Hundreds of friends, Jezreel Valley residents and lone soldiers gathered on Friday to celebrate the 68th birthday of Tzvika Levy, the man with the giant heart known as the "father of the lone soldiers." Over the past 20 years Levy has accompanied more than 18,000 lone soldiers on their journeys, caring for each one personally, arranging homes and adoptive families for them on kibbutzim along with anything else they might need throughout their military service -- all while maintaining ongoing contact with their families abroad and making himself available to them 24 hours a day. In recent months Levy has fallen extremely ill and is struggling to do the job he loves so much. His guests arrived at his birthday party to honor and embrace him, sing Israeli folk songs and wish him the strength to continue his important work. Levy, fitting to character, asked that all his presents would be suitable to be given to lone soldiers. He received electronic devices, fleece blankets and even tablet computers, all of which will be passed along to lone soldiers in the next few days.
