Mi k'amcha Yisrael?

Who is like your nation, Israel? The one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?

1 Chronicles 17:21

A question that became a statement in Be'er Sheva. A statement made by a woman when volunteers from Yad Eliezer arrived at the hospital with packages for the wounded IDF soldiers. But that isn't the whole story. Here is some of it:

Care Packages to Gaza

by Simon Wolf

Everyone here in Israel is doing whatever they can to help. Some of my neighbors are hosting families from the south who had to flee. For my part I called the Yad Eliezer to organization to see how I could help. One of their directors, Yossi Kaufman, told me they were putting together 2,500 care packages -- food, clothes and books -- to deliver to the soldiers, and offered me the opportunity to join a group traveling down to the Gaza front to distribute the packages. I told him, "Count me in."




The next day we drove south and came to a military base outside of Be'er Sheva, from where they control all the logistical aspects of the war. We were met by the commanders of the base who were very moved by the generosity of the donors and the volunteers. Then we went to work unloading the 2,500 packages into a gym from which the logistical engineers ensured they would reach the front lines. It was incredible to see the looks on the faces of the cadets who helped us unload the truck. They could not believe that people cared so much to bring what seemed to be an endless supply of packages.

...reached Be'eri, just a few hundred yards from the Gaza Strip. It's a closed military zone and the military police were not willing to let us enter the area. After much discussion and haggling, we were finally allowed 10 minutes in the area -- by foot -- to distribute our packages to the soldiers, and on condition that we took no photos while we were there.



Upon first entering the area, we were treated to a surreal scene: Some Breslover Chassidim had a van equipped with speakers on its roof blasting music, and the Chassidim were dancing with the soldiers. Only in Israel.

For our part, we began to distribute the packages to the soldiers who were resting before they had to reenter the war zone. We saw APC's coming out of Gaza with helmeted and sweating soldiers who were so excited to be greeted by our packages. The soldiers could not believe their eyes, and when we explained that we'd come to thank them for their efforts and boost their morale, they in turn thanked us profusely. They said it meant so much to them that people were actually thinking of them and were willing to make the trip out to deliver packages.

We ended up staying in the area for nearly 40 minutes, and the military police even allowed us to take pictures.

Our next stop was the Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva, the largest hospital in the south of Israel and the area's only trauma center. We came to the hospital with more care packages to distribute to the wounded soldiers. On the way, we passed the blood donor center where we saw an amazing scene of people lined up to donate blood to help all the wounded soldiers and civilians.



...One woman began to cry while explaining to another woman what was transpiring. She was not religious, but she exclaimed over and over again, "Mi k'amcha Yisrael -- Who is like your nation, Israel." Her words are still reverberating through my head.

We visited a room that had injured soldiers. One had shrapnel wounds to his leg, another had been hit by a bullet, and another had suffered mortar injuries. We met another soldier sitting with his parents and family. His arm was in a sling, and told us that his platoon had been hit by a Hamas mortar shell, which had shattered the bones in his arm and currently left him with no ability to move his hand. The soldier had just undergone surgery and he hoped to regain use of his hand -- after a long recovery period including months, if not years, of therapy.

I haven't given you the whole story, for I want you to read it for yourself here. A spirit has entered Israel with the whole nation working hard for their sons and daughters in the IDF. They will go the extra mile to give their boys in uniform a care package. You can help to. If you are able to afford it, donate a few dollars to Yad Eliezer. Just $20 will send an IDF soldier a care package.

If you would like to send something to an IDF soldier but cannot afford it at this time just click on this logo:


And a personal message from you with a box of chocolates will be sent to an IDF soldier free of charge.

Mi K'amcha Yisrael?