EXCLUSIVE | From soldier of the nation to soldier of God

By Monsi A. Serrano

For Henry Maaravi, the path from serving as an IDF combat soldier to guiding Christian pilgrims through the Holy Land was not a departure from his roots. It was, in many ways, a deeper understanding of where he belonged.

Born and raised in the Galilee, Maaravi grew up around the Sea of Galilee, a landscape familiar to Christians around the world because of its central place in the life and ministry of Jesus.

I met Henry for the second time during my recent media tour in Israel with Filipino journalists. We first met during last year’s media tour, when he accompanied Filipino journalists to several significant biblical sites around the Sea of Galilee, including the Boat Chapel at Duc In Altum at the Magdala Center.

Henry was not simply showing us another pilgrimage site. He was explaining a landscape that was part of his own history and upbringing.

But before he could help others understand the Holy Land, Maaravi first had to find his own direction.

As a young boy, he candidly describes himself as a “troublemaker.” He was not an outstanding student and, as the youngest in his family, admits that he did not always behave well toward his parents. Yet even then, he says spirituality was already part of his life, along with a growing interest in his history, roots, and the Scriptures.

That early sense of curiosity would eventually take him in unexpected directions.

Maaravi served three years in the Israel Defense Forces, from November 2003 to November 2006, as a combat soldier in the Boker Tov Nahal Brigade. His assignments took him to different parts of the country, including areas along the border with Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. At an age when he was still growing into adulthood, military service placed him in situations that required discipline, teamwork, responsibility, and an understanding of the consequences of his decisions.

The experience became an important part of his maturation. Military life exposed him to the realities of protecting his country and gave him friendships with fellow soldiers who shared the demanding experiences of service.

The young troublemaker was growing up.

By the end of his three-year service, Maaravi had also developed a clearer sense of what he wanted from life. When the army offered him the opportunity to remain and pursue a career as a combat officer, he decided it was time to move on.

“For me it was the time to live,” he recalled.

He left the military and embarked on a very different chapter. Like many young Israelis after their military service, Maaravi traveled, exploring South America, Europe, and other parts of the world while trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.

It was during those travels that he began encountering questions that would eventually influence the direction he took.

People he met abroad were curious about Israel. When they learned that he was from the Sea of Galilee, their questions became more specific, particularly about Jesus and the New Testament. Maaravi began to realize that although he had grown up in a region that attracts Christian pilgrims from around the world, he had much more to learn about its Christian heritage himself.

That realization led him back to the study of the land. He wanted to understand its history, geography, religions, and stories, and to see the places he had grown up around from a different perspective.

His family background made that search even more personal. His mother’s side of the family is Christian, while his father’s side is Jewish. Understanding the land, he came to realize, was also a way of understanding his own story.

Leaving home to understand home

Ironically, some of Maaravi’s clearest reflections about where he belonged came while he was far from Israel.

During an eight-day trek through the mountains of Peru, surrounded by high peaks, snow, wildlife, and long stretches of silence, he found himself alone for a moment, looking at the landscape and asking God what would come next in his life. He was young, had little money, and knew that he would eventually have to return home.

What he experienced at that moment, he described as shalva, a profound sense of spiritual peace. He felt reassured that everything would be all right and that he should return to his family.

Another experience came in Bolivia, where he joined around 1,000 young Israelis for a Passover celebration in La Paz. Seeing so many Israelis observe their tradition so far from home reinforced his sense that he was part of something larger than himself. He again interpreted the experience as reassurance that he was among his people and that, in time, he would return home.

Years later, while working in Canada, Maaravi faced another important decision. He had considered staying abroad. Canada was beautiful, its people were welcoming, and he could imagine building a life there. But his future wife had already made plans for her career and her future, and those plans were in the Holy Land.

She reminded him that no matter how beautiful another country might be or how welcoming its people were, it was still not home. For her, home meant more than comfort or opportunity. It represented peoplehood, culture, identity, and the places connected to their nation.

She was preparing to return, while Henry had to decide whether he was ready to make that home his own again.

Her words became another turning point for Maaravi. He came to see the moment as another way in which God was communicating with him.

“The message through God is coming through her,” he recalled.

Looking back, Maaravi sees a common thread in the years he spent traveling and living away from Israel. Distance gave him a different perspective on the place he had grown up in and helped him understand what he might have taken for granted when he was younger.

He would later sum up the lesson simply: sometimes, you have to fly to the other side of the world to understand what you have back home.

From soldier to servant of a different mission

Back in Israel, Maaravi began to find the sense of direction he had been searching for. He chose to study the history and geography of the land and eventually began leading Christian groups through Israel. What started as a profession gradually became something much more meaningful to him.

For more than a decade, he has guided Christian pilgrims to places associated with Jesus and the prophets, helping them understand the Scriptures through the physical landscape where the biblical stories unfolded. Through his work, he seeks to connect what visitors read in the Bible with the places they can see and experience for themselves, bringing the stories of the Old and New Testaments into a more tangible context.

Maaravi describes his role as being somewhat like that of an ambassador. His responsibility, as he sees it, goes beyond pointing out historical or religious sites. He wants visitors to gain a deeper understanding of their faith by experiencing the land in which many of the biblical narratives took place.

That perspective helps explain why the phrase “soldier of God” resonated with him during this interview. Maaravi does not view his present mission as a departure from his years in the IDF. Instead, he sees a connection between the two chapters of his life. As a soldier, he believed he was protecting Israel and the land he considered sacred. Today, he believes he serves that same land in another way by helping people understand its biblical history and spiritual significance.

The nature of his service has changed, but his connection to the land has remained. The discipline and sense of responsibility he developed as a soldier have become part of the way he approaches his work today.

A faith that continues to mature

Maaravi’s faith has also become an important source of strength as he confronts the uncertainty surrounding Israel and the wider Middle East. He acknowledges that the current situation worries him, as it does many Israelis, but he tries not to allow fear to determine how he sees the future. Instead, he repeatedly turns to Scripture for perspective and reassurance.

He makes it a point to read and study the Bible every day, a practice he says strengthens his faith while also helping him in his work as a pilgrimage guide. His study of Israel’s biblical history gives him a broader perspective on the challenges facing the country today. The accounts of wars, destruction, exile, persecution, and the rise and fall of empires remind him that earlier generations also endured extraordinary difficulties while holding on to their faith.

For Maaravi, that history provides what he describes as renewed “fuel” to remain strong and to speak what he believes is the truth. His faith is therefore not something that has remained unchanged throughout his life. It has developed alongside his experiences—from the spirituality he remembers as a young boy, through the discipline of military service and the years he spent traveling and searching for direction, to marriage, family, and ultimately the calling he believes led him to his present work.

His journey has given his faith a more personal and practical meaning. Today, it is reflected not only in what he believes, but also in how he serves others and in the way he understands his responsibility to the land he calls home.

Welcoming Filipinos as family

The pilgrimage industry continues to operate against the backdrop of an unsettled regional environment. Maaravi acknowledges that the current geopolitical situation has created challenges for tourism, but he remains hopeful about the return of Christian pilgrims. He is particularly interested in strengthening his connection with visitors from the Philippines.

For years, he has led private tours for American visitors, Filipino-Americans, and Filipino families. He now hopes to build a stronger relationship with pilgrims traveling directly from the Philippines, a goal that is personal as much as it is professional.

Maaravi sees strong similarities between Israeli and Filipino cultures, particularly in the importance they place on family, relationships, hospitality, and faith. He believes these shared values can help Filipino visitors feel comfortable and welcomed in Israel rather than simply being tourists passing through.

For him, hospitality means more than taking guests from one biblical site to another. It means making them feel cared for and giving them a sense of belonging during their time in the country. He sees this approach as natural because of what he recognizes as a familiar quality in Filipino culture: the importance of family, the value placed on relationships, and the instinct to look after others.

His message, therefore, is one of welcome despite the challenges facing the region. Maaravi wants Filipino pilgrims to experience Israel not only through its biblical and historical sites, but also through the warmth and personal connection he hopes to extend to them. For him, welcoming Filipino visitors is not simply about guiding them through the Holy Land; it is about making them feel that, while they are there, they are among people who are genuinely glad to have them.

A different kind of service

Henry Maaravi’s story has come full circle. The young Galilean who once struggled to find his direction eventually became an IDF soldier, where he learned discipline, responsibility, and what it means to protect others. After his military service, he traveled abroad, looking for new experiences and perhaps a clearer understanding of where he belonged.

That journey eventually brought him back to the land where he was born. In leaving home, Henry came to appreciate it in a different way and began to see the Holy Land not simply as a place on a map, but as a place deeply connected to his identity and faith.

Today, he shares that perspective with Christian visitors, guiding them through the places that have shaped both the history of the land and the faith of millions. He believes his role is not simply to show people what they are seeing, but to help them understand why these places matter to their faith and to the biblical story.

For Henry, the journey was not ultimately about choosing between life abroad and life in Israel. It was about discovering a deeper sense of purpose in the place he once considered leaving.

His service has simply taken a different form. Having served his country as a soldier, he now sees his work as a way of serving God by helping others better understand and appreciate the Holy Land.

From a soldier of the nation to a soldier of God, Henry Maaravi has found his mission not by leaving the Holy Land behind, but by helping others discover why it matters.