Tani Schwartz made aliyah with his parents and two siblings when he was eight years old. At the age of eighteen, he enrolled in a Hesder yeshivah, which combines Torah study with service in the Israeli Army. After basic training, Tani was one of twenty-four soldiers chosen to serve in an elite reconnaissance unit, whose men were trained for dangerous and daring missions. Tani was the only “yeshivah boy.”
Training in the elite unit consisted of a year and a half of difficult training courses, such as parachuting and fighting terrorists. From early morning until late at night, the soldiers took part in rigorous and grueling exercises. Sleeping for three hours in the evening was considered a good night’s sleep.
During the last four months of training, Tani and his fellow soldiers were taught navigation, which required daily walks and runs of twenty-five to thirty miles across the country. Every mountain and valley in Israel became as familiar to these soldiers as their own backyards.
Each evening this small group of soldiers would conclude their day at a designated kibbutz. The kibbutzim were notified in advance of the soldiers’ impending arrival and were asked to prepare a warm meal for them. The soldiers appreciated the hot dinners that awaited them at the end of every long day. However, there was one soldier sitting with the others who did not eat the prepared food.
Tani, the “yeshivah boy,” had eaten kosher all his life and was not about to compromise his religious standards. Most of these kibbutzim did not have kosher kitchens and could not prepare kosher meals for the soldiers. And so, the army gave Tani vouchers to buy his own food at each kibbutz. Tani made do with whatever basic foods were available at each kibbutz: dry cereal and milk, fresh vegetables, canned foods.
It was not easy for Tani to watch his fellow soldiers devour delicious warm meals while he ate his cold food, especially on cold, damp winter days. But the idea of eating non-kosher food never crossed his mind.
One evening, as Tani walked into a kibbutz dining hall later than his comrades, he was bewildered by what he saw. His fellow soldiers were sitting at a table set with plastic silverware and paper plates, eating dry cereal and fresh vegetables.
“What are you doing?” asked Tani.
“We decided that it is not fair that we get warm food while you must eat cold food. Until you can get hot, kosher food, we will all eat what you eat,” one of his friends said.
Tani’s eyes welled up with tears. (Yes, even though soldiers get emotional at times!) He could not believe that his friends, who were not religious, would make such a sacrifice for him. He knew how much they looked forward to the warm dinners that awaited them and gave them strength for the next day’s difficult military exercises.
As soon as the commanding officer heard what had happened, he, too, was touched. He spoke to his superiors in the Army, and, from that day on, arrangements were made for a warm, kosher meal to await Tani at every kibbutz.
Without saying a word, Tani demonstrated his uncompromising Jewish values and thus earned the respect and allegiance of his irreligious comrades. In real life, actions speak louder than words. (For Goodness’ Sake)
Reprinted from the Rabbi David’s Parshat Hayye Sarah 5786 email of Shabbat Shalom for Cyberspace.
