CLEVELAND — Shira enlisted with the Israeli military soon after she graduated from Beachwood High School. Her family requested that Spectrum News 1 not use her last name out of security concerns.
Israel requires every citizen to serve in the military, but she didn’t have to, since she was born in the United States. She felt a calling back to her family’s native land.
“It’s just something that’s so much just like emotion and feeling,” Shira said. “Like, I land in Israel (and) I just feel like, at home, like, in peace.”
Now, she’s ended up in the middle of a conflict. The terrorist group Hamas launched an attack on Israel, kidnapping people and killing more than a thousand. Thousands more have been wounded.
“I look at it, and I’m literally like, ‘how can human beings do that to other human beings?'” Shira said. “Like I cannot wrap my head around it. Like, my heart hurts for my people.”
Her parents are from Israel and had a hunch their pride would pass on to their daughter.
“I didn’t need to do anything,” Shira’s mother, Esti, said. “It just came like natural to her.”
They saw the soldier in her. They said they support her decision. Her mother said Shira is there not to fight, but to be a peacemaker.
“Shira is always, always connecting everyone together,” Esti said. “She wants peace. She wants love. She wants to give. I can cry.”
Shira hasn’t been trained yet, since the war has put her deployment on hold, so she’s joined an organization that helps soldiers and people in need. She hasn’t encountered any combat yet.
“They’ve been like telling us, like, if you guys wanna go back, if you guys wanna go home, like you’re more than welcome to,” Shira said. “And it’s not even an option for me. Like as crazy as it sounds like all this is doing is just making me want to put on a uniform and just like, go out and like, I’m willing to do everything and give literally everything that I can.”
Shira talks to her mother Esti every day. And despite her fears for her, she knows Shira will make a difference during these dark times.
“My heart is broken,” Esti said. “But I’m not nervous because I have the faith, and I believe that it’s going to be OK. I believe in God, and I’m sure he’s going to help us.”
