30 | DECEMBER 14 • 2023
J
N
S
hortly after Rosh
Hashanah, David
and Mira Benjamin
moved from their house in
Southfield to an apartment
in Beit Shemesh in Israel.
Their oldest child had already
moved to Jerusalem; their two
younger children are studying
in Israel, one living at his
yeshivah and the other living
with them in Beit Shemesh.
David and Mira knew
what to expect: getting their
paperwork in order, applying
for new jobs, awaiting the
arrival of their belongings
and furniture, and setting
up their apartment. A
couple of weeks after their
arrival, though, the terrorist
attacks from Gaza changed
plans for the whole country.
Suddenly, Israel switched to
total mobilization, calling an
estimated 300,000 reservists
into the active military.
All over the country,
businesses had to replace
workers who were now in
the military; the greatly
enlarged military had to
find new infrastructure for
support. Just as quickly, the
civilian population of Israel
mobilized to provide support
wherever needed. Then David
and Mira had a new priority,
volunteering.
CHURNING OUT
SANDWICHES
Mira recalls that “the first
place we went to was the
Aroma café, which is a chain,
but this one happens not
to be open to customers.
Instead, they are using their
staff and their space and
volunteers to make different
kinds of sandwiches for
soldiers.”
In response to the terrorist
attacks, Yariv Shefa, owner
of the Aroma chain with 125
outlets in Israel, the United
States and Ukraine, closed the
Aroma Espresso Bar in Beit
Shemesh, the flagship facility.
Instead of serving customers,
each day, the facility turns
out about 10,000 sandwiches
to feed soldiers throughout
Israel.
Mira worked on “omlette
sandwiches, cheese
sandwiches, tuna sandwiches,”
and even, at a separate time,
“deli sandwiches.”
Mira asks us to picture the
scene: “They covered all the
tables with Saran Wrap.” The
staff breaks down making a
sandwich into discrete steps.
They set up volunteers each
at a station with a specific
task, such as “put cheese and
tomatoes and pickles and
other condiments,” and then
pass the sandwich along to
the next station. Meanwhile,
she says, “The staff is really
busy; they are running
back and forth refilling the
supplies of what we need.
“They also then have some
people putting the napkins
in the bags, and putting the
sandwiches in bags, even
writing messages on the bags
for the soldiers,” she added.
The volunteers are,
says Mira, “of all ages,
from kids to older people.
It is a very lighthearted
atmosphere, comfortable.
Everyone is friendly. You
get to meet people from the
neighborhood … or not.
Some people drive from other
areas to come and help.”
Outside the Aroma cafe,
David observes, volunteers
were “making boxes,
and putting the bags of
sandwiches into the boxes.”
Others were in charge of
delivering the boxes to bases
OUR COMMUNITY
Newly arrived in Israel, these
Southfield natives began by
helping out wherever they could.
LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Volunteering
from the
Get-Go
Mira and David
Benjamin, new
arrivals in Israel
from Southfield,
volunteering at
Beef Up Our Boys