From Campus to Combat: An Interview With IDF Veteran Jonah Eisenberg (SSSB ‘26)
On Oct. 9, 2023, as YU students returned to classes and attempted to process the gruesome reality of Oct. 7, Jonah Eisenberg (SSSB ‘26) found himself, alongside dozens of other IDF reservists, on an Israel-bound charter flight. Eisenberg, who had recently completed his service in August, had just started his classes at Yeshiva University. Now, less than two months later, he was returning to his unit, Sayeret Givati, the elite reconnaissance unit of the Givati Brigade, to join the Swords of Iron War about to be waged in Gaza.
Eisenberg always knew he wanted to join the IDF. It had been a goal of his for as long as he could remember. That’s why, in August 2021, after a year at Yeshivat Orayta, he transferred to Yeshivat Hesder Lev Hatorah to join the Lev LaChayal lone-soldier program. In March 2022, Eisenberg’s group from Lev LaChayal was drafted to Sayeret Givati. They manned the Namer, an armored personnel carrier which resembles a tank, for the Sayeret, serving as gunners, drivers and commanders for each Namer. Eisenberg worked as a gunner, a job which requires constant 360 degree surveillance in order to provide cover fire when necessary.
Despite the difficulty of day-to-day life in the army, Eisenberg found his service incredibly meaningful, motivated each day by a sense of purpose. He reflected that “protecting Am Yisrael … I think that’s what it was … When I’m walking through the streets with my gun and people know they can feel safe around me because I’m there to protect them … Overall, that was the mindset.”
Eisenberg’s service included eight months of training and four months of war drills. For the remainder of his service, his unit was on kav, frontline operational duty along Israel’s borders or in areas requiring heightened security. In August 2023, after nearly a year and a half since drafting, Eisenberg completed his army service and returned to civilian life. He got engaged in Jerusalem the day after his service concluded and returned to the States to begin studying at YU with plans to make aliyah following his matriculation.
Then Oct. 7 happened.
As the gravity of the horrors of Oct. 7 became clear, Eisenberg understood his role: “Givati has spent the most time in Gaza. Sayeret Givati has spent the most of Givati. And Givati was built on using the Namer, which is us. So I knew if there’s a war, that’s, that’s me — that’s me going in. That’s exactly why they put us there.”
Eisenberg spent all night checking for flights back to Israel. He hadn’t even seen the message from his commander notifying him that he was being called up. All the passengers on his flight were soldiers trying to get back to their units. They made a stopover in Greece, and Eisenberg spent his first night in Israel in Carmei Gat at the apartment of another reservist he had just met on the flight.
All in all, it took four days for Eisenberg to reach his base from the time the war began, finally arriving on Wednesday, Oct. 11. Ironically, he was concerned he would miss the opportunity to contribute to the war effort, but, in what has been Israel’s longest war to date, Eisenberg ended up being part of one of the first units to enter Gaza, moving in during the raids that began on Oct. 13, before Israel’s full-scale ground invasion on Oct. 27.
Eisenberg and his unit had to ensure their equipment, including the Namers themselves, were combat ready. According to Eisenberg, the Namers were in “terrible shape” when they arrived on base as the army was not prepared for war. They also conducted drills during this time.
There was a tremendous supply of donated materials arriving for the soldiers, particularly at the onset of the war. Receiving these contributions — from baby wipes to schnitzel sandwiches — was both helpful and uplifting for the soldiers. When asked if he was surprised by the surplus of donations coming in, Eisenberg told The Commentator, “I wasn’t surprised. I was impressed. If you know the Jewish people it makes sense that that would be the case.”
The living conditions in Gaza were grueling. Eisenberg’s experience included being confined to the Namer for weeks on end, operating on minimal sleep and being on constant alert watching the Namer’s screens. However, Eisenberg found support in those around him. He had conversations about theology and ideology with individuals varying from secular to religious, men with jobs and fathers of six. Eisenberg relished the opportunity to connect with this unique cross-section of the Jewish people brought together by a common purpose. He was also able to communicate with two friends — Tomer Avrahami and Boaz Gal, fellow beinishim (bnei yeshivot hesder) — via radio headsets, and the three friends would tell jokes, lifting each other’s spirits.
Eisenberg did not have his phone with him his entire time in Gaza and was only able to contact his parents and fiancée on two occasions when he managed to borrow a phone from a soldier with permission to carry their phone with them. In between missions he spent time reading, playing games with his comrades and learning Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon’s sefer on halachot of the army, which Eisenberg brought with him into Gaza, as well as a set of Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya that a Chabad-affiliated civilian managed to give their unit right before they entered Gaza.
Eisenberg’s team used the Namer on missions to transport the Sayeret and were often sent to rescue injured or fallen soldiers in battle. One such soldier was Lavi Lipshitz, who overlapped with Eisenberg at Camp Lavi. One of Eisenberg’s friends from his initial team, Eytan Dishon, was killed by an enemy sniper. One of his former commanders was killed, as well, along with two other soldiers Eisenberg was friends with. The commander of all three Namers received a serious shrapnel injury to his back following mortar fire and has been out of commission from the army ever since.
Witnessing these tragedies gave Eisenberg a sense of perspective regarding the reality of war and the nature of human mortality. Eisenberg also adopted a powerful lesson from these losses:
“Appreciate the people in your life. There were certain people in my broader unit that had been killed that I had known but really not so well. My interactions with them get boiled down to that one time we were on a bus together and I spoke to him for a few minutes … At least appreciate the people around you and try to get to know them … Luckily, I didn’t have bad relationships with [those who were killed], but if I did, I’d be stuck with that forever, and there’s no [opportunity for] reconciliation. Life’s too short to not be good with people. That was something I took.”
After nearly three weeks in Gaza, Eisenberg and his unit were able to leave for the first time. Eisenberg’s father traveled to Israel to see his son and encouraged him to come home. But Eisenberg was conflicted. He felt a sense of responsibility for his unit, most of whom would still be fighting in Gaza. Eisenberg returned to his unit in Gaza, spending an additional four days there, until the temporary ceasefire towards the end of November 2023, during which 105 hostages were freed from Hamas captivity. The last time he was in Gaza was during the ceasefire.
Eisenberg ultimately returned to America at the end of November. He got married in January 2024 and restarted his undergraduate studies at YU at the beginning of the spring semester. He and his wife plan to make aliyah after he graduates in May 2026, continuing to actively contribute to the State of Israel. “Moving back to Israel would allow me to become more than just a sideline observer, and impact the Land of the Jewish people in a very real and active way.”
Photo Caption: Jonah Eisenberg in uniform during his active duty in 2022
Photo Credit: Jonah Eisenberg
