The IDF donors who just won’t quit

The war is expanding, the donors are tired, and it’s hard to blame them.

With the conflict in Gaza still raging and the fighting with Hezbollah escalating, the needs of IDF units in harm’s way are growing substantially while donor fatigue—the understandable reluctance of Israel’s supporters to continue supplying vital gear the army has not yet been able to provide— has shown alarming signs of spreading. Concerned this could endanger the lives of our soldiers, I asked a dozen people who have repeatedly contributed to efforts to supply equipment to IDF troops what keeps them motivated to give, campaign after campaign. Their answers are illuminating.

Even these ultra-consistent givers, it must be said, are not immune to frustration. One admitted, “You have to acknowledge the fatigue. Every day there is a request to help in some way, an e-mail from a friend, a WhatsApp message from a group you are on, a note in the bulletin from your kids’ school. It’s exhausting.” In the words of another stalwart, “it is alarming, frustrating, and, yes, infuriating, to realize how the Israeli government has failed to adequately provide for the troops.”

Why, then, do they keep digging deep, time after time? First, they recognize they are living in a period unlike anything they have experienced. Put simply: “This is a moment with existential ramifications for the future of Israel and the Jewish People.”

They therefore feel called upon to act. One shared the story of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, of blessed memory, teaching how Esther rose to the occasion, at great personal risk, to save the Jews of Persia in the Purim story. The rabbi then asked his students, forcefully: “Ichpat L’cha? Ichpat L’cha? Does it matter to you?” This donor added: “My wife and I think about that a lot. Every Jew has to answer that positively at a time like this. Did we care? Did we do what we could? Did we stretch? Does this matter to us?”

There are many worthy causes in Israel, so why do they focus on equipping our fighters? One woman explained that “the cause of providing critical safety gear is particularly meaningful to me in that it is a way to literally fulfill the mitzvah of pikuach nefesh (saving a life) and it supports the success of what I view as a milchemet mitzvah, a morally necessary war.”

Another put it in economic terms: “There are very few opportunities where comparatively modest sums can make such a difference to the lives and the strength of our soldiers.” Indeed, many of the most tireless donors to gear initiatives are motivated by seeing the results of their generosity: eyesight preserved by protective glasses, injuries and death avoided thanks to proper helmets, and lives saved by drones that identified terrorists preparing an ambush.

This same analytical ability enables them to recognize that while the IDF has stepped up its efforts, civilian initiatives remain critical. As explained by a philanthropist who invested considerable time working with the IDF: “The army has made significant progress in procuring the equipment needed to fight this war, but the situation is constantly evolving. There is still an important role for private donors who can be far more nimble than the army in purchasing gear as new needs are identified.”

Beyond these compelling rational arguments, the donors who consistently dig deep are motivated by an empathy for Israel’s soldiers that puts their own financial sacrifices in perspective. “It would be so easy to just stop,” says one, “but then I remember our soldiers, including so many unbelievably brave twenty-year olds who, unlike American students, don’t have the luxury of fretting about chemistry and frat parties but are in combat and dying for their country.”

Others focus on army veterans, often civilians in their thirties and forties, who have been back in uniform constantly since October 7: “I think of the reservists who have been serving since the war began, of the effect on their families, their jobs, and their mental health. This is the least we can do.”

Another relentless giver echoes that refrain: “Our soldiers have to resist significant physical, mental, and emotional fatigue due to the length of this war. The least we can do is resist donor fatigue so that they know we support them and so that they can keep fighting for our safety.”

In many cases, this empathy runs so deep that the most motivated donors come to see the soldiers they help as members of their family. For the father of a Lone Soldier who joined an elite IDF squad, the leap was simple: “I kitted out my son’s unit and then I figured I should do the same for others.” A woman who helped outfit her son’s platoon decided that wasn’t enough: “The mission is too critical, and the lives of our soldiers too important for us to stop. Each soldier is a son, a daughter, a husband, a sister, and they belong to all of us.” Another woman expressed it even more strongly: “While there are many good causes helping Israel, we need to look at the soldiers as our own children and protect them in the same way we would protect the children we bore and raised.”

Despite all this, even the most committed donors sometimes feel overwhelmed. But the same person who admitted that the requests can be exhausting immediately added: “You know who else is fatigued at this point?  The mom who can’t sleep because she has all three of her sons called up to active duty at once. The family from Qiryat Shmona who can’t go home after eleven months. The young soldier who wants to start his university career but keeps getting delayed by an extension of his service. The men who are running back and forth from their jobs to another stint in the reserves. So of course I’m tired, we all are. None of these folks have the ability to just give in to their fatigue. None of us should have the right to give in to ours.”

As we prepare to enter a new year and Israel’s soldiers continue risking their lives to defend our country, let us hope that the spirit of the donors who never quit will spread widely and will help enable all our brave fighters to be inscribed in the Book of Life.