DECEMBER 14 • 2023 | 31

around the country. Often the 
number of volunteers exceeds 
the number of work stations. 
David notes that outside 
the cafe were “people waiting 
until someone comes out to 
leave, and then they can come 
in. At times the line is so long 
that we just turned around 
and went home.” 

MAKING BEEF JERKY
But on another occasion, 
David went elsewhere to 
join Beef Up Our Boys (see 
story on page 32), “a group of 
people who are making beef 
jerky for soldiers out in the 
field. They were looking for 
donations and volunteers, 
too.” 
Soldiers at a base can get 
food delivered or made there, 
but soldiers out in the field 
need some food they can 
carry, that doesn’t spoil, and 
that can give them a boost. 
The Israeli military calls this 
Manat Krav, “Combat Food,” 
the equivalent of what the 
USA military calls MRE, 
“Meal: Ready to Eat.” 
David describes the steps 
in that process: “They take a 

brisket, slice it up, and ... cut 
out most of the fat. Then they 
marinate it in vats.” 
From there, they move the 
meat into trays, which go 
into the dehydrators. When 
it is sufficiently dry, the meat 
gets cut into bite-sized pieces, 
which each get weighed and 
put into packages for vacuum 
sealing. That process should 
leave the meat ready to keep 
at room temperature for 
extended time. 
David and Mira have 
returned to Beef Up Our Boys 
at different locations in Beit 
Shemesh, as the project has 
grown to meet the growing 
demand for Manat Krav. 

HELPING ON THE FARM
Even with their heavy 
schedule of volunteering, 
Mira and David find time to 
take part in an Ulpan, a class 
in conversational Hebrew. 
One of the fellow students 
invited them to help at a 
lettuce farm just outside of 
Beit Shemesh. Mira describes 
the scene: 
“You can see the 
greenhouses from the road. It 

is hydroponic lettuce, grown 
in these huge troughs. We 
went as a small group, about 
five of us, and there were a 
few other people volunteering 
as well. The person who was 
managing us, telling us what 
to do, what tasks; she was 
great.
“We actually did each part 
of the process,” she continued. 
“We put these seedlings in 
foam trays, about a meter by 
a half meter, and we laid them 
in the troughs, in the water. 
“We had to put eight 
seedlings in each floating tray. 
Each trough held about 11 of 
these floaters that fit across 
the short end of the trough. 
So, the troughs were really 
huge … they had at least 
three or four different types 
of lettuce.” 
After that, volunteers went 
on the other end, and pulled 
off the heads of lettuce that 
were ready. The seedlings 
grow into a regular-sized head 
of lettuce in about a month. 
Again, there was another 
assembly line: cutting off the 
roots, checking for bugs and 
then packaging.
“The woman who was 
managing us kept on her cell 
phone the whole time, I think 

taking orders,” Mira said. 
“She would say, ‘Oh, we have 
to make 200 of these.’ So we 
would go and pick them off 
whatever tray she sent us to. 
She let us take some lettuce 
home, of course.”
Meanwhile, David and 
Mira will need to take up 
their search for employment. 
Mira is a microbiologist 
and expects to find work 
in a clinic or hospital. 
David anticipates finding 
a placement in business, in 
customer service or sales. 
Given the stressful time 
that they made aliyah, how 
do Mira and David feel about 
their decision to move to 
Israel? 
“We are glad that we 
are here, and that we can 
contribute,” Mira says. “We 
have a real feeling of unity, 
which is very nice. People are 
very friendly and willing to 
help. They have concern for 
each other. 
“We know a lot of families 
that have immediate family 
members in the military, and 
they are concerned about 
them. We don’t have that 
connection. We try to help as 
much as we can.” 
 

The lettuce farm 
where the Benjamins 
volunteered

The Aroma 
Espresso Bar turns 
out sandwiches 
each day to feed 
the soldiers.

