“Eden Has Gone Crazy”: Why He Left a Prestigious Defense Job for Torah

“When I was accepted into the military industry at age 26, the entire neighborhood was talking about it,” recalls Eden Halef from Kiryat Ekron. “It’s not easy to get accepted into such a classified and respected position, and people really admired me for succeeding.”

But that admiration quickly turned into shock.

“One day I announced that I was leaving the job because I had decided to begin learning in a kollel.”

Today, Halef is one of the most active people involved in outreach work in his city, helping young men strengthen their connection to Torah and Judaism. But the journey that brought him there began in a completely different world.

“We Made Kiddush, Then Turned on the TV”

Eden describes growing up in a traditional but largely secular home. “We made Kiddush on Shabbat, but right afterward the television went on,” he says. “We celebrated the holidays as family gatherings centered mostly around food. Nobody really spoke much about the meaning behind any of it.”

Like many traditional families, his grandfather had once been religious, but over time the family had drifted further away from observant life. As a child, Judaism simply was not something Eden thought deeply about.

But one small memory stayed with him for years.

“When I was maybe eight or nine years old,” he recalls, “there was a certain hour every evening when a young haredi rabbi would appear on television.”

At the time, Eden had no idea the speaker was Rabbi Zamir Cohen, who was then at the beginning of his public career. “I didn’t even understand that he was teaching Torah,” Eden says. “But every night I waited to hear him again because something about his words touched my heart.”

Years passed. Eden enlisted in the army, grew older, and eventually bought himself a car. Then one unexpected moment changed everything.

The CD That Changed His Life

“One day my own car broke down, so I borrowed my mother’s car,” he recalls. “I turned on the CD player during the drive, and suddenly I heard a voice that felt strangely familiar.”

It was Rabbi Zamir Cohen.

“I immediately remembered the feeling that voice had given me years earlier as a child.”

Eden listened to the entire lecture from beginning to end. Then he searched for more CDs, more lectures, and eventually videos online. “From that point on, every free moment I had, I was listening to Rabbi Zamir.”

Slowly, things began changing.

“Each time I accepted one more small thing,” he explains. “Then another.”

By age 26, he had already stopped driving on Shabbat, established regular Torah study, and begun moving steadily closer to observant life.

Then came one especially powerful lecture that shook him deeply.

“I made a decision that even today I don’t know where I found the strength to make,” he says. “I decided I wanted to learn in a kollel.”

Leaving a Prestigious Defense Job

At the time, Eden had just begun working in a coveted classified position at Israel Military Industries after a long and difficult acceptance process.

“When I asked to leave,” he says, “they actually questioned me in the Shin Bet because they suspected something unusual was going on. They couldn’t understand why someone would leave a job like that.”

When Eden explained that he wanted to dedicate himself to Torah study, the investigator was stunned.

“Once I mentioned Rabbi Zamir’s name,” Eden recalls with a smile, “the investigator relaxed and even said, ‘Maybe I should start listening to him too.’”

“People Thought I’d Lost My Mind”

The transition was not easy socially.

“In Kiryat Ekron, everybody knows everybody,” Eden says. “The rumors spread immediately that ‘Eden has gone crazy.’”

People who once admired his military career suddenly looked at him with confusion and pity when he began appearing in black hat and yeshiva clothing. “It was humiliating at times,” he admits. “But Rabbi Zamir guided me very carefully through the process.”

Even his parents struggled initially to understand what was happening.

“My father asked me, ‘If you want to learn Torah, why do you need to go to yeshiva? I can teach you myself.’”

But over time, the family slowly saw the positive impact the change had on him. Today, Eden says his parents are proud of his path, and his mother herself has become more observant and now keeps Shabbat.

From Student to Kiruv Activist

Eventually, under Rabbi Zamir Cohen’s guidance, Eden moved to Ohr HaChaim Yeshiva, headed by Rabbi Reuven Elbaz.

There he continued growing spiritually, eventually marrying and building a Torah centered home of his own.

Today, alongside full time Torah learning, Eden writes songs professionally and continues outreach work throughout Kiryat Ekron. He has written music for well known Israeli singers including Dudu Aharon, Yaniv Ben Mashiach, Eliya Haviv, and Ofir Salomon.

But perhaps what moves him most are the young men he now helps guide.

“One young man once told me,” Eden says, “that before he started learning Torah, he spent more than a third of his day glued to screens. Today he’s glued to the Gemara instead.”

The Full Circle Moment

Toward the end of the interview, Eden shares one final emotional moment.

Years after first hearing Rabbi Zamir Cohen’s lectures as a child, Rabbi Zamir eventually came to speak at Eden’s own outreach program in Kiryat Ekron.

Later, Eden heard that Rabbi Zamir had told his students afterward:

“Yesterday I entered a synagogue and heard someone speaking beautifully. Then I realized it was one of our own students.”

“For me,” Eden says quietly, “that was a full circle moment.”

The little boy who once waited every evening to hear a rabbi’s voice on television had one day become someone helping inspire others himself.