Son of Israel’s US envoy among four fallen soldiers honored in new pre-army program

A new pre-military preparatory program established in memory of four IDF reservists killed together in Gaza in November 2023 is set to open in northern Israel, the Ma’ase Center and Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry announced.

“The Four” program will operate in Eliad in the Golan Heights and is intended for young adults aged 18 to 20 from traditional, religious and haredi backgrounds who are preparing for military or national-civic service.

The program commemorates Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidyah Leiter, Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Yossi Hershkovitz, Master Sgt. (res.) Sergey Shmerkin, and Master Sgt. (res.) Matan Meir.

Leiter was the son of Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

The four served in the 551st Brigade’s 697th Battalion and were killed on November 10, 2023, when a booby-trapped tunnel shaft exploded near a mosque in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza.

The 10-month program was established by the Ma’ase Center’s Nitzotz network of preparatory programs together with the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry.

Organizers said it would combine preparation for military or national service with leadership training, physical fitness, field exercises, agricultural work and volunteering in northern communities.

Preparing young Israelis for service

Participants will receive guidance ahead of enlistment, including help navigating recruitment and placement procedures, alongside personal mentoring designed to strengthen discipline, self-confidence and independent living skills.

The program will also include navigation exercises, hikes and other field activities, as well as classes focusing on Israeli identity, leadership and Israeli society.

Its location in the Golan Heights is intended to give participants a role in supporting northern communities and agriculture following years of disruption caused by the war.

“We want to raise a generation that does not only ask, ‘What does the country give me?’ but first and foremost asks, ‘What can I give to the country?’” said Yaakov Hershkovitz, Yossi Hershkovitz’s father.

“After October 7, we all understand more than ever that Israel’s security rests on people who are willing to take responsibility, get up and act,” he said.

Hershkovitz said the program sought to develop the values that the four soldiers represented, including responsibility, leadership, volunteering and commitment to Israeli society.

“Service in the IDF begins long before enlistment day,” he said. “It begins with values, responsibility, love of the land, the ability to lead, volunteer, cope with difficulty and, above all, to be a person who sees those around them.”

Program aimed at youth seeking a path to meaningful service

Liz David, director of the Residential Care Division at the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, said the initiative would provide a supportive framework for at-risk young adults who wanted to enlist in the IDF and become more integrated into Israeli society.

She said the program would preserve the four soldiers’ legacy through “camaraderie, giving, responsibility and love of the land.”

Dina Bar Hama, head of the Nitzotz preparatory programs at Ma’ase Center, said the initiative had emerged from the families’ desire to turn the loss of the four men into a long-term educational project.

“The Four Preparatory Program was born out of pain, alongside the choice to grow from it and nurture the leaders of the younger generation,” Bar Hama said.

She said participants would be taught values associated with Leiter, Hershkovitz, Shmerkin and Meir, including responsibility, commitment, contribution to society and camaraderie.

Hershkovitz, 44, was the principal of the ORT Pelech boys’ school in Jerusalem and had previously worked as a Jewish educator in the United States. Meir, 38, was a television producer best known for his work on the Israeli series “Fauda.” Leiter, 39, was a reserve company commander, paramedic, and medical student. Shmerkin, 32, was a reservist from Kiryat Shmona.

The program will join Ma’ase Center’s existing Nitzotz network, which focuses on helping young Israelis prepare for military and national service and develop the skills needed for employment and adult life.