Rina Sobel — My Journey to Sherut Leumi
Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Bat Sherut Bodedah 2018–19
“You are a child of words…but I have no words left.”
These are the words that Ori Ansbacher’s mother used to describe her daughter during her eulogy. Ori, 19, was killed while serving in her year of Sherut Leumi (National Service that religious girls can do instead of the army). I, too, am a 19-year-old girl serving in my year of National Service. Ori grew up in Tekoa, Israel, and Sherut Leumi was her choice as her next step after graduating high school. Unlike Ori, I barely knew what Sherut Leumi was when I graduated high school. Ori and I came from completely different backgrounds — different countries, languages, cultures — yet, we both found ourselves in Jerusalem this year, serving our country the best way we know how.
I’d like to share about how I got here and what G-d willing lays ahead, each step being in memory of those who unfortunately don’t have the opportunity to take these steps themselves.
I grew up in a home that was on a journey. Both of my parents became Shomer Shabbat and Kashrut when they were dating, learning and growing individually and together. In our home, we were Shomer Shabbat and Kashrut, but we still ate vegetarian meals at non-kosher restaurants, wore what we wanted, and I went to public school for the majority of my life. I brought my kosher lunches to public school and explained to all of my non-Jewish friends why I ate different foods and couldn’t come to their birthday parties on Saturdays, though I would still get offended when they didn’t invite me. When I gave my Jewish friends from school Mishloach Manot on Purim, they’d respond, “Thanks! Who knew it was Purim?” From a young age, my mom would make me invite every Jewish kid in my class to a Succah party at our house, even as I complained that I wasn’t even friends with half of them.
Needless to say, I learned from my parents and the experiences they gave me, which left me with an extremely strong sense of giving to Am Yisrael and pride in my Jewish values.
Continuing my religious journey, the summer after ninth grade, I looked in the mirror and found myself quite confused at what I found. I considered myself to be a Modern Orthodox girl, yet I wore clothes that didn’t represent this title. I began wearing skirts. I wanted to walk down the street and be able to be easily recognizable as a Jew. I started with just skirts, not caring about the length and then over time they gradually got longer. When I was going into eleventh grade, I told my parents I wouldn’t eat at non-kosher restaurants anymore, and the following summer, I started wearing long sleeves.
Israel came more into the picture in tenth grade. My school received Shilichim from Israel in tenth grade who spread a huge love of Zionism, and I simply fell in love with their fun spirit and the truth I knew in my heart, that we truly all belonged in the Jewish homeland. I decided in tenth grade that I wanted to go to college in Israel, but somehow, I let that dream fall through the cracks when I found there weren’t so many options to study in Israel in English.
To many people’s surprise, I knew I wanted to make Aliyah before the first time I stepped foot in the country.
At the beginning of seminary, my plan included returning to America to study in college and then making Aliyah afterward, but that plan quite quickly seemed silly to me. Why would I ever leave from this land we’ve been praying, crying, and fighting for the past few thousand years? Living in a century of prophecies unfolding in front of our eyes, I found it harder to make up excuses in my mind of why I wouldn’t make Aliyah right now. Learning from the examples I grew up with of Succah parties and Mishloach Manot to unaffiliated Jews, I knew I had to give as much as I could to my fellow Jews just like all boys and girls my age in Israel.
Instead of picking up a gun to fight, I chose to serve in Sherut Leumi by giving with my whole heart, body, and nearly all my energy in a school for kids with autism.
And so, I found myself in the same place as Ori Ansbacher. We came from extremely different backgrounds and upbringings, yet we ended up in similar situations. We both gave in our own ways to the same cause of building up this powerful state in the breathtaking land our forefathers were promised.
