Everyone has their own way of dealing with the stress and anxiety surrounding the recent atrocities and conflict in Israel. For Idan Tzameret, running through the streets of Northwest Baltimore carrying a large Israeli flag felt like the best way to cope and demonstrate solidarity with his native land.
“I started doing it just to keep my sanity,” says Tzameret, an avid runner who was born on the Jordan Valley moshav, or agricultural village, of Fatzael and grew up in the town of Maaleh Efraim. “It gets my mind clear. That’s how I deal with it. Being an Israeli abroad is very hard.”
A Beth El congregant who lives in Pikesville with his wife and two children, Tzameret, 44, says his cellphone started pinging at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7, after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel.
“Hundreds of messages from people about killings and kidnappings, some from friends who still serve [in the army] saying they were being called up,” says Tzameret, a former officer in the Israel Defense Forces. “So I checked the news and called my family [in Israel]. Later that day, I was like, ‘I’ve got to do something,’ so I went to Quarry Lake and ran with the flag. A 16-year-old kid even joined me, and we ran all over Pikesville and Baltimore.”
Now, he runs for several miles with the flag every other day because, Tzameret says with a laugh, “I still have a 44-year-old body.”
Besides for mental health wellbeing, Tzameret — whose mother lives in Ramat Gan and father in Maaleh Efraim, while his sister resides in Tel Aviv — is running to raise funds for equipment for his old military unit, via social media and PayPal. So far, he has informally raised approximately $20,000 for items such as megaphones and handcuffs needed to apprehend and arrest terrorists.
“I’m using it for good stuff,” Tzameret says, noting that individual donations have ranged from $18 to $1,100. “Right now, I’m going to Costco a lot and using my credit card. I’m not waiting for money from the fund. I can always reimburse myself later.”
Tzameret — who moved to the United States in 2003 and studied at Towson University — learned last week that Nachamias, a close friend from his IDF days, was killed during the first hours of the Hamas attack. Meanwhile, Tzameret’s family members are frequently taking cover in bomb shelters and safe rooms.
“They’re OK, but nobody is doing great over there,” says Tzameret, owner and CEO of Kitchen Design by Idan in Mount Washington. “For my father’s generation, this is very, very hard. A lot of bad memories from the Yom Kippur War. … Israel is a small country and everyone knows someone who was killed or injured or kidnapped. Everyone is affected.”
Since beginning his latest running regime with the flag, Tzameret says he has received only support and kind words from passersby. He plans to keep running with the flag indefinitely. “I haven’t had any incidents,” he says. “People have honked and clapped. The support is great, but I really do it for myself.”
Tzameret says he is considering returning to Israel in the near future to help out in some fashion.
“Those villages will need to be rebuilt,” he says. “I’m realistic and know I’m not my 22-year-old self. I haven’t been in the army in more than 20 years. I know what I’m capable of now. But I’m still strong and can help out in some way, even by lifting boxes. Every person can help in some way.”
His wife and kids have been overwhelmingly supportive, Tzameret says. “My wife is great, and if I go back it will be OK,” he says. “They all know this is very important to me.”
For those critical of Israel in the wake of the attacks and in the challenging weeks to come, Tzameret says learning about the origins of the Middle East conflict is crucial.
“I always tell people to get educated and learn the facts and history,” he says. “It’s almost 20 years since Israel left Gaza and pulled Jewish settlements out of there so Gaza could be Palestinian. America and Europe gave them billions of dollars of aid. They took the resources and invested not in hospitals and schools and tourism but underground cities for terrorists to hide. This whole situation is on them, 100 percent.”
In the meantime, Tzameret says Israelis know the time now is not to point fingers but to come together and destroy Hamas.
“Right now we are united,” he says. “And we will stay that way.”
To contribute to Idan Tzameret’s fund for his old IDF unit, visit here.
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