"They pick up and leave family, friends, home, cars, first-tier universities, and often top jobs for a land in which, in most cases, they don’t have relatives, and are unfamiliar with the language, culture, food, and mentality. 

Once there, they choose one of the harshest, most difficult frameworks possible in which to immerse themselves: the army."

They are Israel’s lone soldiers.

For a variety of reasons – from a classical Zionist yearning to defend the Jewish state, to feeling that they are fulfilling a religious obligation, to simply looking for adventure – these young men and women come from Melbourne and Montreal, London and Los Angeles, Boston and Buenos Aires.  They serve side-by-side with native born Israelis throughout the Israel Defense Forces, including in combat and elite commando units.

Lone Soldiers: Israel’s Defenders from Around the World tells their tale, engagingly written by Jerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon, with accompanying pictures by noted photographer Ricki Rosen.  This book tells the personal stories of fourteen of these volunteer lone soldiers – including one, Michael Levin, who fell in the Second Lebanon War – and of an “old school” kibbutznik, Lt.-Col. (res.) Tzvika Levy, known as the “father of the lone soldiers,” whose life mission is to take them under his wing and make their landing in Israel and the IDF as painless as possible.

Their stories are living proof of Israel’s enduring strength and Zionism’s vibrant appeal.