One week after Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack on southern Israeli communities, Birthright Israel staff in Israel and the United States had mobilized and were already recruiting participants for a new volunteer program that would bring Diaspora Jews to Israel to provide help in areas with the greatest need. By November, they brought in the first group of 18 volunteers who arrived in Israel even as missiles and rockets were still being launched from Gaza toward the center of the country.

“We started this as an experiment,” said Elias Saratovsky, president and CEO of Birthright Israel Foundation. “We saw a massive demand from Diaspora Jews [to do something], and we saw a massive need in Israel. None of those have dissipated since we launched the project. We are constantly adding new partners in Israel that require volunteers. We believe this will happen for years to come, as the needs in Israel will continue to exist… We haven’t even begun to approach northern Israel, where there’ll be massive needs one day.”

Now, after assessing the program’s success and impact, Birthright Israel has decided to transform the volunteer program into a major long-term initiative, joining its classic 10-day Israel visit and Onward internship program, recognizing that Israel will need far-reaching help regardless of how long the war continues.

The budget for the volunteer program this year is $18 million and will grow to between $20 million to $24 million next year, Saratovsky said, and the nonprofit has been seeing an increase in donations for the project from previous donors as well as contributions from new donors earmarked for the volunteer program. The program is being run in partnership with Mosaic United, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and an assortment of individual Jewish philanthropists and communities from around the world.

The volunteer work allows Diaspora Jews to spend time with Israelis as well as young Jews from different countries who all work together, giving them different perspectives that they don’t normally get to see, he said.

“We brought twice as many volunteers as we thought would come this year, and we expanded our budget to accommodate them because we understand the needs in Israel are great, and the desire among young people to volunteer is great as well,” Saratovsky said. “We continue to see dozens of new applicants every single day; hundreds of new volunteers coming to Israel every single week.”

Birthright Israel aims to recruit 10,000 volunteers annually in order to provide both newcomers and their alums with a meaningful experience in Israel, which will require increased support and new funding. Applicants must be ages 18-40 and identify themselves as Jewish.

“My first thought as CEO of Birthright Israel in those initial moments after Oct. 7, was how could world Jewry take part in defending Israel, which belongs to them as much as to Israeli citizens. I immediately thought we need to bring young Jews to rebuild the south,” Gidi Mark, CEO of Birthright Israel, told eJP. “It was mind-blowing to see how these people felt so fulfilled to give something of themselves, and to take part in doing good for Israel in the south.”

Since the inception of the program, 7,000 volunteers from 50 countries around the world have participated in the program, said Mark, and another 1,000 volunteers are anticipated to participate by the end of the year. Participants receive accommodations in Tel Aviv with reinforced rooms, transportation to and from the volunteering sites and health insurance. Participants must cover the cost of their flights and travel insurance, though there is the possibility of receiving partial reimbursement from Birthright Israel for the flight.

In total, this summer Birthright Israel brought over 13,500 participants on the three different programs it offers, Mark said.

“This has become a major pillar of our work alongside our 10-day trip and Onward,” said Saratovsky. “We are committed to fully funding this for the next several years as this becomes a major long-term initiative for us.”

In a press release, Birthright Israel said a comprehensive study conducted on the program revealed a strong desire among young Jews to volunteer in Israel, along with a corresponding enthusiasm from Israelis to welcome the volunteers to help in the country’s recovery. The study also identified four areas most needing volunteers: agriculture, physical rehabilitation of the border communities, logistics support for social services and logistical support on military bases. Each volunteer group is joined by an Israeli peer group, Mark said, and the program offers the possibility of eight to 14 days of volunteering. According to the statement, it plans to soon begin offering teaching English tutoring to children in the periphery to its volunteer roster.

Volunteer opportunities have a real and significant impact for individual Israeli beneficiaries of the program, noted Saratovsky, recalling the instance when he volunteered together with young Birthright Israel volunteers helping a flower farmer harvest his crop.

“Among the most touching moments is when you hear from the Israelis, who are the beneficiaries of this work. The owner of the flower farm broke down in tears, and he told us that if it weren’t for the Birthright Israel volunteers they would have lost all their crops. Instead, the crops were picked and they were being sent to market, and his livelihood was able to continue,” Saratovsky said.

The most emotionally meaningful task for the volunteers so far has been to help the people from the southern kibbutzim pack up their things from the hotels in Tel Aviv where they have been staying and to go with them to the south, unload the trucks and help them clean up their homes and get back into their homes, said Mark.

Recently graduated pediatric nurse Chaya Backman, 26, from Brooklyn, N.Y., who last came to Israel with Birthright Israel in 2018, said she had been looking to come back to Israel and following Oct. 7, she knew this was the time. Being able to help residents from Kibbutz Erez return to their homes showed her the true meaning of resilience.

“It is bittersweet,” she told eJP, speaking from Israel during her final week in the country. “It was nice to be able to help the residents come back…they told us how they haven’t been home for months and coming back was exciting but also so scary, so it was hard. I don’t have words for it. It was emotional but there was also a sense…of resilience. The community is there to protect each other. There is no place like Israel, where there is a sense of community resilience even though you feel the sadness and anxiety that comes along with war.”

Volunteers are also helping residents of Kibbutz Nir Am with their return home.

Mark said the opportunity to volunteer through Birthright Israel — which partners with many organizations including Jewish federations, schools and synagogues — gives people like Backman who want to return to Israel an opportunity to do something meaningful.

“Many people want to come back,” he said. “Volunteers who volunteered this year are already planning now on coming back next year. They are talking about their great experiences with their friends.”

The overwhelming response to the volunteer opportunity demonstrates the need young Jews around the world have to come to Israel and feel surrounded by Jews, he said.

“This war, more than any before, has showed that anything that happens in Israel really makes a huge impact on Jews outside of Israel, and all of us are in this together,” he said. “People came here because they wanted to give, but also they wanted to feel surrounded by fellow Jews. The opportunity also enabled them to refresh their own resilience in a way they couldn’t do on campuses. I am sure many of them went back much stronger spiritually.”

Mark said he believes the enthusiasm for the program will continue even once the war is over and that Israel will continue needing volunteers.

“Volunteering gives people the opportunity to come and feel some kind of ownership of something that is their heritage and to be individually and personally and emotionally involved in building something that they are going to see the fruits of,” he said.

In addition, he said, Israelis feel an “infusion of friendship” when they see the groups of young volunteers coming to help out.

“The feeling of solitude can get too strong sometimes,” Mark said. “Having people that are part of your extended family coming here to help, seeing thousands of people coming to help you, gives a huge morale boost to Israelis. It strengthens us here in Israel and it shows us that we are not alone in it.”