American Jewish Community Supporting The IDF, One Burger at a Time

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It sounds like the start of a bad joke.

What do you get when you put together a secular Israeli radio host, a group of former chayalim on a mission to feed their weary brethren, a Jerusalem resident, and the former head of an organization that represents thousands upon thousands of American Jews?

The answer in this case is no laughing matter but rather a phenomenon called IDF BBQ, an effort by a group of caring Orthodox Jews in the United States to show their appreciation to members of the Israeli Defense Forces with a weekly barbeque.

It all began with Israeli radio host Elad Amedi announcing repeatedly on air that a group called Tzevet Paamon was offering free food and drink to members of the Israeli military as an expression of appreciation. Amedi called on others to join the volunteers and the response from his listeners was positive, both from those who came to serve the food and from others who sponsored the nightly refreshments.

Yossi Goldberger of Jerusalem was one of those who heard Amedi’s call to action and felt the need to respond in a big way. He and Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president emeritus of the National Council of Young Israel, called the show and told Amedi to arrange a full barbeque for the chayalim, assuring him that funds would be in place to cover the costs. Goldberger contacted Amit Amar of Tzevet Paamon who dealt with the logistics of the barbeque, while Rabbi Lerner took care of the financial end.

The first event took place on November 2 at Givat Hamivtar in Jerusalem, and to say that it was an unqualified success would be a massive understatement.

“The first time we served over 1,200 people,” Rabbi Lerner told The Jewish Press. “We know exactly how many hamburgers we served because we ran out of buns and had to go out and buy pita.”

In addition to hamburgers and buns, volunteers served up ketchup, mustard, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, olives, and drinks. A large sign at the barbeque informed soldiers that it had been sponsored by “Yehudim b’chutz la’artez shichpat lahem,” Orthodox Jews outside of Israel who care.

“Some of these chayalim travel half an hour to get a hamburger, which they could just pick up in any store,” explained Rabbi Lerner. “But the fact that people are giving it to you, serving it to you like you are at a five-star restaurant and you are the biggest tipper is incredible. They ask you what else can they get for you. Do you want it more well done or less well done? With lettuce of without lettuce? The food is given b’ahava, with love and b’lev shalem, with a full heart.”

The second barbeque was held 10 days later at the same location. 1,600 burgers were served that night, although not all of the chayalim who enjoyed the food were actually able to make it to the physical location.

“We have had numerous situations where a solider would call up and tell us he is representing a group of 10 or 15 or 20 soldiers,” said Rabbi Lerner. “In those cases we made sure that everything was all prepared, with all the trimmings, in a bag.”

Volunteers from both United Hatzolah and Zaka have come to the barbeques to deliver hamburgers to soldiers who cannot attend in person. In one instance, a commander called organizers to let them know that his entire battalion wanted to come to the barbeque, but since he couldn’t spare all his men at once, they would be coming in shifts, with troops coming at 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. In other cases, soldiers have shown up at 2:00 a.m. hoping that the fire was still going.