Israel Active

Israeli laboratory workers Orit Zamir and Peter Katchker were going to postpone their wedding because of the coronavirus. However, the health of Orit’s mother deteriorated, and they contacted MDA’s “wishing ambulance” who brought her mother to attend a small but happy wedding ceremony.

Hundreds of Israeli volunteers from an online community called COVID-19 Open Source are using their own 3D printers to produce protective visors for healthcare workers. Other volunteers take the equipment direct to needy hospital departments across the country.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said on Yom HaShoah, “The current reality (corona) does not allow us to meet with the survivors, to support them and be inspired by them. At this time, our mission is to protect them.”

To mark Yom HaShoah, the University of Haifa’s Weiss-Livnat Innovation Hub for Holocaust Education and Commemoration has launched a one-year post-graduate program. Its aim is to encourage students to create an innovative project that educates the public about the Holocaust.

Lev Echad (One Heart) is an Israeli NGO that activates whenever there’s a crisis. It currently has thousands of young adults providing childcare for staff at 16 medical centers, shopping for quarantined and elderly citizens and standing in for charities that have had to close their services.

At the Passover Seder, hundreds of thousands of Israelis went onto their balconies to sing ‘Ma Nishtana’ - the 4 questions, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” and other Seder songs.  (The first video in the Ynetnews article shows the phenomena at some 10 Israeli cities)

Some 1,000 Israeli soldiers are helping at 200 assisted living facilities around the country, providing the help they need during this period, when they are unable to leave their homes. A commander and four soldiers have been assigned to each facility,

Natan Sharansky has donated his $1 million Genesis Prize to aid those affected by coronavirus. The Israeli former Soviet prisoner urged people to “think about our great journey together and about new challenges which we face together, and that we will win together.”

Yatar Israel is a highly trained counter terrorism unit of the Israel Security Forces that shields vulnerable citizens. Its volunteers are either ex-elite IDF officers or have extensive defense background, who take orders from and support Israeli Border Police and National Israeli Police.

The Israeli government has sent matzahs and other essential Passover items to the tiny Jewish community in Egypt. Israel’s Embassy in Cairo and Jewish organizations managed to get boxes of kosher for Passover food to the 20 Jews in Cairo and Alexandria - a tiny remnant of the 80,000 in the 1940’s.