Israel’s valiant Lone Soldiers have given their lives for the Jewish state since 1948

The Jerusalem Light Rail was unusually full when we entered at one of the very first stops. And although more and more people got on the train as we continued on our way, no one got off downtown at the city’s famous Mahane Yehuda market, or even when we reached the Central Bus Station.

No, the hundreds of souls packed together on the train exited, with us, at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, headed for the funeral of a young woman not one of us had ever met. She was Staff Sgt. Rose Ida Lubin, who was visiting a kibbutz on the border with Gaza during the Hamas massacre on October 7 that saw 1,200 killed, mostly civilians, and some 240 kidnapped. Lubin survived the onslaught but was stabbed to death by a terrorist while on patrol in Jerusalem a month later. She was 20 years old.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lubin immigrated to Israel soon after graduating high school. Her goal: To serve the Jewish people by joining the IDF. Because she had no family in Israel offering both practical and emotional support, she was a Lone Soldier. That’s why thousands of Israelis of all ages and from every possible walk of life thronged to her funeral to pay their respects and mourn her passing — as they do for the funeral of every fallen Lone Soldier.

At the moment there are nearly 7,000 lone soldiers in Israel. Half of them come from 50 countries — mainly Ukraine, Russia, the United States, France and South America. They all left their homes abroad and bravely set out for the Holy Land to enlist in the Israeli army. The other half consists of Israelis who have no immediate families on which to depend.

One of the earliest Lone Soldiers was Pvt. David Livingston. Born in Germany in 1919, he moved with his mother and stepfather to the United States in 1935 and became an American citizen. While he served in the American navy during World War II, he dreamed of defending the Jewish people in Palestine.

In 1946 he joined the Haganah — the Jewish paramilitary force that would become the IDF upon Israel’s establishment — and became part of a clandestine effort to bring Jews to Palestine by sea in violation of British policy. Livingston was working in the engine room of the Haim Arlozorov when, on February 27, 1947, the ship was caught by the British. Almost everyone on board, including Livingston, was sent to the Displaced Persons camps in Cyprus.

As soon as he was able to get to Palestine, in early spring of 1948, Livingston joined the Yiftah Infantry Brigade in the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah.

When Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek was attacked by Arab forces on April 4, 1948, Livingston’s unit was ordered to help in the kibbutz’s defense. He was killed in battle on April 13, 1948, at the age of 28. It is not known where he was buried.

Livingston is remembered in the Garden of the Missing in Action on Mt. Herzl, where a stone monument, called a “pillow” in Hebrew, is inscribed with his name, birth date, and the day on which he fell. His name is also written on a wall in a memorial put up by the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI) for those who have fallen in battle. His name appears, as well, at the Mahal memorial honoring 119 overseas volunteers who were killed or went missing in action during Israel’s War of Independence in 1947-1948.

First Lieutenant Alexander (Alex) Singer, a Lone Soldier from New York, was born on September 15th, 1962. When he was 11, his parents decided to take a sabbatical in Israel, arriving just a few short weeks before the Yom Kippur War in October of 1973. In the end, the family extended its stay for another three years, with Singer attending local schools.

Back in the United States, Singer finished high school and continued his studies at Cornell University. Because he demonstrated unusual promise, he was chosen for a special, individualized program that included Russian and Jewish studies. In the context of his constant search for a way to make his life count for something, he immigrated to Israel in 1984. In one of his letters home, he wrote that he preferred the challenges of Israel to the easy life in America.

At the beginning of February 1985, Singer joined the Israeli army. As a new immigrant, and because of his age, he was only required to serve for a year and a half. But he refused to take the easy way out — besides, he was adamant about seeing combat. After completing his officer’s training, he joined the Givati Infantry Brigade and was sent to Israel’s northern border. On his 25th birthday, September 15, 1987, he was killed in a battle with a large group of terrorists who had been planning a major attack on civilian targets in Israel.

Singer is remembered on the AACI memorial wall, at the Yoav Fortress, as one of the schools he attended in Jerusalem and on a memorial monument in Kibbutzim Forest.

In the summer of 1970, Jerusalemite Judy Brown was put in charge of the dance program at a Jewish summer camp in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains. It was during her many decades there that she met a young camper named Michael Levin for the first time.

Levin later immigrated to Israel, enlisting in 2004 as a Lone Soldier and volunteering for the Paratroopers’ Brigade. Like other Lone Soldiers, Staff Sgt. Levin was allowed “home leave” each year. He popped into the camp on visitors’ day in 2006, where he was approached by Brown. She asked him when he was returning to Israel.

The Second Lebanon War had just broken out (the first one, Shalom Hagalil, took place in 1982). “I go back to Israel tomorrow,” he told Brown, “because my unit is being sent to up north and I want to be with them.”

Levin’s unit was ordered to the Lebanese village in which Hezbollah forces were holding two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Twenty-two year old Levin was killed on August 8, during fierce battles that raged inside the village.

On his last visit to Philadelphia he had told his parents that if anything should happen to him, he wanted to be buried on Mount Herzl. And so he was, at a funeral attended by thousands.

His name is inscribed on the memorial walls of the Paratrooper Monument, and the AACI monument. And he is remembered, of course, at the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center.

A fourth Lone Soldier, Sgt. Max Donald Steinberg, was born in Los Angeles in 1989. When he turned 23, Steinberg went on Birthright Israel, a 10-day Jewish heritage program for young adults. Although he returned home after the trip, he came back to Israel a few months later in order to join the IDF. He served as a sharpshooter in the famed Golani Brigade.

Hamas terrorists had been firing rockets at Israel for years, but in 2014 their frequency increased. As a result, on July 8, Israel began Operation Protective Edge. It commenced with the Israel Air Force bombing Gaza, and nine days later the infantry moved in.

Steinberg fell in Gaza on July 20, 2014, along with six of his comrades in arms. He is remembered at the Golani Museum, and his name is inscribed on the memorial wall of the AACI monument.

Eighteen Lone Soldiers have fallen during the current war against Hamas in Gaza. Among them is 20-year-old Sgt. Nathanel Young, a Lone Soldier from England who even as a youngster announced his intention of protecting the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

Young had come to Israel for a short stay in 2021 but ended up remaining an entire year. Full of love for Israel, he then joined the IDF’s Golani Brigade. High-spirited, the life of every party, he loved music and was a talented DJ. Young fell on the Gaza border while defending the towns and kibbutzim that were invaded by Hamas terrorists on Saturday, October 7, 2023.

Staff Sgt. Valentin (Elie) Ghnassia was a Lone Soldier from France who moved to Israel after completing a law degree at Montpellier University. Several years prior he had visited Israel with the Taglit-Birthright Israel program; now he planned to realize his dream of serving in the IDF. Fired by a strong sense of mission and a fierce attachment to Israel, he volunteered for the Paratroopers’ Brigade.

Ghnassia, who learned Hebrew in three short months, preferred to be called by his Hebrew name of Eli, and not by the French Valentin. His family remembers him as always smiling, as well as constantly demanding more of himself, and of others.

On that horrific Saturday, Ghnassia fought Hamas terrorists who had invaded Kibbutz Be’eri with staunch and extraordinary courage that saved countless lives. He fell in battle just a few days short of his 23rd birthday.

Lone Soldier Rose Ida Lubin was visiting at a kibbutz on the Gaza border when it was attacked on that black Saturday, but the terrorists were repulsed. Tragically, only a month later, she was stabbed to death while on duty next to the Old City walls by a teenage terrorist. Her hometown rabbi, in Israel for her funeral, had known Rose almost her whole life. “Anyone that knew Rose, anyone that had an interaction with Rose, remembers that interaction,” he said in his eulogy, noting that “Rose was color, Rose was music… she was light itself.” He added that “Rose didn’t have to come here — but she did.”

During his army service, Michael Levin spoke about his dream of a center for lone soldiers, where they could get meals, support and advice. That dream was realized in 2009, three years after he fell in battle, with the establishment of a non-profit in his memory. Over the years the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center has provided over 15,000 Lone Soldiers with physical and emotional support both before they enlist, during their army service and for the next five years.

The center offers housing for Lone Soldiers, along with Sabbath meals, ongoing support that can include accompaniment to induction centers, social events, and even laundry services. Lone Soldiers have the opportunity to rest and unwind in clubhouses located in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Beersheba. Steinberg, Lubin, Ghnassia and Young were all involved with the center, which offers a home away from home to 3,500 of Israel’s Lone Soldiers.

As yet there are no monuments and memorials in honor of the brave soldiers who fell in the current Gaza rar: their graves are still fresh. May their memories be a blessing.

Aviva Bar-Am is the author of seven English-language guides to Israel.
Shmuel Bar-Am is a licensed tour guide who provides private, customized tours in Israel for individuals, families and small groups.