The Friends of the IDF wrapped up a moving experience on their annual mission to Poland and Israel on May 15. On that day, a delegation of North American Jews, including several from the DMV area, traveled with IDF soldiers to important historical sites from the Holocaust and to locations across Israel while commemorating Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzma’at.
FIDF has organized the annual trip for several years, but after the Oct. 7 attacks and the ongoing war, this year’s trip held greater weight than its predecessors, according to Silver Spring resident and FIDF donor Ben Osborn, who attended for the second time.
“[I] eventually went [on the trip] for the first time last year. And I initially didn’t have plans to go again this year, but then, when Oct. 7 happened, I just felt I had to,” Osborn said.
Osborn said that as the war was going on, he was hearing stories of multiple soldiers that he had met on the 2023 trip dying or becoming seriously injured, which pushed him to do what he could to support them.
“I heard about all these soldiers dying that I had met. I felt a sense of hopelessness during this war, so I just thought I felt obligated to go back again to do what I could,” Osborn said.
The trip began in Poland, with four days in Krakow touring the former Holocaust ghetto sites, nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau and a mass grave in a Polish forest where thousands of Jews were killed and buried.
The experience of visiting those sites with the IDF soldiers was a moving one that could be tied into a better understanding of the tragedies of yesterday and today, according to Northern Virginia resident and rising sophomore at Michigan State University Rachel Dallas, who attended for the first time.
“I had previous knowledge [of the Holocaust] going into it. It was a completely different experience standing there and being in those places because you can learn about everything on paper and sit in the classroom and look at pictures, but to stand there, also with soldiers who are now fighting for our freedom, again. It just opens your eyes,” Dallas said.
The delegation made its way to Israel during Shabbat — with group members observing as much or as little as they felt comfortable — before visiting an IDF base and Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s largest hospital, on May 11 to commemorate Yom HaZikaron and speak with soldiers injured in combat.
Osborn said that Yom HaZikaron is always a somber day, especially with so many casualties in the past few months, but added that it was incredible and an honor to be able to talk to wounded soldiers and hear their stories from the frontlines.
“They spoke to us, and they were very open and honest. And they spoke quite eloquently,”
Osborn said.
Osborn recounted one particularly moving conversation he had with an IDF soldier shot by a Hamas fighter. The soldier said that he didn’t want to live with hate for the Hamas soldiers because it wasn’t a healthy way to live.
“I was just amazed by that. And he expressed gratitude; he was thankful for us for visiting him, which, for me, it was an honor to be able to hear him speak,” Osborn said.
Dallas had a similar experience, as she said that nothing compares to seeing things in person instead of through a screen or secondary sources.
“Hearing stories, through videos and everything beforehand, you hear things. But to see that in person and to actually be there and see how damaging it actually is, it’s something that’s hard to even put into words honestly,” Dallas said.
Osborn said that the Israel Independence Day celebrations the next day were muted as well, as it normally is a festive day, but it’s clear that the war’s impacts were still rippling through Israel.
Osborn added that being there with the soldiers on the trip and meeting others through events was important in allowing the FIDF group to show its unwavering support.
“We wanted to thank the soldiers for what they’re doing and show gratitude for all the sacrifice that they’ve made. And then also to let them know that we love them and support them because they might feel isolated, alone,” Osborn said. “And we just want them to know that they’re not alone.”
Dallas said that she sensed that she needed to do more back home to raise awareness for what’s happening in Israel, and she was able to learn about what they’re fighting for.
She added that the experience and the newfound drive to raise that awareness is something she can take back with her to college in the fall, an area of contention around the country.
“I’m not physically there on the front line, going in doing all of that, but I am in a place where I can raise awareness for that and give those people support in any way necessary. So it [the trip] just proved to me that what we’re doing here to raise support, and all of that, it’s for a real [tangible and important] reason,” Dallas said.