Meet Adi

By : Larry Gordon

He’s just one of thousands of young Israeli soldiers who spent almost two years fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Like so many Israelis, he speaks English well and you would think he had either an American or British parent, or went to a special school that taught the language that enables so many with the ability to communicate internationally and effectively.

But that’s not the case here. Neither is it with most young Israelis who have developed adept communication skills. I became aware of this in an elevator on the way up to our hotel room in the Tel Aviv Hilton about three summers ago. We were chatting with the 19-year-old hotel porter and I asked (as I do frequently to those who speak English well) how and where he learned the language while so many others struggle.

Jonathan Dean Chaim memorial

Chayal giving water to a dog

Chayal in full gear

It was a short ride up, so I had to conclude my mini-research project quickly. “Since I was 11-years-old, I played a lot of video games,” the young man said, and that is how he learned to speak so well. Since that day, I’ve heard that same reason a few times along with another one, which is, “Since I was a kid I watched a lot of movies.”

Adi Karni converses in English very well. After completing his army service, he did what many soldiers do after their military service is over. He traveled. In this case, Adi says he spent most of the last six months traveling in South America. It was during those travels that he studied English and Spanish and now he speaks both proficiently.

Back in the New York area, he explains that he met some people who offered him a summer job as a counselor in a camp in the Catskills. As Adi explains, it was a Jewish camp, but not one of those standard religious camps. He adds that many of the campers were from Jewish backgrounds and the staff was a mix of both Jews and non-Jews.

While conversing with staff members after a few days in camp, he mentioned that he had just completed his service in the IDF. Unfortunately, that information spelled a quick end to his camp career. The camp owners explained that they had received complaints about how he was conducting himself. They gave him no warning or time to prepare. They just demanded that he pack his things and leave the premises in an hour.

It was quite shocking, and Adi had no choice but to leave. Luckily, the camp was located in Rock Hill, New York, just a short distance from Woodbridge. He had no place to go and slept in the nearby woods for two nights before continuing his hike to what he thought was nowhere. Adi explains that before he left the premises, he grabbed some food from the kitchen and stuffed it into his backpack so he would have at least some food for the journey.

The next day, he encountered two women walking on the road. He asked them if they spoke Hebrew, and went on to describe his plight in a combination of both Hebrew and English. The women directed him to a shul in a nearby bungalow colony where one of the women’s husbands was the rabbi. They took Adi in for the next two days and gave him a place to sleep and food to eat.

Apparently, here in the Five Towns there is a WhatsApp group that gives people the opportunity to take in lone soldiers who are traveling with nowhere to stay. A couple in Oceanside offered to take Adi in over Shabbos two weeks ago. He attended last week’s concert in Cedarhurst Park, and even sang a song with featured performer, Aryeh Kunstler. A week later, he was with a family in Hewlett where he spoke at the Young Israel. This coming Shabbos, he will be in Great Neck and will be speaking at a shul there.

In between his camp escapade and the concert in Cedarhurst, Adi travelled to Rochester to visit the family of a soldier in his unit who was killed in Gaza before the summer. The soldier, Jonathan Dean, Jr., was an American non-Jew who was drawn to the plight of Israel and was determined to serve in the IDF. While there, he converted to Judaism halachically and took the name Chaim. His family wanted him to be buried in their family plot in Rochester, and that is where he is today.

In mid-September, Adi is returning to Israel to rejoin his unit in a reserve capacity where he will most likely serve in Gaza again, depending on what the situation is like on the ground. After a three- or four-month stint, he hopes to return to the U.S. and grow on some of the seeds he planted here over the last few months.

Adi is 22, and has a great lifetime ahead of him. Until he joined the IDF, he was in yeshiva, mostly in Yeshiva Amit Nachshon in Beit Shemesh. He adds that in addition to keeping Shabbos to the best of a soldier’s ability while serving in wartime, Adi says that the food in all military bases is strictly kosher to the point where food from the outside that is not kosher is not allowed on the base.

We look forward to keeping in touch with Adi, to see how just one of the thousands of soldiers who are serving in Gaza and Lebanon are coping and what they are doing with their lives. Stay tuned.

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.