Every year many lonely soldiers find themselves alone on Family Day when their relatives are sometimes thousands of miles away.
But some of the families followed the lone soldiers to Israel.
Sergeant Hana Smolker and Corporal Yehudit Ben Moshe are such fighters.
Hana (21) immigrated to Israel in December 2020. She was born in Australia and lived there until the age of 19, when she decided to take the moral step, immigrate to Israel and undergo significant military service.
Hannah arrived in Jerusalem.
In March 2021, she already enlisted in the Border Infantry, and completed with honors a course and advanced training of the Cheetah Battalion as a fighter.
Eventually, she was assigned as a fighter in the Cheetah Regiment.
Hana says that she always knew that if she could enlist in military service, she would serve as a fighter, the place where she could be the most significant.
Hannah with her mother and sisters, photo: IDF spokesman
Despite the great desire and the contribution she finds in the position, Hana talks about the great difficulty being away from her family.
"Being on a combat path, in a foreign country, when the whole family home is thousands of kilometers from me was not easy at all," she says.
Due to the mutual difficulty and the distance, Hana's mother and sisters followed her six months ago, and now almost all of them live together.
At the same time, Hana says that even in the army there were people who made her feel at home: "The people and the battalion are my favorite thing. One of the main reasons I came and stayed are the people I met along the way. Even in the moments when I felt alone, there was someone who made me feel together and now that my family is here, everything feels Like one big house."
Hana describes the company in which she serves as a second family - a place where she can stand out, protect the homeland, be together with her fellow soldiers and learn something new every day.
Judit in the moving ceremony, photo: IDF spokesman
Corporal Ben Moshe also found herself alone in the difficult moments after immigrating to Israel from France. "I am a fighter in Battalion 411 of the 282nd Fire Brigade," she says, "I immigrated to Israel alone two years ago.
What led and kept me on this path was the fact that this is the country of the Jewish people.
Since childhood, my dream was to be a fighter to protect our country."
"At first I enlisted in the Air Force, but the feeling wasn't right," says Judit, "I wanted to contribute and protect as much as I could and I knew that the right place for me was combat. I truly believe that if I want to stay here in Israel as an Israeli, it is very important to enlist in the army, especially as a combatant.
Judith with her parents and sister, photo: IDF spokesman
"However, despite all the desire, being a volunteer in the IDF is not an easy experience, even more so when you are a lone soldier. During my training, it was very difficult for me to understand and find my way around - but the why was stronger than the how - I knew why I did it and it kept me going," she adds .
"The parents left everything"
According to her, "As soon as my parents, who saw the whole journey from the sidelines, realized that I would not return to France, they left everything to immigrate to Israel. We could not think of a whole life 4,000 kilometers from each other. My dream was to live with them again, I missed too much And now it's hard for me to even come home every two weeks when I know they're here."
In conclusion, she says: "They try to integrate into Israeli society as much as possible, in terms of mentality and culture. In the end, it was important for them to immigrate to Israel and they love the country and the people very much, they think there is something special here, more respect between the people and everyone takes care of each other, things that is nowhere else."
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