‘I Never Felt Prouder to Be a Jew’: IDF Veteran Finishes DC Marine Corps Marathon
“Is this it? Is my time over?” That’s what then-20-year-old Mendel Vile was thinking as he lay injured in northern Gaza after an ambush in December 2023.
With shrapnel in four parts of his body, Vile was on death’s door. He needed seven surgeries followed by months of rehabilitation and physical therapy to be able to stand on his own.
Ten months later, the American-born Israel Defense Forces soldier finished the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington and Washington, D.C., on Oct. 27. But he didn’t run alone.
He ran in honor of his friend, Oriya Yaakov, who was killed in combat that December day. Vile wore a “Run for their lives” T-shirt with Yaakov’s photo on the back and carried the Israeli flag during the race — “I never felt prouder to be a Jew.”
Vile also ran alongside the Bethesda family that founded the Jewish educational nonprofit organization ShalomLearning. It was his friendship with the Schains’ daughters, Carly and Josslyn, that brought him to D.C.
‘A Life-changing Experience’
Before the two met in Israel, Vile had met two of Carly Schain’s friends in Miami. Those friends were on a summer mission trip to Israel with Schain, 22, and her younger sister, Josslyn, 18, and introduced Vile to them.
They became friends; Vile gave the sisters a tour of the Sheba Medical Center, where he had spent three and a half months recovering from the December attack. Vile shared his story of going from an active gymnast and runner to completely incapacitated in a hospital bed, unable to eat, drink or stand: “I woke up to a new reality.”
“It was really a life-changing experience,” Schain said of hearing Vile’s story. “Hearing what he’s been through and how he is today has been an unforgettable experience. He amazes me every day.”
Schain said the three became “really close” and kept talking over the phone after she and her sister returned to Bethesda: “How could I not keep in touch with him?” Vile virtually met their dad, Devin Schain, an avid distance runner, as well as their mom and brother.
“My daughters introduced me to Mendel, and I loved his story,” Devin Schain said.
For Devin Schain, the Marine Corps Marathon was part of a longstanding tradition — he has run one every decade for the past 40 years to support a different charitable organization. This year, he chose to run to combat antisemitism, to remember Oct. 7, 2023 and to raise funds for ShalomLearning, his nonprofit virtual Hebrew school.
“The fact that we were running a marathon, [Vile] expressed an interest. We had him come to Washington, D.C., to run the marathon,” Devin Schain said.
So Vile got on a plane headed for the nation’s capital.
‘We Have To Finish the Marathon Together’
It was his words of encouragement that kept another young Jewish runner from feeling alone. Tani Simkovich, 16, and his friends from sleepaway camp set a goal of running a marathon. The junior at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School trained hard, but experienced pain in his kneecap during the race.
Vile spotted Simkovich’s kippah and approached him around mile 23, encouraging him not to give up: “We have to finish the marathon together,” Simkovich recalled Vile said.
Simkovich was encouraged by the sight of Vile and Devin Schain with the Israeli flag: “They have an Israeli flag; I have to run with them.”
“We tried to push each other; I was like, ‘Come on, come on, let’s go man,’” Vile said. “He’s my brother; we’re all brothers. … He’s part of my tribe.”
“It felt great because I really needed a pick-up,” Simkovich said of running with his new friend. “Having somebody I felt a closer connection [to] … really gave me an extra boost to just keep on running.”
He was able to run despite the persisting pain, enjoying Vile’s company.
“I feel like he would be somebody that I would be friends with in life. He’s a super chill guy who just wanted to get to know me as he was just a super genuine dude who saw that I had appreciation for Israel,” he added.
Vile said he had not expected to run the entire race like he did. His longest post-recovery run had been six miles, nowhere near 26.2.
“I was just running, and while I was running, I was like, ‘You know what? I’m already here. And I’m not running just for myself — I’m running for my brother, Oriya Yaakov, who died in battle in Israel,’” Vile said. “I had the Israeli flag on me; I wasn’t just representing myself.”
After the race, Vile saw Simkovich again and told the teen more of his story, showing his “battle scars” to Simkovich and his family. He spoke to the significance of being able to run, when months earlier, his prognosis was unclear.
“It means so much. First of all, I couldn’t walk 10 months ago,” Vile said. “Ten months ago, I was lying in bed, stitched up, not able to pick up a tissue from next to me. I stayed positive … and tried my best to work hard and recover. But there’s no promises. When I woke up after my injury in the hospital, no one promised me, ‘You’re going to run after this.’”
“Remembering the state I was in a few months ago, to be right now to the point where I just ran a full marathon, it’s a tremendous personal accomplishment,” Vile said, adding that he was proud to be “the only one” there representing the Israeli flag.
He took photos with the Schains to memorialize their hours of running together for a larger cause.
“That’s a very sweet thing to do as a family,” Vile said of running the Marine Corps Marathon. “They’re a beautiful family inside and out.”
Carly Schain, who had not previously been a runner, said she now wants to start training because of Vile, inspired by his resilience.
As for him, Vile’s next goal is to complete an Ironman Triathlon, although he’s not sure when that will happen.
“I don’t think much about tomorrow; I’ll do my best today,” Vile said.
