Two months after Black Saturday, leading civil society organizations in Israel, on the first candle of Hanukkah, embarked on a national volunteer day that will include thousands of volunteers throughout the country.
This is a huge volunteer day initiated by the civilian aid organization "One Heart", in cooperation with organizations from both ends of the political spectrum, Brothers in Arms and Hashomer Hadashadash. The climax of the day will be the waving of national flags and lighting the first candle with the families of abductees, civilians and soldiers in the Gaza envelope and in the north.
Volunteers at Katif in the Upper Galilee, Photo: Eyal Margolin - Ginny
Starting at 8:00 A.M., thousands of Israelis will embark on volunteer missions that they have undertaken throughout the country. Among other things, volunteering includes: working in greenhouses near Israel, volunteering in hospitals and nursing homes, packing food baskets for evacuees, accompanying children at Schneider Hospital and a Hanukkah party for the elderly who were evacuated.
High-tech companies, Wix, Microsoft and Fiverr will join the volunteer work with their employees. The general public is also invited to sign up to volunteer on a platform that will connect volunteers with those who need assistance.
An example of the volunteer activities already carried out in Israel, after Shabbat Simchat Torah, is the example of Lt. Col. (res.) Lior Ayubi: an agricultural Iron Dome of one man with one heart. Ayoubi, while being drafted into the reserves, in cooperation with One Heart, recruited and operated thousands of volunteers for a long list of farmers. As a moshavnik, throughout the years, Ayubi has accompanied the family farm in the agricultural crops and preserves the agricultural history by collecting and renovating tractors and agricultural tools that were an important part of the family's and regional agricultural history. With the outbreak of the war, together with the "One Heart" organization, he connected thousands of volunteers to a large number of farms in the Shafir Council.
After the volunteer activities that will begin in the morning, a flag-raising ceremony will take place at two o'clock in the afternoon in the communities near Israel and dozens of other localities - with the participation of the heroes of the alert squads that fought on Black Saturday and the families of the abductees. Later at five o'clock, the lighting of the first candle will be held at the activity centers in the envelope and throughout the country
Tomer Dror, CEO of Lev Ahad, said ahead of the event: "Two months after the disaster, we chose to shine the social and national light through tens of thousands of volunteers, women and men, religious and secular. This is our beautiful and strong Israel, which enlisted in National Order 8, not only on the military front, but also on the civilian front."
Elad Tessler, the civil operations room, noted that "we will continue to support and strengthen the settlement on the borders and the communities of the evacuees. We will help farmers continue to produce our food when we volunteer shoulder to shoulder, Israelis from all walks of life, and strengthen our mutual responsibility."
Bat El Asulin, deputy director general of Hashomer Hadasha, said, "The joint effort of civil society is dramatic to increase resilience on the home front, to respond to the challenges of the day and to strengthen unity among the people. We are pleased to intensify the cooperation that will increase the light and assistance to Israeli agriculture."
On Black Saturday, Israel was quick to respond and immediately opened four war rooms, and within two more days, there were already about twenty operations rooms nationwide that provide a response, 24/7, to all the needs that arise as a result of the fighting: assistance to the families of the abductees, assistance to the families of reservists, assistance to the families of the evacuees and, of course, to farmers.
According to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics yesterday, 22% of Israelis volunteered in 2022, and it is clear that in the past two months it has more than doubled. The public is invited to register to volunteer on a platform that will connect volunteers with those who need assistance on the designated website:
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