Founder of IDF volunteer program dies

Brig. Gen. (res.) Aharon Davidi, a legendary officer in the paratroop brigade and founder of the Sar-El volunteer program, died Saturday at age 84.

Davidi was awarded Israel’s second-highest citation for bravery for his role in Operation Black Arrow, one of the many daring cross-border raids during the fifties. Davidi, a company commander in the legendary 101 paratroop unit, fought in the Mitla Pass in 1956 and commanded the conscripted Paratroop Brigade during the Six Day War, yet he is most well-known abroad for having founded the IDF’s Sar-El program for overseas volunteers.

Davidi left the army in 1972 and moved to the Golan Heights. Ten years later, in the summer of 1982, Israel launched Operation Peace for Galilee, later known as the Lebanon War. The operation began in June and with so many men gone the Golan settlers were in danger of losing all their crops. Davidi, who also held a doctorate in Chinese Studies and taught geography at Tel Aviv University, managed to draft 650 American volunteers into emergency agricultural work and saved the crops. By the following year the volunteer program was a recognized nonprofit organization.

The most famous Sar-El volunteer was likely former White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel, who came during the Gulf War and fixed truck brakes on an IDF base in the North of Israel.