Legendary New York Yankees superstar pitcher Mariano Rivera toured Israel Defense Forces (IDF) base Michve Alon on Tuesday, July 31, in the Galilee in Northern Israel, as part of a spiritual interfaith mission led by The New York Board of Rabbis (NYBR) and coordinated by Galore Travel from NYC. The New York Board of Rabbis is the largest interdenominational rabbinic body in the world, comprised of all branches of Jewish life and working closely with the interfaith community. As part of this mission, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) arranged a base visit, where Mr. Rivera and mission participants...

FIDF's partner program Mahut sent a delegation of approximately 40 commanders and officers, Holocaust survivors and other constituents to Lithuania and Latvia on a 5 day mission. The aim of the Mahut program, which has sent over a dozen delegations abroad, is to strengthen the Jewish and Israeli identities of participants and their connection with the Diaspora (particularly Russian speaking Jews) through a unique series of encounters in Israel and abroad. The program exposes participants to the challenges faced by Jewish communities in the Diaspora, together with questions regarding individual and collective identities. Participants use what they learn during the...

All “Lone Soldiers” – Israel Defense Forces soldiers with no immediate family in Israel – were invited to gather at Israel’s largest waterpark, just outside of Tel Aviv, for a day of rest and recuperation on Wednesday, June 27. The “Fun Day” brought out some 5,000 Lone Soldiers. There are some 7,000 Lone Soldiers from 80 countries serving in the IDF today. About 925 came from the United States, 639 from Ukraine, 559 from Russia, and 545 from France. Sixty-seven percent of Lone Soldiers are men, while 33 percent are women. Some 59 percent of Lone Soldiers serve in combat...