JMintheAM AUG 7, 2014 - Maya Liss - NBN Lone Soldier Coordinator

in the AM Aon cats with Asher bar this is a uh Thursday morning broadcast and this is America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program heard on listeners sponsored wfm star wfu Mount Hope Rockton County at 91.9 on the FM dial and around the world in the web j.org today we're at neish Benish headquarters or would I like to call the neish Benes broadcast Center in the main conference room in their headquarter in Northwest Jerusalem uh we start our trip here with neish Manish we end our trip Tuesday at the big ceremony hopefully it'll be a big ceremony at the benon airport when the uh hundreds of oim show up on the jumbo jet from New York City and from all over North America to come and move to Israel nobody has postponed nobody has cancelled and that trip will be uh commemorated Tuesday at benuron airport I am jealous of my Aliss myiss is the lone soldier coordinator at nefes Benish good morning and welcome to the show Good Morning BTO how do I get your job um jealous make Aliah you serve in the Army so it starts with alah then it goes to service in the Army all right two strikes against me so far how long have you been the lone soldier coordinator two years you were a lone soldier at one time I was I was a lone soldier I actually helped lone soldiers while I was in the Army as well uh originally from where from Los Angeles California from La yes what persuaded or influenced a young lady from Los Angeles to join the Israeli Army you know it's hard to put in words but if I were to put it in one word I'd say Zionism how old were you when you decided that you're going to the Army uh I was a little older I say that in quotes older in the eyes of the army um were you were over 20 already I was already over 20 I was 23 years old but when I say when okay so you entered a 23 but when did you know did you know at 13 did you know at 17 did you know at 23 when did you know you're going to the Israeli Army you know I think it's something that I always grew up with I my dad is Israeli so I came to Israel every year to visit the family and when I was young I just knew it was something I wanted to do and at a certain age I knew it was it was now or never I had to try or it was never going to happen and when you say that you helped lone soldiers while you were in the Army what does that mean uh I was drafted to help create a sub sector in the Army which helps oim through the entire draft process so a lot of come imagine you were to arrive to Israel today and you wanted to go into the army who would you call right you have no idea Israelis automatically they get their their draft notice in the mail they get their first call up in the mail Alim don't really have an idea of where to turn to so I helped create the infrastructure of the return address for Alim in the Army uh my Liss is with us lone soldier coordinator do we have an idea you may know exactly how many lone soldiers will be on Tuesday's flight when it arrives here at benon airport so we have 108 that are coming what was last summer do you remember last August what it was it was was also around that it was around that it was a little it it was around the same number it's it's yeah it's not unusual for there to be over a hundred on this flight no this flight the August flight is uh is known for it to be the the lone soldier flight and they got we were on it last year it was an exhilarating experience and meeting people from LA and all other parts of North America who decided in their teenage years to join the Army um when this flight arrives where do they go they will spend their first days where after Tuesday so the 108 that are are coming these ones specifically are in Guin Saar uh which is a framework where they will be living on kib once they land in Israel there are probably more that are of army age meaning men up until the age of 25 women up until the age of 20 that have to serve in the IDF as well and they're going to go live their life in Israel until they join the Army whether it's going to uh keep buul Pon or if it's renting an apartment in Tel Aviv whatever it might be all right so we're told that 128 loone soldiers were on the flight last summer 108 as you just pointed out this coming Monday from JFK in New York I would guess that their addresses are from everywhere in North America right yeah absolutely absolutely it's just unbelievable I mean we always point out the spirit of Zionism lives on and and in no way more than the uh than being at that flight anybody who shows up to JFK Monday you will meet over a hundred kids that are just dedicated to the future of the state of Israel and the Jewish people it's absolutely amazing um aside from the lone Soldiers the rest of the flight will be families and other typical oim some single people as well right absolutely abely who are going to round out a number that's over 300 right total to be over 300 people that full the full flight it's a a whole chartered flight and it's larger because I think we had 230 last month it's larger than the July flight this is the big one of the this is the big one August all right um what do you say to do we say anything different to anyone listening to this show we always say if you're interested in neish Bish go to the website if you're interested in Aliah you and your family Etc do you say anything different to a lone soldier Prospect anything or it's the same thing comment it's the same thing if you check it out online you could start your whole exploration right there on the website absolutely it's a part of the neish bfish infrastructure um you know to know what your rights and your what you have to do as an Ole in terms of your army service cuz people men up until the age of 25 do have to serve in the army that's their age of arrival um so if they they've been here and even if they're turning 26 before the army they do still have to serve um so it's part of the neish benfish infrastructure to know what what you are required to do as an Ole what you are allowed to do um and to be honest we see a lot of O that that want to we see people who are older that are that are turning to us and asking what can I do I'm this this age which is well over the age of mandatory service and they say I want to serve in the IDF um so we're here to answer all of those questions I'm sorry I always uh turn to quantification but do we know how many people have come through a lone soldier program yet do we know how many you've uh you know had three your office so to speak okay so the loan Soldier program which is a part of neish is is under the neish Benish umbrella um which is a program which is uh in cooperation with neish benfish and the fidf has um it it it doesn't only include North American and British it in any any lone soldier that it's that has made Aliyah after the age of 16 and is is serving in the IDF um we have quite a few um countries represented we have about over 70 countries represented in our in our program uh and we have coordinators for every single language a major spoken language in the Army so that's we have a French coordinator Spanish English Uh Russian there are 70 countries represented in the lone soldier program everything we have you know one soldier from Iran we have we have soldiers from all over the world um you name it it's probably on our list it's really unbelievable and and what happens uh you're in touch with these soldiers afterwards right this is not 108 soldiers showing up Tuesday and good luck everybody we've helped you get to Israel absolutely you're in touch with them constantly absolutely we start from once they arrive in Israel so for neish benfish neish benfish assists with the Aliah process and then the loone soldier program comes in once they arrive to Israel to help them with the entire process of draft what is your Sal your first call up what are your options after you go through the testing um if you want to go into an Elite Force what that looks like how you're how at what level does your Hebrew need to be um so we do help through that entire process um from the moment that they're in Israel any crazy story for Tuesday anything strike you over the last couple of months working with I don't know so a lone soldier that has an unbelievable background or a hardto believe story anything come to mind or I have to wait till Tuesday till I meet everybody well what I can say is that it's unbelievable that not a single person has has canceled their flight they're all still coming and I think that every single person on that flight deserves a big kot big respect big honor to them and it's it's even more meaningful to be making Alia right now unbelievable the whole thing is incredible yeah I don't think anybody even in this office knew at the beginning of the summer how that would go no and it's just remarkable it's been it's been unbelievable to see that you know I was at the the charter flight in July and it was very emotional you know we just to be welcoming all those oim that stayed strong regardless of the the lack of quiet that we had here in Israel and it was really that's one way of put yeah it was really beautiful and I I I look forward to greeting every single one of those El that come off that plane next week lone soldier program nb. org.il NBN org.il I'm assuming there's a section of the website that will appeal to anybody out there that wants to join absolutely you go on NBN org.il you'll see a a tab that says lone soldier program and you you can click on that simple as that uh callot you my list thank you very much for joining us I'm on this incredible accomplishment this coming Tuesday yeah enjoy it it'll be remarkable celebrating there at benuron airport with all these lone soldiers uh plenty more coming up here at JM in the AM we have another we have another meth message of support and understanding that's going out from the neish Benish office you cannot imagine what has been going on in any typical summer NE Bish staff is uh is um utilized to the nth degree but this summer has been very difficult on everybody and a lot of last minute stuff going on a lot of coordination happening at the last minute so to yonina Kramer and to Nava Orel Danielle and Shaina for their understanding and supportiveness and being a supportive family during these intense and hectic times during this neish Manish summer of 2014 we say a big shout out to you from all of us here at JM in the AM uh more coming up here Sandy Schmo a mon on a Thursday morning at JM and the a.m.