Soldier On 

While IDF combat soldiers often need a support system for processing trauma after their discharge, lone soldiers from abroad — many of whom had challenges before donning their IDF uniforms — are particularly vulnerable once they return home to civilian life. And no one understands them better than  Ari Abramowitz, who has already helped hundreds of these young men find their footing once the adventure is over

Ari Abramowitz is a guy of firsts.

He’s also a guy for whom dreams don’t die

As a six-year-old tossing around a baseball on his dead-end street in Monsey, Ari Abramowitz knew was going to be the first frum player in major league baseball. Of course, he’d make a huge kiddush Hashem.

In mesivta, as his Yiddishkeit matured and he discovered deep joy in helping people, that dream took another shape: He’d start the first hardball league for struggling frum boys (everyone knew he’d never touch a softball). The structure, rigorous training, and teamwork would help them find their way.

But then life led him to the IDF; he was the first person he knew to enlist. The outlines of his old dream were reconfigured but still firm as he used his physical abilities to help Am Yisrael.