion, our political system is outdated. Social media rewards negative statements and very short-term goals. We need more long-term thinking.”
Life after October 7
ACCORDING TO the Bank of Israel, Israel’s war-related costs from 2023 to 2025 could end up amounting to $55.6 billion, costing Israel 10% of its economy. And the war is far from over. Long term, that figure may well double.The human toll of October 7 is, of course, immense. Some 1,139 people were killed, among them 695 Israeli civilians (including 38 children), 71 foreign nationals, and 373 IDF soldiers. Some 364 civilians were killed and many more wounded while attending the Supernova music festival. About 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, alive or dead, including 30 children. Almost 100, alive and dead, remain in Gaza.
There is immense suffering among the Palestinians in Gaza. Hamas claims that the Gaza war has killed at least 45,553 Palestinians and wounded 108,379 since October 7, 2023.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, no friend of Israel, reportedly commented to Israel, “What did you expect?” when he was informed of the Hamas atrocities. That comment applies far more accurately to Hamas.
I ask the terrorists: “When you attacked, murdered, pillaged, raped, and burned – what did you expect in response? Does your death-is-salvation ideology welcome the enormous suffering you brought on your people? Really?”
As the shaky Netanyahu coalition slaps together a new draft law for the ultra-Orthodox, exempting a majority of them, injustice screams to the heavens. Amotz, from a strong yeshiva background, became a disciplined courageous warrior. This is proof of concept. Proof of need? It’s obvious.
Let us direct resources to IDF reservists like Amotz who are struggling, and not to able-bodied yeshiva students who dodge the draft. The Hassidic rabbis who fanatically oppose army service for their young men and leverage their political power will not be forgiven.■
The writer heads the Zvi Griliches Research Data Center at S. Neaman Institute, Technion. He blogs at www.timnovate.wordpress.com.
