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Yad Sarah: Staying operational in the north, no matter what

After the terror attack on July 27 that killed 12 children, Yad Sarah is helping residents of Majdal Shams, where the organization recently opened a branch.

Yad Sarah volunteer taping a condolence notice on the door of the Majdal Shams branch. Credit: Courtesy.
Yad Sarah volunteer taping a condolence notice on the door of the Majdal Shams branch. Credit: Courtesy.

By Philip Bendheim, head of international affairs at Yad Sarah

In the wake of the devastating Hezbollah rocket attack on Saturday night, the town of Majdal Shams is still reeling from shock and struggling to come to terms with the killing of 12 children and the injuries sustained by at least 44 others. In response, Yad Sarah—the largest nonprofit medical and social-services organization in Israel—is on the ground mobilizing resources at our recently established branch in the northern town to provide critical support and unwavering assistance to those in dire need.

“Saturday’s attack has left us heartbroken and shaken to the core. A game of soccer was never meant to end like this,” says Mansur Said Ahmad, branch manager at Yad Sarah’s recently opened site in Majdal Shams. “The loss and devastation is immense, but it’s making our resolve even stronger. Yad Sarah volunteers are standing by, ready to provide the essential medical equipment and compassionate services needed by the injured, and to help our community cope with this profound grief.”

Ahmad, a Syrian-born member of Israel’s Druze community, helped establish the Majdal Shams location after he first became acquainted with Yad Sarah services while recovering from a complicated leg surgery in 2014. During his extensive rehabilitation, Ahmad had to travel at least 18 miles to the then-closest Yad Sarah branch in Kiryat Shmona to borrow essential medical equipment. This experience sparked his determination to establish a branch closer to home—and his initiative has indeed proved timely.

Since opening in March, the Majdal Shams branch is now the northernmost location among Yad Sarah’s more than 120 branches across Israel. It offers medical-equipment loans, accessible transportation, and dozens of other home and healthcare services for everyone from new mothers to people with disabilities and the elderly. 

During recent escalations with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Majdal Shams branch has become an essential resource for the local population, which has suffered from months of incoming rocket and drone attacks. The attacks have also kept away international tourists and visitors from other parts of Israel and led to the closure of many businesses and services.

Yad Sarah volunteers pay their respects at the site of the deadly rocket attack in the Druze village of Majdal Shams on July 27, 2024. Credit: Courtesy.

While Ahmad says the tragedy that befell Majdal Shams last week was something they had never thought imaginable, the town has long been riddled with rocket sirens and projectile impacts.

“The current situation is not easy,” he says. “But the way I see it, we have the responsibility to extend a hand to help everyone deal with the way life is now. The people who come to us are from all walks of life and need specific equipment. Anyone who asks for aid, Yad Sarah embraces and supports them, whether they live in Majdal Shams or come from nearby villages or kibbutzim.”

This attitude is reflected in all of Yad Sarah’s 29 northern branches, which have remained operational, providing essential services to those who need them most despite facing significant challenges. These active locations include Safed, Haifa, Nahariah, Afula, Tiberius, Akko, Kiryat Ata, Beit Shean, Karmiel, Kiryat Bialik and Kiryat Shmona, which remains active on an as-needed basis even after the town’s official evacuation. The resilience of these branches is a testament to the dedication of Yad Sarah staff and volunteers, reflecting their deep devotion to Israel and its people. 

“I have no intention whatsoever to leave the North even after the war; it’s not even a question,” says Zev Glidai, who manages Yad Sarah’s Kiryat Shmona branch. While the heavily-hit town located some two miles from Lebanon was evacuated in October, a few thousand people still remain, mainly elderly individuals for whom relocating was too difficult and essential workers. Ensuring that these people have access to aid, Glidai and a handful of the Kiryat Shmona branch’s volunteers who are lodging nearby still venture into town to open the branch once a week and make special deliveries to residents who need medical or rehab equipment supplies.

Dvora Alter, Yad Sarah’s branch manager in Haifa, echoes similar sentiments. “I was born in Haifa. My heart is in the north, and I will live here until my final days,” she says. Her branch serves as the main distribution hub to all branches in the greater northern region. 

Alter, who has three sons serving in Israel Defense Forces reserve duty, acknowledges that the war weighs heavily on the volunteers and local residents who use Yad Sarah’s services. Despite the persistent unease and sadness, she says that many of her branch’s 150 volunteers are grateful for having a meaningful way to contribute and for the community that carries each other forward. The sense of perseverance and stability that Yad Sarah leaders instill in their communities is essential. It gives hope to future generations and is something Alter thinks about each day out of concern for her children and grandchildren.

Yad Sarah’s commitment to aiding those in need has been evident since the start of the war. One notable example occurred on Oct. 9, when we repurposed our fleet of wheelchair-accessible vans and recruited volunteer drivers to evacuate elderly and mobility-challenged residents of the north and south to safety. These evacuees were transported to Yad Sarah’s rehabilitation and wellness hotel at 33 Yirmiyahu St. in Jerusalem, a fully accessible facility suited to provide a safe and comfortable environment for those displaced by the war.

Volunteer drivers also delivered emergency medical aid to 23,000 wounded individuals and provided more than $600,000 worth of medicine and other critical supplies—ventilators, oxygen generators, diapers and breast pumps—free of charge to individuals in the south.

On top of addressing immediate needs, we are also looking ahead, preparing for potential future challenges. A significant part of this has involved actively preparing for potential power outages related to a threatened strike by Hezbollah on the power grid, which could severely impact medical care. We have taken proactive steps to establish backup power systems, securing additional generators and portable oxygen concentrators, and establishing oxygen-tank filling stations at multiple key locations to serve populations throughout the country. These forward-facing measures will fortify our, and Israel’s, capacity to respond to future emergencies and ensure that we can continue to provide uninterrupted care and support to our patients, no matter the circumstances.

As Ahmad so aptly says, “Yad Sarah really is a lifeline.”

The organization’s name, which means “the hand of Sarah,” honors Sarah Lupolianski, who perished in the Holocaust and is the grandmother of Yad Sarah’s founder. By supporting people from all backgrounds and communities across the country, especially in these difficult times, Yad Sarah staff and volunteers are not just helping individuals; they are also embracing and spreading the values of inclusion and respect that the Nazis so desperately and violently wanted to wipe out with the Holocaust.

While we recognize the immense challenges and the long road ahead, especially for those in Majdal Shams, Yad Sarah staff and volunteers will continue to spread hope and support delivering humanitarianism across Israel.

About & contact The Publisher

Yad Sarah, the leading volunteer-staffed organization in Israel, provides a vital array of compassionate health and home care services for people of all ages. Founded in 1976, Yad Sarah has 126 branches throughout Israel staffed by more than 7,000 volunteers. Although the organization is best known for its extensive lending service for medical equipment, its volunteers also drive wheelchair-accessible vans, reach out to the homebound, advocate for the elderly at risk for abuse, provide in-home geriatric dental care, staff its play center and more.

See: https://yadsarah.org/.

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