Over 1,500 IDF immigrant lone soldiers who are doing their military service without the benefit of having their parents in Israel took part on Thursday in a special event, to help them with administrative matters and save them the trip to numerous government offices.
The annual Yom Siddurim (National Personal Planning Day) was held in Tel Aviv, and was organized by Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) and the Friends of the IDF (FIDF) Lone Soldier Program.
In the course of it soldiers were able to deal with bureaucratic paperwork, banking and other matters, with the governmental representatives all there on hand to save them time and hassle.
“Since launching the NBN-FIDF international Lone Soldier Program in 2012 with the full support and blessing of the IDF, we have been constantly improving and expanding the services offered to these thousands of dedicated young men and women,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of NBN.
"Yom Siddurim minimizes the time and energy these brave lone soldiers spend attending to personal errands, enabling them instead to focus on the remarkable privilege of protecting and serving our country.”
The annual Yom Siddurim event was launched in 2014, after many lone soldiers said they simply did not have the time to take care of all their personal matters in the one day every two months given to them by the IDF for personal planning.
Hagai Havah, who made Aliyah from Germany and is now serving as a lone soldier in the 12th battalion of the Golani brigade, was among the soldiers taking part in the event.
“My parents moved to Germany when I was very young, but ever since I can remember, I knew that I wanted to return to Israel and serve as a combat soldier in the IDF. It is difficult at times to be a lone soldier, but today I was able to convert my driver’s license, and receive additional Aliyah benefits and assistance from the IDF’s lone soldier center in planning the remainder of my army service."