For two long years, Israel’s soldiers and reservists have fought, sacrificed, and endured – all with one overriding goal: to bring the hostages home and secure a safer future for the people of Israel.
Families were put to the ultimate test, careers and communities put on hold, and lives forever altered. Now, as the war finally shows signs of drawing to a close and the hostages return, we face the true test of resilience. In a way, the closure of combat opens a new and critical chapter in the history of the Jewish state: the battle for recovery.
This is the moment when survival transforms into repair. It is the moment to imagine a stronger tomorrow, to turn courage on the battlefield into courage in healing. What lies ahead – the long process of restoring our fighters, our families, and our nation – is no less vital than what has been achieved.
The hidden cost of resilience
Israel has been at war for over two years. Some 300,000 reservists have been mobilized. A large part are combat soldiers who have fought in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria – leaving their families and jobs for battle, many returning with wounds both visible and invisible.
More than half of the 20,000 soldiers wounded since the October 7 massacre are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health challenges. And yet, behind every statistic is a family, a workplace, and a community forever changed.
Reservists are not just soldiers; they are parents, teachers, CEOs, bus drivers, factory workers, executives and entrepreneurs. The burdens of trauma don’t remain confined to the battlefield – they enter classrooms, offices, and dinner tables. As we move past the war and into recovery, the resilience of the entire nation is bound up with how we help our fighters process what they have been through.
Why healing matters
I know this firsthand. As a combat commander, I have returned from war more than once, carrying scars that no one could see. In the past, Israeli society expected fighters simply to pick up where they left off, to “snap back” into family life and the workforce as if nothing had changed. But experience – my own and that of countless others – shows that it doesn’t work this way.
Without real tools for healing, too many veterans spiral into unemployment, broken marriages, and ongoing mental health crises. These wounds ripple outward, weakening the very fabric of our communities. If the State of Israel asks its reservists to risk everything, then it owes them not only medical treatment and financial support but also a structured path toward emotional recovery.
A model for tomorrow
That is the mission of Path for Tomorrow (Bshvil Hamachar), the nonprofit I lead. We specialize in nature-based retreats that provide combat reservists the space, language, and tools to process their experiences. These journeys are not vacations; they are lifelines. Again and again, I have seen men and women return from them with new tools allowing them to reconnect with their spouses, their children, their workplaces and their sense of purpose.
Today, more than 10,000 reservists are on the waiting list for such healing journeys. The demand is overwhelming, but it also testifies to a truth Israel can no longer ignore: recovery is not optional. It is as essential as training, as essential as equipment, as essential as strategy, as essential as the battle for Israel’s survival itself.
Building national resilience
If we want to strengthen Israel’s future, we must treat the healing of our reservists as a matter of national security. Imagine a society in which every fighter returning from the battlefield has access to structured programs that help them reintegrate – emotionally, socially, and economically. Imagine workplaces that understand how to accommodate those coming back from trauma. Imagine families given the support they need to navigate the strain of long absences and the struggles of reunion.
In short, Israel must build a national program dedicated to supporting reservists as they return home. As a country, we have long known how to train soldiers to win wars. We must now discover how to bring them home.
This vision is within reach. However, it requires a shift in mindset: to see healing not as charity but as an investment in the resilience of the nation itself.
For the sake of tomorrow
The war is winding down. The hostages are finally coming home. These are victories won at terrible cost, but they also mark the beginning of Israel’s next chapter: We must honor our fighters not only by celebrating their courage in battle, but by standing with them in the journey of returning home.
The days of war were for survival. The days ahead must be for repair. Only then can we ensure that the sacrifices of the past two years lead to a stronger, more hopeful tomorrow.
The writer is a lieutenant-colonel (res.) and the CEO of Path for Tomorrow (Bshvil Hamachar), a nonprofit specializing in guided healing journeys for IDF reservists, helping them process their combat experiences and cope with the invisible scars of war. He is an IDF combat officer who has served more than 400 days in the military since the outbreak of the war. He is married to Dalit and is a father of four.