Twenty-two years ago, when Yoni and Nechama Greenfield gave birth to their son, Dovid Chaim, in the United States, they had no idea that their cute little baby would eventually choose to move to his father’s homeland and serve in Tzva Hahagana LeYisrael (the Israeli army). What series of events led to this admirable decision?
As Dovid tells the story, the first spark was struck when he turned 13 years old. To mark his bar mitzvah, Dovid and his family flew to Israel and spent two weeks traveling around. This was Dovid’s first true exposure to the land and people of Israel for an extended period of time. Looking back, Dovid remember that as a 13-year-old boy, he felt immediately at home and comfortable in Israel and loved every minute there. At that young age, Dovid decided that he would eventually make aliyah; he just didn’t know when.
In the meantime, Dovid returned to his life in Teaneck. He graduated from Yavneh Academy and attended Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC). Like many Orthodox high school graduates, Dovid attended a yeshiva in Israel for a year of intensive Torah study. During that year in Israel, Dovid learned at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh, located in the Old City of Jerusalem. Most of Dovid’s classmates were Americans, like him, and so, even though he was living in Israel, Dovid’s life was lived mostly in English. But little did Dovid know that this was about to change.
One day, Dovid was walking in Jerusalem. An Israeli couple stopped Dovid and asked him for directions in Hebrew. Dovid opened his mouth to answer… and realized that he did not know enough Hebrew to answer the question in Hebrew. Dovid was very disappointed in himself; he wanted to be comfortable in Hebrew.
Right away, Dovid started a self-made intensive ulpan in which he was both teacher and student. As he went about his day, he would make himself rephrase his thoughts in Hebrew. He would imagine likely daily scenarios and figure out how to navigate those situations in Hebrew. He spoke Hebrew out loud to himself everywhere, even in the shower (making his roommates laugh a lot). He spoke Hebrew to everyone all the time. Despite his friends’ teasing, Dovid persisted and ultimately became fluent in Hebrew through this unusual method.
After Dovid’s gap year, he returned to America and enrolled in Yeshiva University, but after one year, the pull of Israel became too great to resist. Dovid returned to Israel and participated in Tzav Rishon—registering for the army.
In Israel, when you register for the army, you are sent a “manila”—a document that lays out your options for your army service. Dovid reviewed his options with the mashakiot—commander women who help guide new soldiers. The general field of intelligence appealed the most to Dovid, and because his Hebrew was already metzuyan, he didn’t have to go through the ulpan that most Americans who join the army need to take.
So now Dovid works on a base called Har Sagi, working in foreign relations with the Egyptians. He wouldn’t tell me anything else about his job, even though I tried very hard to get the information out of him, and I can be very persuasive. When Dovid gets time off, he goes to spend time with the Israeli family who volunteered through an organization called Garin Sabar to be his family in Israel. It is a family with five young children, and after awhile, Dovid became very comfortable staying with them.
Dovid has half a year of the army left. After that, he hopes to study business in an Israeli university and remain in Israel, preferably in the south, near Beersheva.
By Amira Hadas Schneider
Amira Schneider is a sixth grader at Yeshivat Noam.
