Remy Glantz, a native of Elkins Park and a resident of Jenkintown, envisioned himself being a Navy SEAL when he was young. Next week, he will realize his dream of joining the armed forces — just in a different country.
Elkins Park — Remy Glantz, a native of Elkins Park and a resident of Jenkintown, envisioned himself being a Navy SEAL when he was young.
Next week, he will realize his dream of joining the armed forces — just in a different country.
After a summer spent working as a lifeguard at Camp Ramah Day Camp in Philadelphia, Glantz, 18, will join the Nefesh B’Nefesh soldiers flight from New York to Tel Aviv on Aug. 17, with more than 60 others from across North America. They will begin new lives in Israel as lone soldiers — young people who’ve left behind their homes, families and friends to join the Israel Defense Forces. To find out infomration about Nefesh B’Nefesh, go to http://www.nbn.org.il.
“I like the military. I think it’s one of the most legitimate jobs someone can have in their life,” Glantz said. “Israel is something very special and I want to be a part of it.”
Glantz has been to Israel five times, including in 2011, when his family went on an Israel mission with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. He didn’t know too much about the country, but knew he had to go back. In 2012, his brother Rafi, 21, made aliyah and joined the IDF, which allowed Remy to see firsthand what life in Israel — and in the armed forces —was like.
In 2014, while enrolled in a high school semester abroad in Israel, Glantz participated in a program called Garin Tzabar, which helps olim — new immigrants to Israel — with their transition to becoming lone soldiers. While in Garin Tzabar, he attended several meetings, learned Hebrew and took courses about Israel, biblical history and Zionism. Hebrew was a challenge, but he said he has improved a lot.
“It makes everything seem so much more real,” he said. “The teachers were passionate and amazing.”
In the summer of 2014, he participated in Satell, a teen leadership development program for Jewish teens from the Greater Philadelphia area.
The young adults did social action projects throughout the year and it concluded with 10 days in Israel.
Glantz extended his trip for a week and stayed with his brother. It was during this time that Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16 and Naftali Frankel, 16, went missing while hitchhiking back from school in the West Bank.
He said it was alarming to hear about the three kids getting kidnapped and murdered, but at least if he was there as a soldier, he would have been able to help find them. Upon returning home to Philly, he received numerous emails, texts and Twitter messages about the violence taking place, which made him realize he needed to be in Israel, not America.
“It’s important to be there because things are happening there,” he said. “I think it’s more important to defend something than go somewhere else.”
Glantz, who did not apply to college, has had the full support of his family and friends. His friends were not surprised about him making aliyah because he was always involved with Israel awareness programs at Cheltenham High School and at Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, where his father, Howard, is the congregation’s chazzan.
“Sitting at a desk for four years doesn’t really interest me, especially while there are things going on in the world that I can be a part of,” he said.
His brother gave him invaluable advice, Glantz said. Besides telling him not to get shot, Rafi said that when training in the IDF, it’s best to always remember, “hakol baarosh,” meaning he should ignore the pain in his legs or body and just keep going, because it’s all mental.
He told his mother, Diane, he wanted to make aliyah last summer, but she sensed a few years earlier that he would be following in his brother’s footsteps.
“He first said he wanted to make aliyah when I paid for S.A.T. tutoring,” she said. “I think he probably knew well before that and didn’t tell us. Everybody should be able to follow their dreams and their passions.”
Contact: jcohen@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0747
