Every year on Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s memorial day, the country gathers to remember those who fell while protecting their country. For the third year, The Lone Soldier Center in memory of Michael Levin held its own ceremony in English. It was live streamed across the world from Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem commemorating three fallen lone soldiers, Michael Levin, Max Steinberg, and Alex Singer.
Max Steinberg’s mother, Evie Steinberg, wished to remember Max’s life instead of his death. Max was a small kid who was made fun of often about his size. Despite his size, Evie recalled Max as being a menacing athlete on the field growing up. Throughout his time in Israel even when he was in the army and probably shouldn’t have, Evie received phone calls almost three times a day from Max which would always end in “I love you”. His friends and family remember him as selfless always living by his Idol, Bob Marley’s quote “ Live for yourself and you will live in vain, live for others and you will live again”. So when he fell in Gaza in 2014 sacrificing his life to save others, Evie and Max’s father decided to embody the same. They now serve on the board of Families for Lone Soldiers based out of Los Angeles California and Paige, Max’s younger sister moved to Israel and represents their family here. “As a result of Max’s death,” she said, “we have become soldiers for Israel. I’m not sure if we ever would have visited Israel had we not lost Max.”
Michael’s mother, Harriet, spoke about Michael’s life growing up. She recalled how every year he would ask for a Jewish star on his birthday cake instead of a baseball like most kids. Harriet described Michael’s infatuation with Israel as “a bug” saying that “Michael caught the bug” as a young kid. After he went to Israel for the first time on Alexander Muss, she knew that he would end up here in the end. The Lone Soldier Center was originally Michael’s idea. After sleeping on a bench for two nights before finding a place on a kibbutz, Michael said to his adoptive father Tziki Aud, ‘Tziki, when I’m done with my service, we’re going to start a Lone Soldiers Center.’ ‘When I come back from base, everything is closed for Shabbat, I don’t have anywhere to run errands or copy papers. If I’m having these problems then I’m sure other Lone Soldiers are too’. Six months after Michael’s death in the second Lebanon war, Tziki along with Josh Flaster, and others decided to create the physical interpretation of Michael’s dream.
So here we are today with the Lone Soldier Center supporting the 7,000 lone soldiers serving in the IDF with food, shelter, and love. Max, Michael, and Alex are with the center in everything we do. From our Friday night meals to our housing projects, none of it would have been created if not for the sacrifices of Lone Soldiers.
