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Jewish service can support recovery efforts in Israel and sustain Jewish life in North America
It’s not hard to feel a sense of despair in these extraordinarily difficult times for Jews in Israel and around the world following the horrors of Oct. 7, the upsurge in antisemitism close to home, and the continuing loss of human life.
In times of despair, Jewish tradition offers us a path to hope, repair, and connection: service. In times of brokenness, we are called upon to ask: “What can I do to make things better?” Through service, we can address the most pressing needs in our communities, build connections, and restore our own sense of purpose.
Since Oct. 7, we have seen an unprecedented mobilization of mutual aid work in Israel. Volunteers are meeting urgent needs: identifying housing for people who have been displaced, running schools for displaced children, and supporting farms that have lost their agricultural workers. People are cooking meals for soldiers, displaced neighbors, and families impacted by the call-up of army reservists. In the early days of the war, numerous volunteers mobilized to collect, organize and distribute everything from food and toiletries to mobile phone chargers and clothing for those who needed it.
Service has a critical, long-term role to play not just in this time of crisis and in supporting recovery efforts in Israel, but in sustaining Jewish life and community in North America.
American Jews, too, have turned to service as a meaningful response to the crisis. At Repair the World, the organization I lead, the number of Jews turning to Jewish service since the start of the war has surged. Some have organized supplies to directly support Israelis and others have contributed to their own communities. Some are seeking out Jewish community because they are feeling less comfortable in other spaces. Others cite the rise of antisemitism and the importance of building bridges with their neighbors. All are looking for a way to find meaning and purpose.
For almost 15 years, Repair the World has been mobilizing Jews to serve, grounded in the idea that through service we can both strengthen our Jewish community and also make social impact. Our research clearly demonstrates that meaningful acts of service, grounded in Jewish learning and designed to address true community needs, can transform people and communities.
In Israel, several organizations, most notably Birthright Israel, MASA and Yahel already have mobilized Jews from North America to volunteer in Israel. This work should expand dramatically in the coming months. We know that service is one of the most powerful ways to build bridges across lines of difference. By volunteering in Israel in partnership with Israelis, American Jews can contribute to Israel’s recovery while building meaningful connections with their Israeli counterparts, deepening their own connection to Israel and providing a spiritual boost to Israelis by showing them that world Jewry is with them. Serving in Israel also can inspire an ongoing commitment to service once volunteers return home, which is a meaningful way for them to continue to live their Jewish values.
Repair the World volunteers pack meal kits in Chicago. (Repair the World)
We must ensure that the American Jewish service in Israel holds true to what we at Repair the World have learned is most effective: that the service meets real needs, is done in partnership with those impacted and includes Jewish learning. Service is a universal value, but Jewish tradition has much to say about how we offer it, and participants should explore Jewish wisdom about how service should be approached.
Service that combines these components — that actually contributes to relief and recovery efforts and cares about the experience of American Jewish volunteers — will have the biggest impact.
Back in the United States, we’re seeing young American Jews who may be feeling alone or distressed seeking new ways to connect to Jewish life and Jewish community. We need to recognize that service is a form of deep Jewish expression and do everything possible to welcome these young Jews into our Jewish community of purpose that focuses its time and energy on making the world better.
And at this time of rising antisemitism, there are young Jews expressing a newfound desire to be part of a movement that connects Jewish communities with other communities. Most of our organization’s service work is done in deep partnership with non-Jewish communities, including those that are low-income, largely immigrant, on the socioeconomic periphery or communities of color. We’re building bridges by working arm in arm in places like soup kitchens, food pantries, after-school programs and organizations supporting those experiencing homelessness.
Finally, service gives those who participate a sense of well-being, purpose, and connection to their peers. Among volunteers who have served in our programs, 90% indicated that Repair programs contributed to their overall health and well-being.
In these challenging times, service is a powerful statement of hope – a statement that our actions matter. Tikkun olam isn’t just about repairing the world, but repairing ourselves.
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The post Jewish service can support recovery efforts in Israel and sustain Jewish life in North America appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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