Full Breakdown
New “Four” Pre-Military Program Honors Fallen Reservists in the Golan Heights
9/9/2026, 11:13:50 PM
Program Launch and Core Details
The Ma’ase Center’s Nitzotz network, together with Israel’s Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, announced a 10-month pre-military preparatory program called “The Four.” It will operate in Eliad, a settlement in the Golan Heights, and target young adults aged 18 to 20 from traditional, religious and Haredi backgrounds who are preparing for IDF service or national-civic duties. The curriculum blends leadership training, physical fitness, field exercises, agricultural work and community volunteering, with the aim of strengthening discipline, self-confidence and independent-living skills.
Origins of the Four
The program commemorates four reservists—Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidyah Leiter, Sgt-Maj. (res.) Yossi Hershkovitz, Master Sgt. (res.) Sergey Shmerkin and Master Sgt. (res.) Matan Meir—who served in the 551st Brigade’s 697th Battalion. They were killed on November 10, 2023 when a booby-trapped tunnel shaft exploded near a mosque in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza. Their funerals were held at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery on November 12, 2023.
Program Structure and Goals
Participants will receive guidance on recruitment and placement procedures, mentorship to foster responsibility and leadership, and classes on Israeli identity and society. Field components include navigation exercises, hikes and agricultural tasks intended to support northern communities that have faced disruption since the war.
Official Statements & Responses
Yaakov Hershkovitz, father of Yossi Hershkovitz, emphasized that the program seeks to instill values the four embodied, noting that security rests on citizens willing to act after October 7. Liz David, director of the Residential Care Division at the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, described the initiative as a supportive framework for at-risk youth aspiring to enlist and integrate into Israeli society. Dina Bar Hama, head of the Nitzotz preparatory programs, said the project emerged from families’ desire to transform loss into a long-term educational effort.
Verbatim Quotes
- “We want to raise a generation that does not only ask, ‘What does the country give me?’ but first and foremost asks, ‘What can I give to the country?’” — Yaakov Hershkovitz
- “The Four Preparatory Program was born out of pain, alongside the choice to grow from it and nurture the leaders of the younger generation,” — Bar Hama, head of the Nitzotz preparatory programs at Ma’ase Center
