For 20 years, Michael Levin has been a symbol — of sacrifice, of idealism, of determination, of heroism, of a unique brand of American Israeli Zionism.

But first, he was a Philadelphia Flyers fan, a Ramah in the Poconos camper and, by all accounts, a bit of a pain in the butt.

Growing up in Bucks County, Pa. and within the Conservative movement, Levin made aliyah shortly after completing the movement’s Nativ gap year program. He enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces as a “lone soldier” — famously climbing into the induction center because he never received his draft notice — and, despite his diminutive stature, earned a spot in the Paratroopers Brigade, serving in its 890th Battalion. 

On leave in the U.S. when the Second Lebanon War broke out, Levin flew back to Israel and forced his commanders to accept him back into his unit early so that he could serve alongside his comrades in the ground invasion. On Aug. 1, 2006 — 20 years ago tomorrow — he was killed by a Hezbollah fighter during a fierce battle in the southern Lebanese village of Ayta ash-Shaab. He was 22.

Yesterday evening, dozens of American and Israeli dignitaries, friends, comrades, former teachers and current foreign-born Israeli soldiers-to-be joined Levin’s parents, Harriet and Mark Levin, for a memorial ceremony around his grave — adorned with Ramah paraphernalia, Birthright nametags, a painting and other mementos — in Section Dalet of Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. 

Levin’s father noted that his death was “not the end of Michael’s story, but as we were to find out, it was only the beginning.” 

Though there have been lone soldiers — servicemembers without families who care for them in the country — since before the State of Israel was established, until Levin’s death, they were rarely discussed in Israel and in Diaspora communities. Entitled to certain benefits from the military, such as a modest housing stipend, higher pay and nominally guaranteed time off for errands. But support systems for lone soldiers were typically ad hoc and dependent upon goodwill and good luck. Before his death, Levin dreamed of a lone soldier center that would provide support and assistance to all lone soldiers, and after he died, his parents decided to make it happen.

“Michael had this epiphany and went to where Tziki [Aud]… and said, ‘When I finish my service, you and I are going to start a lone soldier organization in this country.’ Because there were people running around this country like Tzvika Levy and other people that were doing everything they could to help lone soldiers — and they were doing a great job — but there was no national organization,” Levin said. “There was no brick and mortar place that lone soldiers can go to for help, for Shabbat meals, for camaraderie, for a plethora of programs that could be developed for lone soldiers. This was Michael’s idea. This was his dream.”

At the ceremony, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee praised Levin for his sacrifice and “giving his life, not just for Israel, but… for America as well.” Huckabee also hailed Levin’s parents, whom he said took their grief and built a network of organizations to support “lone soldiers,” servicemembers without families who care for them in Israel. 

“They could have taken their grief and buried it in their souls and lived the rest of their lives in anguish and even bitterness. But they didn’t do that,” Huckabee said. “They took their love for Michael and the grief. And they did something that has now benefited thousands upon thousands of lone soldiers who have served and have had support that Michael never had. … I cannot help but think that, in so many ways, nothing could have been done more powerfully for Michael’s memory, for his sacrifice than what his parents have done in their sacrifice to honor their son.”

There are now at least three organizations that support lone soldiers named for Levin — the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Foundation, the Michael Levin Base and the Lone Soldier Center in memory of Michael Levin — along with a pre-army preparatory program, Tzevet Mikey (Team Mikey), which is named for him. (Ed. note: This reporter, whose family has long been friends with the Levins, has both been a beneficiary of the Lone Soldier Center and has raised money for the foundation.) There are also several competitors, offering support for lone soldiers, which only arose after Levin’s death. 

“Michael was the turning point in Israel for all that,” his father said. “There is a new awareness, a new understanding and, most important, a new appreciation for lone soldiers that exists here in Israel that did not exist 20-25 years ago. So we’ve come a long way in 20 years.”

Participants of Tzevet Mikey were in attendance at the ceremony, wearing t-shirts identifying them as being in the “Rose Lubin z’l cohort,” referring to the Atlanta-born lone soldier of the same name who was killed in a stabbing attack while standing guard in Jerusalem’s Old City in November 2023. (Lubin’s father is now launching an American branch of an Israeli support group for bereaved families.)

In addition to Huckabee, the ceremony was attended by Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf, who had been Levin’s commanding officer during the war and now serves as commander of the IDF Northern Corps; former IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. (res.) Ephraim Lapid, who met the Levins while working as the spokesman for the Jewish Agency and found himself in Philadelphia when Levin was killed; Yad Vashem Chair Dani Dayan, who met the Levins during his time as consul general of New York City; former teachers from the Alexander Muss High School, which Levin attended; counselors from Nativ; members of his unit; friends from the kibbutzim where he lived; and other acquaintances.

Levin’s mother, Harriet, recalled attending a memorial service for Michael on the first Israeli Memorial Day, Yom Hazikaron, after his death, how it was packed with people and how afterward, on Israeli Independence Day, she went out with his friends to celebrate. 

Afterward, she said, “Mark said to me, ‘Don’t get used to it. It’s the first year. It’s going to die down. It will change.’ And I stand here, 20 years later, and I see so many of his friends that I danced with, [who] painted Jewish stars on my face that night. Friends who poured drinks every Yom HaZikaron to commemorate Michael because he always said he didn’t want us crying.”

And indeed, two of Levin’s friends brought bottles of whiskey and disposable cups so attendees could raise a toast to his memory. “Because Michael loved drinking,” Tziki Aud joked. 

Melanie Lidman, who became close with Levin on Kibbutz Kvutzat Yavne, “where he was not learning Hebrew,” reminded those in attendance and those watching at home via livestream that, in addition to Levin being a symbol, he was a person — and a somewhat irresponsible one at that, ready to do tequila shots on a kibbutz grain tower at 2 a.m.

“I just hope that as we remember all of the incredible things that Mikey has done, I hope that we also take a moment and just remember that he was also kind of crazy and also kind of nuts,” she said. “You should do something that scares you and do something stupid and crazy in his memory as well.”