‘I needed to make a difference’: why we went to Israel to volunteer

If, on 7 October 2023, somebody would have told me that five months later we would be in Israel picking lemons near Gaza, tying tzitzit for soldiers in Jerusalem and scrubbing pans in a vegan restaurant in Tel Aviv, I would have thought they were a few falafel balls short of a pitta, writes Angie Jacobs. In all honesty, aside from the sadness, anger and disbelief I was feeling on that day, I was also, selfishly, wondering when and if I would ever be able to visit Israel again.

As the months passed, I felt increasingly helpless and despondent about the situation. We did a few collections for the soldiers and tried to emotionally support our dear friends and family out there, but it all felt very tokenistic.

Eventually we read about people going to volunteer in Israel, but how could we middle-aged folk who didn’t want to share a dorm contribute?

And then I was alerted to a Facebook page called Sword of Iron – Israel Volunteer Opportunities. This page, run by volunteers, advertised ‘jobs’ from agriculture and packing to hospital visiting and also gave advice on accommodation, transport and socialising. There were no limits on age or ability, the mantra being “whatever you can do to help will make a difference”.

My husband didn’t need any persuasion and soon I was googling AirBnbs in Tel Aviv. Within a few weeks we were out there picking, packing and missing buses. I would constantly monitor the Sword of Iron page and then contact the charity/kibbutz/restaurant mentioned to arrange the details.

The Israeli food rescue charity Leket became our go-to gig. The coach would be at the same place at 6am every day to take volunteeers to various kibbutzim and moshavim in the south that needed help, since their foreign workers had had to go back to their countries. It had been 40 or so years since I had worked in the fields, my improved attitude since my gap year balancing out my physical (in)capabilities. We were with other volunteers from all over the world and there was no pressure to finish a row, tree or container.

t wasn’t just agriculture that we worked in. We packed comfort baskets for women whose husbands were in the army to take to the mikveh, I baked cupcakes to be distributed around hospitals, tied titzit and helped out in the kitchen of a vegan restaurant that provided food for the soldiers.

It wasn’t all easy. We didn’t manage to do everything we wanted due to logistical challenges, slots filling up and blood donation units only being open certain hours. But oh we gained so much. Every day we met up with like-minded people – not just Jews – and heard their reasons and inclinations to come to Israel. We had a beautiful Shabbat dinner with other volunteers at the home of Yael, one of the Sword of Iron superstars, whose English husband plied me with his boucha – figgy vodka.

There was also time for lots of socialising and eating. I decided that it was a mitzvah to support the fast food industry – the pasta and tomato sauce that I bought for a cheap meal in the flat left unopened in favour of felafel, shawarma and sabich.

For three weeks we were 21 again contributing to Israeli society in every way we could. We spent far less time on social media than we had done in the previous six months and it was actually quite refreshing.

Israel is getting on with it and people are living their lives. There are hostage posters everywhere and everybody has a sad story… but they are ploughing ahead.

I’m not sure how much I really helped (the savoy cabbages certainly didn’t look that great after I had weeded them). However, our trip was a real adventure – and in the same way that many teenage trips to Israel feature a ‘holiday romance’, this time the love was for the country and its people. Would I do it all over again? In a heartbeat.

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I stumbled across an article in the Jewish News that was urging British Jews to sign up to volunteer on the Taglit Birthright Israel Onwards programme, writes Naomi Frankel. I jumped at the chance to do something proactive during what felt like a helpless situation. It was so rewarding that I ended up staying on to do another two programs back-to-back including a six-week Masa Tlalim program.

Here, we spent our days cooking for combat soldiers in Gaza and helped at the Tekes ceremonies for returning units and their families. We worked on logistics at the Tzrifin army base to keep things running smoothly; we got to wear the army uniform and interact with soldiers. The last two weeks were spent in Eilat preparing packed lunches in the Beit Rafael soup kitchen for children who had been displaced from the south and meals for the local elderly community and families.

We spent our free time relaxing on the popular Mosh beach, where groups of young Israelis sat around smoking, drinking and often playing instruments. I spent another month in Tel Aviv doing ad hoc volunteering with Eran’s Angels, sorting distributions for displaced families and at Save a Child’s Heart children’s home in Holon organising games and activities.

It was an unforgettable four months filled with impactful moments, mostly from talking to Israelis in everyday settings – on the bus, on the beach, while getting my nails done. My nail tech in Tel Aviv was an off-duty IDF reserve soldier with long black hair and even longer lashes. While carefully painting on my top coat, she revealed that her best friend survived Nova by hiding under bodies. She heard women screaming as they were raped and butchered. Her friend is still under close psychiatric care.

Israelis were grateful for our presence but also confused, often asking: “Why have you come during a war?” They were visibly touched when I answered: “Because it’s our fight too.” We wore our volunteering t-shirts wherever we went, and people smiled at us, some coming up to say thank you.

When I visited the south before Pesach, the proximity of my brothers and sisters in captivity, abused and terrified, wounded me to my core. Have we really left Egypt, I wondered. It’s hard to describe the immense sorrow standing in the field where the Nova festival took place, treading the ground where young people just looking to dance and have fun were tortured in the most horrific ways.

We walked among the mangled, burnt-out cars with everyday possessions lying still inside—a Victoria’s Secret spray, a packet of Bamba, a dummy. We lit memorial candles at the bomb shelter consumed by deadly fire, where heroism shone – like that of Aner Shapira, 22, a brave Brit and off-duty unarmed soldier, who threw out multiple grenades before it blew up on him.

When I was out in a bar or outdoor place with other young people in Tel Aviv, I looked for the nearest bomb shelter or escape route. I ran for cover during my first siren, at the entrance to Ayanot Youth Village where I was due to meet the rest of the Masa group for the first time. There was no time to get to the bomb shelter so the security guard led me to some iron stairs where I stood, shaking, watching the Iron Dome soaring high in the sky. The rest of the group had to get off the coach and lay on the ground, their hands protecting their heads.

Back in London on the tube home from the airport, I had quite the rude awakening, nauseated to see the various ‘free Palestine’ ‘end Israel apartheid’ stickers in the carriage and dotted along the side of escalators. Determinedly ripping them down, I reminded myself how, at the airport, the El Al security, usually tough as nails, smiled and thanked me for coming to volunteer. One woman at border control told me to make Aliyah and ‘make lots of babies’ to win against Hamas. I laughed and replied, ‘That’s the plan.’ And I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren I contributed to the war effort. I needed to make a difference. I picked fruit, cooked for soldiers, waitressed at their ceremonies, worked alongside them on base, charged and sorted batteries for their night goggles and radios. I helped them fight Hamas. I want to be there again, doing those things and more. I’ll be back in Israel, where I belong, before long.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The UJIA website ujia.org/volunteer-in-israel/ has a host of useful information. Many charities are running volunteer programs. A few are listed below:

Taglit birthrightisraelonward.com

Masa masaisrael.org

Leket leket.org

Mair Panim mairpanim.org

Tachlit tachlit.org.il

Keshet keshetuk.org

Save A Child’s Heart offers thee volunteering programmes: a three-week Immersive Programme running activities and games with the kids in the children’s home, a two-month Superstar Programme includes volunteering at the children’s home and accompanying the children to hospital visits and a two-month Buddy programme where each volunteer is paired with a specific child doing the same work as the Superstar programme. saveachildsheart.org