‘They’ve lost a lot of beautiful friends’: New initiative offers support for Israeli army women

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is one of the few armies in the world to conscript women and, for years, female IDF soldiers have balanced the weight of their duties with the unique challenges of serving in a traditionally male-dominated environment – war.

With their numbers rising significantly and their roles becoming more demanding, progress towards gender parity has been promising, but not without its struggles.

Enter Lynne Myers and her initiative Lev L’Chayalot, whose mission of looking after female soldiers through uplifting events and the provision of adequate equipment and support is showing scores of IDF women that their service does not go unappreciated.

“It was my gut feeling that they needed support; nobody was talking about the women,” said Myers, who started the project with her husband Rabbi Shalom when she noticed the female soldiers standing apart from the others at an army base barbecue.

“I saw these surveillance girls were not part of the barbecue, they were on the side, she said. “This was exactly a month after the war started so they really were traumatised; they'd lost a lot of friends in the same age group, these really young, beautiful girls.”

A few weeks later Myers and Rabbi Shalom, who in 2014 helped to launch the Emek Lone Soldier initiative for non-Israelis serving in the IDF, returned to the base to throw the young women a party, bringing along thermals and toiletry bags as gifts.

Female soldiers dance at a Lev L'Chayalot event. (Photo: Lev L'Chayalot)[Missing Credit]

It didn’t take long for word to spread about Lynne’s fledgling project, and soon enough people began sending her information about other army bases that housed female soldiers and the kind of materials they needed.

By the time February rolled around, the Myers found their house covered in clothing, jackets and other items for the soldiers, prompting them to plan an expansion.

“I had no intention when I started for this to carry on like it has, but I did feel once I realised that it was helping and making a difference to these women that we don’t see this just as a war project, we maintain it as an ongoing project to support women in the army,” Myers said.

Lev L’Chayalot has now hosted over 40 events – primarily at army bases –and involves nearly 100 volunteers who help bring materials, food, music, laughter and levity to female soldiers around the country.

“We have music and dancing and then we have this Hafrashat challah, this challah baking, which is very spiritual, and the girls are very moved by it. And then we have food, because what’s anything without food?”

An IDF soldier kneads challah dough during a Lev L'Chayalot event. (Photo: Lev L'Chayalot)[Missing Credit]

But one of the parts the women appreciate the most, Myers said, is the gift bag, which includes “love letters” of gratitude and encouragement from school children and members of the public around the world.

“People send me a bunch of letters from wherever, from schools in Israel, from South Africa, from England, from America, Canada,” she said. “It's the first thing the girls take out of the bags.”

Also in the gift bags are cosmetic items: mascara, tweezers, deodorant, a compact mirror, small bottles of perfume.

“It's not just about the practical, because they're women, and I want them to feel special,” said Myers. “You can't believe these girls, they all have their nails done with these long, beautiful nails, and they go and carry those big guns.”

With a 20 per cent increase in female enlistment during the November-December 2024 draft alone, Myers’ initiative offers a much needed resource for the growing number of women stepping into pivotal army roles, especially as Combat Intelligence, Artillery, and Search and Rescue units have seen remarkable surges in female participation, with increases as high as 186 per cent.

“I don’t love seeing these girls with guns and everything else, but I just feel like my contribution is to show appreciation,” said Myers. “They're doing an essential service. The combat girls are in really rough conditions, and I feel whatever we can do for them, we need to do.”

Myers, who made aliyah from South Africa with her husband and has had four sons serve in the IDF, found that countless other civilians want to give back to the soldiers too.

Lynne Myers founded Lev L'Chayalot when she saw a need for women in the IDF to be given extra support. (Photo: Lev L'Chayalot Youtube)[Missing Credit]

Before a recent Lev L’Chayalot event Myers met with Einav Danino, the mother of former hostage Ori Danino, 25, who was one of the six Israeli captives murdered by Hamas in September.

After telling Danino about the work she does, Myers was delighted to hear that she wanted to join for the next event. “She said, ‘I'll do anything for the Chayalim and the Chayalot - they brought my son home.’ So she came with us to a base and she spoke to the girls and a lot of them just came up to hug her tight, and then when we did the Hafrashat challah, she was sobbing in my arms. It was so hard but so brave, and she told to me she wants to come again.”

Speaking about the recent release of the young female soldiers who were kidnapped on October 7 Myers added, that while she did not know them personally, “Like all Am Israel we are thrilled that they have been released, amidst the pain of all our losses, that is how it is here.

“We hold pain and joy in one heart.”

As for the soldiers themselves, Myers said they could not be more appreciative.

“Some of the bases we go to, they literally queue up to hug us,” she said. “One girl said to me, ‘you come to our base and we talk about you for months afterwards.’ So I try and spoil them as much as we can.”