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