The sweltering heat from what was dubbed the “Sizzling Sodom” heatwave did not prevent some 100 immigrant volunteers from gathering in a school hall in the central Israeli city of Modi’in in mid-August to prepare “snack packs” for IDF soldiers, including Druze servicemen, based in northern Israel.
The volunteers, mostly olim (immigrants) from South Africa and Australia, wanted to show their gratitude and solidarity with IDF soldiers. The “Packing with a Purpose” event was organized by Telfed, a community organization for South Africans and Australians in Israel, together with local student volunteer, Maeghan Fisher.
“It’s packing with a purpose,” Telfed’s executive director Dorron Kline told JNS. “It is a way to get our olim (immigrants) to come together, to have a good time, to support each other, to introduce new olim to veteran olim and at the same time to do something very purposeful: to help our IDF soldiers and show solidarity with our Druze community.”
Telfed is an immigrant organization supporting olim from South Africa and Australia, helping them to build homes and find work in Israel. It estimates that there are some 25,000 immigrants from South Africa and 15,000 from Australia living in Israel.
The organization has a variety of volunteer programs, including student scholarships and the PRAS program, which provides weekly interactions between student volunteers and Telfed clients “to facilitate integration and significantly reduce incidents of failed immigration and absorption.”
Fisher, who said she had benefitted personally from the PRAS program, has traversed the length and breadth of the country, collecting funding and goods for a variety of grateful IDF units.
Speaking to JNS at the event, Fisher said when she was approached by Telfed to do something for Israel’s soldiers, “the first thing I thought of was packing up small snack packs ... gummy bears, nuts and dried fruits in a package size that they can put in their pocket. When they need a bit of an energy boost, they can just take it out of their pocket and nibble.”
For Fisher, “it’s like giving them a bit of a feel of home. When the soldiers get these little packages, they feel what we want them to feel. We want them to feel that they’re not left out, that they’re not forgotten, that even after nearly two years of war, we still love them and appreciate them. From my experience, they love it.”
While “Packing with a Purpose” has packed snacks for IDF troops across the country, this time was dedicated to “showing solidarity with the Druze community in the north,” Kline said.
The snacks, which Kline called “a token of appreciation” to the Druze community, were later delivered to an IDF unit serving in northern Israel that has 150 Druze and 250 Jewish soldiers serving together.
At least 13 Druze soldiers have fallen and dozens have been wounded in defense of Israel during the Swords of Iron war. Many of Israel’s Druze community also have relatives and friends who were victims of the recent massacre of Druze in southern Syria. Jews and Druze in Israel share a close bond, sometimes referred to as “a covenant of blood.”
During the war, Telfed received a request from the Druze town of Hurfeish for defibrillators for its local emergency teams. While Hurfeish is close to the Lebanese border, the community of almost 7,000 residents chose not to evacuate during the war, but instead stayed there and provided constant support to soldiers serving along the border.
“The Druze community is an integral part of Israeli society,” said Kline. “Their sons are dedicated soldiers in the IDF. To show our appreciation, Telfed donated two defibrillators to Hurfeish.”
Throughout the war, Kline said, Telfed had received requests from IDF units and communities, from northern to southern Israel.
“We don’t provide any military gear, but we have answered hundreds of requests for supplies, from lifesaving equipment [such as the defibrillators] to food,” he said. “After the attacks on the Druze community in Syria, I think it was only natural that we show our support to the Druze in Israel who stand side by side with Jewish soldiers.”
Attendees were addressed by “A” (an IDF officer whose name and rank have been withheld for security reasons), who shared his courageous actions defending southern communities, including Kibbutz Be’eri and the Sderot police station, on Oct. 7, 2023.
