DECEMBER 21 • 2023 | 11
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a civilian or reserve soldier
supervisor and aide.
Tel Hashomer is a huge
base with a hospital as well
as warehouses. It is the only
medical supply base in Israel.
As such, everything needed
to support the troops for their
health and medical needs
was our responsibility. Exact
numbers of items, selecting
conforming items, counting,
sorting, verifying expiration
dates, bagging, sealing, box-
ing, strapping, palleting and
sealing were our jobs each
day. Surgical equipment and
implements such as scalpels,
intubation tubes, catheters,
saline, pain medication, anes-
thetics, clamps, sutures, gauze,
syringes, etc., were packed for
field hospitals.
It was not lost on any one of
us that the need and ultimate
use of these was to administer
to and hopefully relieve and
save a soldier. We were doing
something that would be in
the field for our soldiers the
next day. Remarkably, I saw
a news program a few days
later that showed some of the
medical supplies we prepared
being given to Shifa Hospital
in Gaza as part of Israel’s
humanitarian aid.
Apart from work, the inter-
change of ideas, philosophies,
camaraderie and purpose
shared among the volunteers,
soldiers and Israeli volun-
teers there for a day to help
was a profound experience.
We learned much from one
another. Friendships were
easily made with promises of
continued ties and relation-
ships thereafter.
A MITZVAH AND HONOR
To a person, every single one
I came upon who asked or
knew I was a volunteer, both
on the base or in towns on
weekends, thanked me whole-
heartedly. I assured them it
was my mitzvah and honor to
be a part of their struggle and
support. Face to face.
I was able to look each one
in the eye and confidently
represent that I was one of
millions who support and
pray for their safety and com-
plete wellbeing.
Sometimes I heard the
reply, “So what else are we to
do? We have to live.
” The later
statement would become an
answer for me on my return
home when asked how my
volunteering had given me a
perspective on the possible
outcome of the war. It reso-
nates in them as a society. It is
echoed in their resolve, resil-
ience, tenacity and love of life.
They live each day to the
fullest. Life with loss, but life
affirmed. That was so evident
when I was at the Kotel for
Shabbos or in Tel Aviv or
Raanana, the markets, shops
and malls during weekends
off. Israelis grieve, mourn
unimaginable losses of family,
friends and fellow citizens.
They compartmentalize it.
They see it as a part of their
lives and move on with living.
Even as a volunteer for
18 days in Israel, I absorbed
and learned so much to take
home. I have struggled over
time, trying to understand
what purpose I have in this
world. Volunteering this time,
at this moment in history, has
shed some light on an answer.
My wife, family, and friends
get it, too. It is to honor my
faith, to respect my heritage
and to leave a legacy for the
future. I was able to say, “You
are not alone” and mean it!
My soul is refilled and full
again.
Ahm Yisrael Chai.
For information on Volunteers for Israel
information and the application, visit
www.vfi-usa.org, contact VFI regional
directors Carol Kent at (248) 884-3666
or Ed Kohl (248) 420-3729.
Alan Vosko is a native Detroiter and
member of Adat Shalom Synagogue.
Correction:
Two of the winning Chanukah art entries (Dec. 7, page 12)
were mislabeled. Here they are corrected:
SECOND PLACE (AGE 6 AND UNDER)
Cooper Seidman, age 5, Berkley
HONORABLE MENTION (AGE 6 AND UNDER)
Lainey Weisel, age 6, West Bloomfield