“My parents risked their lives to leave Russia in 1982. I grew up in the U.S. with a strong appreciation for our freedom and for being Jewish. When I made aliyah, serving in the army was important to me. This was the most practical way to actualize my Jewish values and give to my people and my country.”

Abe’s family history reads like a spy thriller. His maternal grandfather fled Nazi-invaded Poland in 1939 and fought as an officer for the Soviet army. After the war, he found out that his family had been slaughtered in the Holocaust, and requested to go Palestine. He was discharged on grounds of disloyalty, but recruited by an organization to illegally smuggle Jews into Palestine. After saving many people, he was captured and sentenced to a life of hard labor in the Gulag. He was released in 1956 upon Stalin’s death. more. More