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Goel Jasper

If You REALLY Want To Help Israel

“How can we help?”

“Just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“Would it help if I ________?”

“How can I send money to you for those supplies you are sending your son’s unit?”

From the day the war began, the outpouring of care and concern from our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world has been beautiful and, frankly, overwhelming. I’ve heard from college buddies I hadn’t connected with in decades. Former work colleagues reached out on LinkedIn to wish me well, and tell me I was in their thoughts. And, of course, relatives of all different levels of Torah observance aggressively pursued ways of supporting Israel.

And that support is now well-documented. I don’t know how many tons of goods have been brought over to Israel from the US and other countries in the past 28 days. I know how much money I’ve raised, and how much I’ve spent, and how many visits I’ve made to army bases, and I don’t even consider myself as having done so much. I have a close friend who’s transformed his life into helping Israel, largely ignoring his full-time job running a multinational company.

Vignette I:

We were privileged to have received our first visit from our soldier-son, who gave us 80 minutes of his precious time the other day, when he was given his first day off since October 7. He said something that kind of rocked my world, but also got me thinking:

“Abba, the army doesn’t need anything. All those donations are nice-to-haves. In terms of need-to-haves, we have everything.”

“What about the first aid kits? What about the vests?”

“Abba, I’m telling you. We have everything we need. Anything being asked for, or being provided, by people is really nice, but we don’t need it.

(pause) “It’s more for them than it is for us.”

Woah. So now what? What am I supposed to do with that information?

Vignette II:

I sat with a friend yesterday for a cup of coffee. He and I have spent a lot of time on the roads, trails, etc., running lots and lots of kilometers together over the years. We’ve cried together. We’ve stopped running because of exhaustion together.

A close friend.

So we’re talking about the war, of course, since that’s all anyone talks about these days, and he says to me:

(No quotes, because this is not word-for-word, but this is what he said.)

You know, the ultimate proof that we are not colonialists here in Israel is that no one is talking about leaving the country due to the Hamas attack. Colonialists, as a rule, try to conquer an area, and if all is smooth sailing, they’ll stay and take it over. But if something goes awry, and certainly if a thousand of them are killed, they’ll get out of there. It’s just not worth the trouble or the loss.

But we’re not going anywhere. This is our homeland. It’s different. We will stay and fight for our land. And my friend says this is the proof that it is our land … we won’t leave. We love it too much.

Vignette III:

My cousin calls me early yesterday afternoon.

“How are you holding up?” he asks.

“I’m good,” I respond, fairly enthusiastically. “How are you guys doing? I’m worried about you.”

(silence)

“Is everything okay with the family? You guys okay?” he says.

“Hey, you know, (my son) is on the northern border protecting us, but he’s doing well. The rest of us, you know, we’re okay. But I’m actually more worried about you. Things are crazy over there.”

“I know, it’s never been like this. Listen, I’m really calling because I want you to know, if there’s anything we can do for you, beyond making donations, which we’ve done, please let me know.”

“Actually, there is one thing, but I’m not sure how you’ll take it.”

“Lay it on me. We want to help however we can.”

“Move here.”

(silence)

“I want you to move here,” I repeated. “That’s the only thing we need.”

“Well, I don’t think now is the best time, financially or emotionally, for us to do something like that.”

“I know,” I said. “But I really do think that would be great, and really helpful to us.”

“You know I would if I could, and you know Israel is in our hearts.”

“I know. Thank you so much for checking in, and (name), tell (his wife) about what I asked for you guys to do.”

“I will.”

Nothing else you do to help Israel at this time can be as important as packing your bags and coming home.

With the right plan, and with support from friends and/or family already in Israel, moving here is easier than you think.

As Donny Deutsch said on MSNBC the other day, “I said it.” For those of you who aren’t clicking through to it, what he said was, concerning how the world doesn’t have a problem with Jews being killed, that the world feels that “somehow they (we) have it coming to them (us). There, I said it.”

Well, I said a different “it” to my cousin, and now I’m saying it to every member of the nation of Israel who is not yet here:

Come home.

But lest you think I’m instructing you to come home because I am concerned about your future outside of Israel (I am, by the way.), that’s not the case at all. I’m urging you to come home to the Land of Israel because we need you here.

Is sending money helpful? For sure. Does it help even 1% as much as moving here would help? No.

Is sending hundreds of toothbrushes with my sister-in-law to give to soldiers helpful? I guess. Teeth do need to get brushed, and if a bunch of soldiers forgot their toothbrushes, having them delivered is useful. But does it help even 1% as much as moving here would help? No.

What about sending bullet-proof vests — hundreds of them — for us to distribute to soldiers, so they can be safe while they protect us? Well, my son told us the army has everything it needs, so sure, send those vests, but will that help even 1% as much as moving here would help? No.

And, of course, we have the question of fighting the PR battle on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Surely, that war is time well spent for not-yet-home members of the nation of Israel, right? Well, as I wrote in my previous piece, it doesn’t really help anyway, but I guess it can’t hurt. And if you were to ask any Israeli PR expert whether such activity helps the Israeli cause even 1% as much as moving here would help, what do you think they would say? I can answer this one easily. They’d say no, it does not.

Ask ANY Israeli politician, any IDF soldier, any Israeli rabbi, any Israeli at all: What can people outside of Israel do to help us, that will do more than anything else, and the answer will be nearly unanimous:

Come home.

You know, in 2001, when the “second Intifada” was going on, my wife told anyone who would listen, the reason why we’ve decided to make Aliyah is that Israel needs us now. I thought that was so silly. I wanted to make Aliyah for a much more noble and, dare I say, Godly reason: It was clear to me that the Jewish future was in Israel, and we were just observers living in Baltimore. I wanted “in.”

But she was right. Her reason was better. My reason was selfish. Her reason was reflective of how much she cared about Am Yisrael.

And so, we take a look at how much is being done for us by our brothers and sisters outside of Israel. It’s tremendous. So much money. So many supplies. So many phone calls and emails and texts and rabbis’ speeches on Shabbat mornings.

But imagine you get to play a real role in winning this war, in changing the facts on the ground further in Israel’s favor forever.

Imagine Hamas monsters hear that the nation of Israel has reacted to the horrors of October 7 by picking up and moving to Israel. Talk about making an impact!

I’m not saying it’s easy.

It’s much easier to send money, toothbrushes or vests. It’s certainly easier to tell your relatives already living in Israel that “We are with you!” And it’s absolutely easier to be in Baltimore, or Teaneck, or Los Angeles, or London, and participate in an evening of unity, highlighted by a powerful recital of Tehillim (psalms).

All those things are nice, and we are not against any of it.

But if you really want to help the nation of Israel, you’ve gotta do something that’s not easy.

It was not easy saying goodbye to my son at the end of those 80 minutes he spent with us, and it’s not easy to not know what’s going on with him.

It’s not easy going to sleep not knowing if there will be a siren overnight that will jolt us all awake and scurrying to the bomb shelter.

It’s not easy hearing about another two soldiers giving their lives to protect the country that God Himself decided would be ours.

It’s not easy having to still, every day, get work done for my clients, even though they and I both know our real attention is elsewhere.

It’s not easy. It’s not easy.

But what’s life about?

We here in Israel have that question sitting in front of us daily, hourly even. And every time we face that question, we answer by staying here and continuing to build our country, raise our children and live our lives to the fullest that we are able.

Now, especially with all the anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations, attacks and statements going on around the world, the same question is facing all of you, perhaps for the first time in years.

If you really want to help, the answer is to Come Home. And the good news is that you’ll be helping yourselves as much as you will be helping Israel.

I look forward to welcoming you home soon.

About the Author
Goel Jasper is Managing Partner of Finn Partners Israel. He lives with his wife and children in a Jerusalem suburb.