During the recent conflict, we've become accustomed to seeing videos of soldiers returning home after a long period of time. However, it's not only parents and family who miss their loved ones –students also miss their teachers or members of the educational staff.
A video from New Jersey showcases the emotional welcome for Tomer Ohayon, an emissary for the World Zionist Organization, upon his return to the Hillel Yeshiva Jewish day school, after serving two and a half months of reserve duty in Gush Etzion. The students and staff greeted him with cheers and hugs, with the song "Am Yisrael Chai" playing in the background. Everyone gathered on the snowy day of his return in the school gym to honor the Israeli soldier.
"They saw me as an Israeli representative who was called to duty and ready to help," Ohayon shared. "Of course, my heroic wife supported and encouraged me, telling me, 'If they called you, go and do what needs to be done, and I will stay here because we have another mission.' Our mission is in the community and in the school and, from an educational perspective, I think it had a significant impact."
When asked how important it was for him to set an example for these Jewish children who are growing up outside of Israel, he responded: "I'll tell you the truth, when they called me to come and serve, I didn't really think about these things. My heart simply called me to come to the country and do what needs to be done. When I informed my managers that I had an emergency call-up and I wanted to go back to Israel, it immediately created a buzz in the community and everyone started talking about it."
He said the students have asked him many questions about his recent military service. "They are not used to it, so of course there were many questions about the service: how was it, what did you do and more."
Roi Abecassis, a board member and head of the Education Department at the World Zionist Organization, said many of the groups emissaries got called up after the Hamas massacre.
"We have 260 emissaries serving all over the world, including in 120 Jewish schools worldwide. This isn't a simple situation. Immediately after October 7, we began receiving calls from them saying: 'We are emissaries on a mission, but we want to come home and fight.' We had to prepare for this and we flew out everyone who wanted to. On the other hand, there are all the heroic spouses who stayed behind," he said.
"We had 36 emissaries who left their mission to enlist, but I think this is the shining moment of the mission. Over the years, the status of the emissary may have faded a bit, but now, emissaries are becoming heroes. Tomer is a hero. I have an emissary in Mexico who provided exceptional service on Mt. Dov, returned, and became a hero in his community. I believe the mission is reaching another level in this war," Abecassis added.
He said that this situation could help encourage aliyah. "There's a tremendous new opportunity for connecting to Israel. As you know, in the relations between the State of Israel and the diaspora there are peaks and valleys, and we've had some disagreements in recent years. Suddenly there's a consensus from all religious streams and places, and Israel is becoming something to connect to again. This not only encourages immigration – we see the data in France with a 500% increase in the opening of aliyah files, and a 100% increase in the US – we hope that these figures will translate into actual immigration. But it's not only about encouraging immigration; there's a renewed connection to the State of Israel and it's an amazing opportunity that should not be missed."