From Israel on New Year's Day
A New Year's dispatch from the AIC delegation in Israel — the Nova site and car graveyard, supply runs and cookouts for IDF troops along the Gaza fence, Sheba Medical Center, and the educational work we're carrying home.
In this issue: A New Year's dispatch from the AIC delegation in Israel — the Nova site and car graveyard, supply runs and cookouts for IDF troops along the Gaza fence, Sheba Medical Center, and the educational work we're carrying home.
Happy New Year. We're writing on New Year's Day from Israel — a short update, sent between meetings, because the days here move quickly and the work cannot wait.
We want you to know how this happens. We are all volunteers, and we pay our own costs. The supplies you donated came over not only in our own bags but in the checked bags of people in our networks who had flights planned and room to help. We do this deliberately, so that what you give goes directly to mission-critical costs.
Thank you for the funds. Thank you for the supplies. Thank you for trusting us to use both well. Your support is here — on the ground, in use.
We enter the new year with open eyes and open hearts: grief that does not disappear, resolve that does not fade, and laughter that does not quiet. May the coming months bring healing where it is needed, courage where it is demanded, and the strength to keep choosing life and love.
— Cheryl Dorchinsky, Executive Director
From the Nova site to the Gaza fence
Since our last update, we traveled to the car graveyard and then to the Nova site. All but one of us had been there before; even so, it did not soften the time we spent there. We joined a minyan for prayers on site — a moving experience. At the car graveyard near the Nova site, the ambulance we stood beside had been struck on October 7. Hamas murdered eighteen people inside.
From there we went to Shuva Junction, where we distributed supplies and restocked what they had run out of: first aid kits, electrolytes, protein bars, and much more. Practical, needed work.
The next day we spent with Shlomi's food truck. For hours we prepared food, then handed out falafel, schnitzel, shakshuka pita sandwiches, and kosher ducks to IDF troops along the Gaza fence. This is still an active war zone, and our presence was appreciated by those fighting on the ground. Over and over we were told they feel forgotten, that they feel the world's hate bearing down on them.
Again and again, the soldiers asked for the kosher ducks. You might think they're a little silly and whimsical, and you'd be right — but you could hear them squeaking as we drove off to the next checkpoint. Soldiers laughed and smiled. Some seemed to laugh for the first time in days. They told us of the joy it brought them, and how they can't wait to get home to their families to share it. Many asked for extras to give to their kids.
That evening the weather finally broke and we held the rescheduled BBQ. Heavy rain the day before had turned the access roads to deep mud, so civilian vehicles couldn't reach the original base, and the unit there was ultimately sent out on a mission. We moved instead to a secure base along the Green Line. The soldiers we cooked for had not had a single BBQ in more than two years of war. Not once. They operate constantly, with enormous responsibility, and hearing how long they had gone without that kind of support stayed with us. We grilled sausages, hamburgers, and smoked brisket, and set full tables with salads and vegetarian options. We talked. We stayed. We gave them your support.
Yesterday was a different kind of day. We received an IDF briefing that will directly inform AIC's educational work. We met with Hillel Fuld to discuss collaboration. Then we went to Sheba Medical Center, where we met wounded soldiers, delivered requested care packages, and brought adult LEGO kits — they were gone quickly as the wounded warriors clamored for them. That night we visited J17, a kosher vegan restaurant that regularly feeds troops, hostage families, and Nova survivors; we came to support their work, and we rang in the new year quietly.
Today is New Year's Day. We have meetings scheduled and a visit planned to bring children's toys to hospitalized kids. Some of us fly back to the United States tomorrow. The work of AIC continues — educational programming will come out of this trip, along with relationships, clarity, and responsibility we intend to carry home.
Help us carry this work forward
MITZVAHS THAT FLOAT
A surprise duck in an Israeli break room
A kosher duck surfaced in an Israeli break room in Ramat Gan — a little joy waiting between shifts. From Atlanta to Israel, the ducks keep floating. Mitzvahs that float.