Israel is arguably at one of the most challenging points in its 75-year history. In addition to the enormous military threat, the economic toll of the war is also devastating, not just for the cost of the war effort, but also for its many ripple effects. Israel’s large tourism industry is practically on life support.
Only one airline is flying in and out; many foreign workers have been kept out of the country; and the largest part of the workforce has been called up for military duty, leaving businesses, offices, manufacturing and agriculture sectors severely understaffed.
The worldwide Jewish community is responding to this crisis in miraculous ways, with fundraisers for Israeli families and for organizations like United Hatzalah, MDA, ZAKA and others. People who are traveling to Israel and willing to take extra duffel bags are matched with people who are gathering the needed supplies and looking for someone to bring them to Israel.
High profile visitors have made their way to Israel in the past few months include Elon Musk, Jared and Ivanka Kushner and Jerry Seinfeld. These celebrities met with families of the hostages and visited the injured in hospitals. Rabbinical groups, politicians, Jewish organizations, families and motivated individuals have also packed the El Al flights to lend a hand and to give chizuk.
I participated in just such a mission to Israel with Kosher Troops, a very special Monsey-based group founded in 2008 by Sara Fuerst and Ava Hamburger. What began as a “Chesed project” for Sara’s daughter’s bas mitzvah has blossomed into a vital non-profit organization that has sent tens of thousands of kosher food packages to members of the American Armed Forces stationed all over the world.
Sara and Ava’s packages have reached U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Korea, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Germany, England, and Micronesia. For soldiers stationed closer to home, Kosher Troops holiday packages have gone to Fort Bragg (NC), Fort Sill (OK), Fort Carson (CO), Fort Knox (KY), Fort Jackson (SC), and Fort Campbell (KY). Even if a Jew is stationed at sea, Ava and Sara will find them. KT packages have made it to the USS Abraham Lincoln, the USS Wasp, and the USS Nimitz.
As the war in Israel raged on, Kosher Troops decided to expand on our mission by organizing a solidarity trip to the Holy Land. With the help of many generous donors, this is what we accomplished in just three weeks:
- We delivered supplies and equipment to IDF soldiers, including vests with plates, dry bags, warm underwear, tactical gear, canvas coolers with snacks and beef sticks.
- We delivered defibrillators to MDA Hatzalah.
- We delivered wigs to cancer patients.
- We delivered wedding supplies to a couple in need.
- We volunteered at Pantry Packers, an organization feeding thousands of Israel’s poor and hungry.
- We volunteered packing thousands of sandwiches for the IDF that are distributed daily at Aroma Cafes throughout the country.
- We volunteered at a chicken coop, collecting eggs because all their foreign workers left the country.
- We volunteered at a farm, harvesting pomelo fruits.
- We visited with Israeli families displaced from their homes and living in hotels.
- We visited the sick in Hadassah Hospital.
- We fed the children of displaced families at Yad Vashem.
- We met with U.S. military veterans now living in Israel.
- We distributed heartfelt letters to IDF soldiers, written by yeshiva students in New York and New Jersey.
- We distributed donuts to army bases during Chanukah.
- We organized and prepared 7 gourmet barbecues with Yoel Almog of Almog Events, on seven IDF bases from the Gaza border to the Lebanon border.
Of course, there were some heartbreaking experiences on our trip, which will always be with me. At one of the barbecues in the North at a place called Manara, we toured evacuated preschool classrooms. Though it was Chanukah, the Sukkos decorations were eerily still hanging up, frozen in time after October 7. We were told that the school will likely not be reopened, due to its proximity to the Lebanon border. We were asked to stay away from one of the classroom windows, because it was visible to Hezbollah forces stationed nearby. As we left the classroom, we were quickly escorted to a bomb shelter. As we were so close to the border, there was not even enough time to hear a siren.
There were uplifting moments on the trip as well. I enjoyed working with Yaakov Cruz, a former recipient of Kosher Troops packages when he was stationed in Alaska with the U.S. Coast Guard, as he interacted with the IDF members. Flipping burgers with his wife Aviva, they traded stories and shared some joy and levity with soldiers in need of both.
At one of the IDF bases where we handed out letters, one soldier was so moved by the letter he received that he wanted us to find the young author and tell her how much it meant to him. He said that he would carry the letter with him into battle as an inspiration and as a reminder that Jews all over the world are standing with him. Upon our return, I reached out to the Kushner School in New Jersey and shared the photo of Roei being comforted by Julia’s letter. Truthfully, it was more than just a letter. It was a symbol of a heartwarming journey, from America, to the Sharsheret base near Netivot, and then back to America. We hope to soon hear from Roei, and everyone else who we met, when they iy’H return home safely.
The 17 people participating in the Kosher Troops mission to Israel didn’t receive the press coverage of the groups of celebrities and politicians who recently visited, but we were warmly welcomed wherever we traveled in Israel. We brought smiles to the faces of people who need a reason to smile. We fed the hungry and supplied the needy. We made the lights of Chanukah shine a little brighter, if only until the next rocket alert siren was heard.
I was pleased to do my small part, but there is so much more that needs to be done to help the people affected by the war in Gaza. This is the time when the Jewish people need to unite in prayer and in action, for all of our brothers and sisters in Israel. Please join in any way you can.
