My Experience Volunteering In Israel

MY EXPERIENCE VOLUNTEERING IN ISRAEL

Overview:

1. I spent several weeks in November 2024 volunteering in Israel, fortunately having a base of operations in Jerusalem.
2. Through the Facebook Group “Swords Of Iron” (SOI) spreadsheet, I contacted many possible opportunities and eventually found several that fit.
3. Generally, my time was used in these ways:
4. One week in Kfar Aza (near Gaza) renovating damaged buildings.
5. One week in Kibbutz Sufa (near Gaza) improving its grounds.
6. One week of agricultural work (mostly near Gaza) via day trips from Jerusalem.

Volunteering Observations:

1. There are many volunteer opportunities, but it can sometimes be difficult for English-only speakers to locate those that are only written in Hebrew (but, technology provides for text translation).
2. There is a catch-as-catch-can basis for finding and signing up because some opportunities are only posted the day before, and each volunteer group can set different requirements.
3. Once on board, group leaders and volunteers are almost uniformly wonderful, providing good information, translation, and support.
4. I was welcomed and looked-out for, and I hope I’ve made several sustainable friendships.
5. The level of instruction provided is such that one needs to know and enforce one’s own limits as to what one can do (i.e., exercise your own judgment).

Practical Observations:

1. The great majority of Israelis speak adequate-to-great English.
2. Prices in Israel are approximately the same as in a major U.S. city.
3. Unless one reads the news or is alongside Gaza or was in Hezbollah missile-range in the north, one would not have known there was a war going on by observing day-to-day living: however, everyone reads the news, and virtually all of the country was in some occasional missile-range (Jerusalem has not per se been targeted).
4. Israeli building code requires all buildings to have a safe room with reinforced metal and concrete, and in the Gaza area, all of the communities (public areas, parks, bus stops, etc.) have nearby bomb shelters.
5. Israel has a modernized, capable, and ever-improving infrastructure (roadways, public transportation, telecommunications, green-spaces, etc.).

Societal Observations:

1. Most Israelis agreed that they were in the middle of a serious war that is vastly misunderstood by the rest of the world.
2. Most Israelis agreed that they have little to no chance of finding a willing partner for peace in the Palestinians.
3. Many Jewish Israelis, including those who previously had not felt this way, became more suspicious of their Arab-Israeli population, but maintained the solutions to be societal improvement as well as good intelligence efforts.

Personal Observations:

1. Most volunteers are Israeli, often middle-aged or retired, secular or moderately religious, with a wonderful sense of community and caring.
2. Jerusalem has a non-volunteering (outside of their own community), fast-growing, insular, and generally unfriendly-to-others orthodox population.
3. The competing visions of Israel —  secular, principled, supportive, and engaged versus insular, expansionist, belligerent, and engaged  —  feels concerning for Israel’s long-term health, domestically and internationally.

Some Narrative Thoughts:

Prior to arriving, I had tried to line up volunteer opportunities. There are some well-conceived volunteer organizations that seem to cater to Americans seeking a “package” in which all concerns are cared for, and also provide some educational and meet-and-greet opportunities, but these have a 1-2 month time horizon and came at a cost, and in my case the late final decision regarding when I could leave precluded such opportunities (to my knowledge, popular package programs include Sar-El Israel and Livnot).  Here are a couple of very helpful pages with many tips and lists of volunteering opportunities in Israel: https://www.israel21c.org/how-you-can-volunteer-in-israel-during-the-war/; https://www.nbn.org.il/life-in-israel/education/higher-education/volunteer-programs/.

Because I did not succeed in lining up a volunteer opportunity before coming to Israel, knowing what I know now, I would have more actively sought to reach out to individuals and groups on WhatsApp, which is by far the dominant channel for information.  I urge potential volunteers to sign up for the many WhatsApp chat groups for volunteers that are found on the SOI page, and to reach out to individuals who are listed as providing organizational information regarding specific volunteer opportunities.  In a word, everything that I did was found through those persons and chat groups.  All but a couple are in Hebrew, as these chat groups are of course primarily for Israelis.  Your phone can provide translation (accessing the translation function depends on your phone’s operating system).

Here is an observation: the sound of construction and the sound of destruction are remarkably similar.  The sound and feel of a heavy sack of concrete hitting a roof is the same as the sound and feel of a bomb at a distance.  The sound of a congo blasting away at the concrete to reconstruct a house is the same as the sound of a heavy machine gun.  The sound of power tools is the same as the sound of a military drone.  The concrete used to build safe rooms for Israeli civilians is the same as the concrete used to build tunnels for Hamas terrorists, who, by design and with full intent, hide under the exposed Gaza civilians.  The only difference is the culture of one society seeking to flourish compared to the culture of another society seeking to destroy.

The conversations I had with Israelis was knowing and resigned and hopeful.  Every person knew exactly what was happening in Israel, in Israel’s government, in the U.S., in the world, and in their neighbors’ families.  Everyone had been a reservist, or was still an active reservist, and knew what war was.  No one wanted any of it to continue, and all of them knew it had to continue.  They all yearned for the end of the war.  They all knew the individual names of the hostages.  Everywhere you went in the Gaza Envelope  —  in the Kibbutzes, in the communities, along the roads, in the rest-stops  —  there were yellow ribbons, there were posters, there were handwritten signs, there were drawings, there were messages, all seeking return of the hostages.  Israel is so small, everyone is affected by some of their own still being held in captivity.

I found my volunteering to be rewarding and I was very glad that I had done it.  I know it didn’t make a more than a tiny difference in the overall scheme of things, as one person’s work never does (my pet expression is that it was a drop in the bucket, but at least it was my drop).  But I also recognize that group effort can get a lot done, and I was heartened to be part of the teams of Israelis that were really committed to helping their fellow Israelis.   I think the Israelis I met also were very touched that I had come all the way from America to volunteer along side them.

The phrase and the song “Am Yisrael Chai” are really common.  It’s played on the radio, people sing it, it’s usually the capper at the end of speeches.  It means something like ‘The people of Israel live.’  Or, the spirit of the people lives, or the land of Israel will live, or we, the people of Israel, live.  It is proud, it is loud, it is defiant, it is a motto, it is a statement, it is a rallying cry, it is a belief, it is a credo, it is a response to all who seek to oppress Jews and want to destroy the country of Israel.  I like it: Am Yisrael Chai.  While I’m not an Israeli, I am a Zionist, and I support Israel, because it is the homeland of my ancestors and therefore, regardless that I didn’t choose it, it is the homeland of the tribe I was born into.  If there wasn’t a big deal made about everything that concerns Israel, I would probably care less about it.  But, things being as they are, I have to care in order to be supportive of that thing which, for better or worse, I am.  I’m not a believer in God, and despite its many positive attributes, I’m not a religious Jew  — and so pre-October 7, on a day-to-day basis, being Jewish was not one of my major personal identifiers (on a day-to-day basis, I’d probably have listed ‘motorsports enthusiast’ higher).  However, given the circumstances today, I have had my Jewishness thrust into my constant consciousness.  I feel my best, and perhaps my only real option, is to put my hand up and respond “Am Yisrael Chai.”