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The chareidi soldier Nissan Bloom from the Netzach Yehuda Battalion (Nachal Chareidi) joined the traditional welcoming ceremony that took place on Tuesday for Lone Soldiers and volunteers from the Diaspora in the Sukkah of the Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman. Bloom, a chareidi volunteer from the USA who enlisted into the army right after arriving to Israel on his own, shared his personal story, touching all those present.

“Where is Nisan Bloom?” asked Lieberman during his speech and while doing so addressed a direct statement to him: “To this day I speak while making mistakes and with a thick Russian accent. As I have said many times before, in Israel the sky is the limit. It makes no difference if you are a new immigrant or a native Israeli. If you are determined and seek to fulfill yourself and your dreams – all is possible”.

During his speech Bloom described the debates he had prior joining the army with the Netzach Yehuda Battalion and he told about dealing with the various difficulties. “I have always wanted to come and live in Israel but at the same time I was always nervous about the gaps I would have in the language and culture and also the quality of education. I believed that going into the army would be the best way to integrate and to learn more about the Israeli lifestyle while at the same time I can live by my principals”.

“I chose to serve in the army in Netzach Yehuda as I figured that is my best way to serve as a fighter for the army and as a religious believer who serves his G-d. So for those reasons I chose to leave my home, although this was very hard for my family, and to give of myself to the country. Being a combat soldier means you must overcome the difficulties no matter how challenging they are as we are fighting for something big, something bigger than us. Faith is stronger than all and can overpower everything” said Bloom.

The Nachal Chareidi Foundation, who supports Nissan and his friends throughout their army service, stated that “Just like Nissan you can find tens of chareidi soldiers in the battalion who are originally from abroad, who volunteered to serve in the Israeli army, leaving behind their families and there are tens of chareidi lone soldiers, Israeli citizens, that are disconnected from their families due to their choice to serve in the army. Taking this opportunity, we would like to thank the tens of chareidi families who express support and provide the lone soldiers with a second home, so that the integration between the life with Torah and Mitzvos along with significant army service is complete. We do all we can at all times and we will continue to do so to ensure that no soldier feels lonely during their army service”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)