Fast Forward

American Soldiers In Israel Get The Help They Really Need On ‘Errands Day’

Group photo of Lone Soldiers with Mindy Levine of the New York Yankees and Co-Founders of NBN Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart at Nefesh B’Nefesh and FIDF’s Yom Siddurim. Image by Shahar Azran

By Alyssa Fisher January 25, 2019

Lone Soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces were helped out and shown appreciation on Thursday for “Yom Siddurim,” or Personal Errands Day.

Nefesh B’Nefesh and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces hosted the sixth annual event, in which several agencies help lone soldiers, someone without immediate family in Israel who enlists in the IDF, check off their logistical tasks within the Israeli bureaucracy so they can enjoy their days off. Many of those soldiers are Americans either immigrating to Israel or who feel called to serve and then return to the U.S.

In that one day, Lone Soldiers could test for their driver’s license, have a tax consultation, get help with a passport or ID and look for a post-army job at an employment workshop. According to Nefesh B’Nefesh, about 1,600 participated from personal errands day.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at the event, along with representatives from the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, Ministry of Interior, The Jewish Agency, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and the Jewish National Fund-USA.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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