Growing up in the suburban United States during simpler times, I was largely sheltered from the storms of life.
Though I marched and rallied for the freedom of fellow Jews around the world from a very young age, their trials and tribulations were distant and unrelatable. While I knew that pain, suffering and truly destructive hatred existed, I could hardly imagine them as anything more than heartbreaking historical lessons to be learned from Depression era heroes and Holocaust survivors.
In stark, heartbreaking contrast, our Israeli children have not been blessed with such a blissfully ignorant upbringing.
For nearly six years, our poor progeny has known pandemic, war and little else. For them, “sheltered” is a term synonymous with social distancing, ballistic missiles and seemingly endless loss of life.
The tweens who were forced to attend their friends’ bar and bat mitzvah celebrations via Zoom have spent much of the subsequent years missing school to attend the military funerals of family, friends and neighbors. The teenagers who defied Covid lockdowns to run outdoors and stay in shape are now putting their lives on the line to protect the people and land that they love.
Never have our youth known a complete and peaceful academic year. Never have they attended a family gathering where illness or reserve duty wasn’t a main topic of conversation.
As a parent, I am deeply saddened that violence and viruses are the norm for our children, and I have often lamented just how much this broken and battered generation has lost. That is, until recently, when it finally dawned on me that they have not allowed their tumultuous adolescence to define them.
Instead, this caring cohort has adopted compassion as their currency, swapping innocence and indifference for an inner strength and penchant for empowerment the likes of which we have never seen before.
Forged in the fires of constant crisis and urgent need, they have emerged from the flames stronger, wiser and eager to save, protect and comfort. Inexplicably, they are not broken but unfathomably flexible and a formidable force for good.
I noticed the beginnings of this phenomenon at the peak of the pandemic, when our National Service volunteers rose up to become the key to our conquering the contagion at ADI Jerusalem. These exceptional young leaders became infectious disease specialists overnight and helped us keep 100 ADI residents – all immunocompromised with preexisting respiratory conditions – happy, healthy and safe for more than two years.
No task was beneath them, no sterility protocol was beyond them, never were they off the clock, and their otherworldly warmth and attentiveness was rewarded with a perfect record: zero fatalities.
The bountiful benevolence and dogged determination of this truly unusual generation has only intensified since October 7, and a touching new trend has taken hold across the country. Boasting one of the largest National Service programs in the country, the ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran rehabilitation village was already bursting at the seams with talented and tenacious teens who were determined to make a difference. Still, we had no choice but to open our doors to an influx of IDF recruits who chose to defer their service so they could volunteer with our ADI family members – individuals living with and touched by disability. While our safety and security are paramount and conscription is at an all-time high, these passionate leaders prioritized tenderness and put their humanity first.
Though they have every intention of taking to the trenches to secure our sovereignty, they felt obligated to listen to their hearts first, and have spent the last year promoting wellness, fostering healing, alleviating pain and preserving peace of mind for the most vulnerable members of our society.
The examples of such selflessness are innumerable and the impact is incalculable. Even on our darkest days, the altruistic actions of these proud young Zionists remind us that our future is exceedingly bright.
Well beyond his extensive library of titles, bestselling science fiction author G. Michael Hopf is known the world over for the gospel truth of his oft-quoted insight on generational strength and struggle: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
On the one hand, it’s difficult to read this quote without considering the role that our generation’s complacency has played in bringing about these troubled times. On the other, we can’t help but hope that our children will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. However, the realization of that dream will require us to make a dramatic mental and emotional shift.
If we are to find our way through this waking nightmare, we must stop subconsciously mourning the cloistered childhoods we had envisioned for our kids and begin preparing them for leadership roles. Against all odds, they have channeled their fear, pain and dread into fortitude, positivity and a desire to heal, and we must afford them every opportunity and every office to do just that.
While we are inclined to reminisce about a simpler past, we must appreciate the miracle of our childrens’ mettle and embrace the dazzling future that will be if we allow them to shape the world through kindness.
