The LEGO Man of the IDF

Stand for Israel  |  October 31, 2022

The men and women of the IDF are heroes to the people of the Holy Land – working hard night and day to keep Israelis safe. But this story, from The Jerusalem Post’s Anna Ahronheim, features an IDF hero of a different type – a retired IDF officer who has given more than 10,000 Lego sets to sick children in Israel:

Maj. (res.) Maor Cohen has dedicated his life to bringing smiles to children with cancer, by bringing them Lego sets, no matter where and no matter the time. 

Cohen is known as the Lego Man, a unique nickname he earned for his extensive volunteering where he’s donated over 10,000 sets of Lego to sick kids over the past 12 years…

…he first began volunteering when his wife was undergoing IVF and he met a sick kid who was celebrating a birthday and asked for Lego. After that, he was not just Maj. Maor Cohen, but Mr. Lego Man.

At first, he established a weekly Lego-building class for children and later expanded it to hand out Lego sets to families and sick kids.

“I don’t only help sick kids, but families who are sick-mothers or fathers may be sick and I am here to give support to the kids,” Cohen said. “Some kids refuse to go into surgery without the Lego sets…they don’t know if they will survive. Other kids crying in pain, are smiling after I drop off Lego sets, even at midnight.”