Kibbutz Ein Tsurim
June 22, 1985

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

I'm sitting watching TV at the kibbutz now. It's Saturday night and I go back to the army early tomorrow morning. I'll be going back for the last time in my Basic Training. Next time I have leave I'll be a real paratrooper, with a red beret and parachuting wings. During the two weeks between now and then I have only two tasks to complete: "jump school," which is teaching me to parachute, and the "Beret March" which is the final challenge of basic training-a ninety-kilometer all-night march from a spot near the Mediterranean to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The whole thing is supposed to be as moving as it is difficult...

(Letter from Alex Singer, 1985)

From Alex's journal during officers' school
August, 1986

Once in a while.
As I progress towards the course's end.
I feel a pang of fear.

Today I felt such fear.

If the war comes
When the war comes
I will have to lead men to die

But those men were not men a short time ago
Some don't even shave yet
And I will have to have the calm power
to yell to them
or to whisper

Kadima.

And,

I will have to have the calm power
to step forward myself.

Who was Alex? A Brief Summary...

Alex Singer was born in White Plains, New York, on September 15, 1962. Alex spent three out of his four college years at Cornell. He was accepted as a College Scholar which meant that he was not required to choose a major. He could construct his program around subjects which interested him, including Russian studies, Jewish studies, and economics.

When he returned for his senior year at Cornell, the experience of the year before became the subject of his thesis, Letters from the Diaspora. While writing that thesis Alex was asking himself what he wanted to do with his life. Where did he want to live as a Jew? What could he do that would be worthwhile? His decision was to move to Israel and to do his required army service right away.

In August 1987 he was moved with his new Givati platoon to the Lebanese border next to the security zone in southern Lebanon that is patrolled by Israel. On the 15th of September, Alex's 25th birthday, he and 11 other men were dropped by helicopter onto a very rugged ridge in the foothills of Mt. Hermon, about a mile into Lebanon. They were to set up an ambush to try to intercept terrorists on their way into Israel. Unexpectedly, they landed among a group of about 30 terrorists who had hidden themselves among boulders. Alex's commander, Ronen Weissman, was the first to be hit by their fire. When Alex, who was the second officer on the mission, landed he was told that Ronen was not answering the radio. Alex took a medic and went to help Ronen. When Alex reached Ronen, he too was shot and killed at the same spot. Some time later, not knowing what had happened to the two commanders, another soldier from the platoon, Oren Kamil, was sent to help them. He too was shot and killed at the same spot. Outnumbered, and without their officers, the remainder of the small Israeli force continued to return fire until they were reinforced and the band of terrorists retreated, unable to continue their mission to attack settlements in Israel.

Alex was buried on September 18, 1987 in the military cemetery on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.

Find out more about Alex Singer in "Alex: Building a Life" published by Geffen Publishing House, 1996. It is a 273 page collection of letters and drawings by Alex Singer.