January 2, 2025
Fighting and learning together: How a lecturer and student supported each other through the war

Tzur Cohen and Talel Sulimani — a lecturer and student, respectively, at the Jerusalem College of Technology — were drafted in the same reserve unit before the war. In Lebanon, they formed a close friendship, which extended beyond the classroom.
It seems a truism that war brings people together, sometimes in unexpected ways. This could not be more apt for two IDF reserve soldiers, who fought in two tours of duty in the same unit on the Lebanese border – and from time to time within Lebanon itself. One is a former Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) student-turned-lecturer, and the other is a third-year student.
“I met Talel [Suliman] for the first time on reserve duty about two years ago,” explained 32-year-old accountancy lecturer Tzur Cohen. “We didn’t know each other, but when he found out who I was he came up to me and said, ‘Hi Tzur, I’m about to start studying at JCT, and I would like you to help me learn.’” I replied, “First you need to be a good and attentive soldier, and when we get back to JCT, I will help you.”
Little did they know that less than a year later, they would be pressed into service together on the Lebanese border, protecting small settlements from the kind of infiltration Hamas perpetrated on October 7th and from which Hezbollah terrorists reportedly were planning in even greater magnitude.
“We were sent to Israel’s far north on October 8th, 2023,” Cohen said, referring to the same day Hezbollah began firing rockets across the Lebanese border into Israel. “The semester was supposed to start just a few days after the war broke out, and so Talel and I met again during an intensive period of reserve duty rather than in the calm of the classroom.” As far as Cohen and his student Suliman know, theirs is the only example in JCT of a lecturer and his student fighting side by side in reserve duty. “I know this is not very common,” Cohen remarked.
Cohen is a deputy company commander, and as a result had many more responsibilities than Talel Suliman, 26, who modestly described himself as “just a soldier.” Many of those fighting in the infantry talk about the hours of inactivity interspersed with shorter bursts of high-octane activity. In much of their downtime, Cohen would provide Suliman with private lessons. Sometimes it might be a quick 5-10-minute answer, snatched over breakfast, at other times the instruction lasted over an hour, perhaps more, when duties permitted. “It was obviously sub-optimal to learn like that, but we managed as best we could. I wanted to help a student,” said Cohen, “and he was also a soldier of mine.”
The two were permitted a break from reserve duty in February, where they quickly resumed their civilian lives. Cohen remembers the feeling of butterflies in his stomach as he was preparing to return to the lecture room for the first time that year. “I was nervous, but when I saw Talel it was a lot of fun for me. I immediately felt more at ease.”
They were then redrafted together in August for what was supposed to be a 40-day stint, again on the Lebanese border. It turned into 100 days, only being released in mid-November.
One might think the blurring of lines between lecturer and student – in fact, now friend – might make discipline trickier. But this was not Suliman’s experience. “We were together for much of the time over the last few months,” he explained, “and although we are friends, he wouldn’t shrink from telling me off if I did something wrong.” This doesn’t appear to have occurred too frequently, and Cohen acknowledged Suliman’s respect for him in the classroom, saying he addressed him as he would anyone else who was teaching him.
This blurring of lines did have its advantages though during their difficult reserve duty together. “We would often speak of things outside of my studies,” Suliman recalled. “We’re friends, so we would talk about our wives, our kids, and things of that nature.”
It is an aspect of their relationship which has endured beyond the confines of their joint reserve duty. And there is also a certain informality, which is also evident. “Some lecturers are quite formal, and they will only respond to requests or enquiries during office hours. I can call or WhatsApp him without mailing, because we’re friends,” Suliman said, “however, he does that with other students too, and not just me.”
Cohen spoke of the support he received from JCT at the start of the war, and which continues to today. A day or two after the start of the war, head of the accounting department Yochai Bros turned to him and said, “Tzur, I understand you drafted; good luck and look after yourself.”
“First off you noticed the back-up, and the care. He asked how my wife and kids were getting on. At one point, someone from human resources sent some games home for the kids and even a meal. That gave me a nice feeling that someone was looking out for both me and my family,” Cohen marveled.
JCT also looked out for the students, too and sought to accommodate anybody caught in the highly unusual situation of being forced to miss so much class-time because of their service to the country.
“There were some students who needed extra help; so I would give lessons to three or five people at a time, either on Zoom or in class to help them get up to speed with the material,” Cohen stated.
As an academic institution, JCT wants its students to succeed, especially after such a harrowing 14-month period for the entire country. At the height of the war, JCT had over 700 students serving in the IDF reserve. And from a personal perspective, Cohen does all he can to facilitate the success of his students. When Suliman worried he was too far behind his contemporaries – who were able to put in considerably more time than him due to his reserve duty – his friend, commander, and lecturer was there to boost his self-confidence, telling him he had the tools to succeed.
“It’s nice to know that an academic institution like JCT, whose ambitions are mostly to train students to acquire a profession, also creates additional friendships and relationships beyond the lecturer-student or employee-employer relationship,” Cohen concluded.