FERN PARK, Fla. — His enthusiasm is contagious. As Jack Wiesenfeld spoke about his experience with Volunteers for Israel, he wasted little time in sharing his thoughts about the six weeks he spent in Israel, and why he intends to return again.
In its 21-year history, Volunteers for Israel has attracted 92,000 volunteers from throughout the world. In fact, Wiesenfeld met men and women from various countries including Finland and Botswana. Nearly 50 percent of the volunteers he met were non-Jews.
Arriving in Israel, volunteers are picked up in Tel Aviv and taken to camps. In addition to military bases, where volunteers assist the Israel Defense Force, participants serve at hospitals, archaeological excavations and even botanical gardens. A three-month tour of service combined with an ulpan, where participants can learn Hebrew, is also available.
The cost for most programs, which are three weeks, is an $80 nonrefundable application fee plus the price of round-trip airfare. The ulpan cost is additional, about $25 for tuition and books, plus $5 a day for transportation costs. There are also some two-week programs.
The program draws a number of Bay Area residents of all ages, including Janice Weinman, who was in Israel last June. She stayed at a military base near Ashkelon, where she worked in a factory putting gas masks together for children ages 3 to 12. She also worked in electronics, fixing items that had come in from the field.
For the Cupertino speech therapist, visiting Israel for the third time and her first time as a VFI volunteer, it was a bit of a change of pace.
“It was just a feeling I was contributing, that I was doing something, other than just watching the horror,” she said. One of the most memorable experiences was working side-by-side with an 18-year-old Ethiopian named Yossi.
“That was just mind-boggling to me,” she said, noting that a child who was born at the time of the first airlift, “was speaking Hebrew, had been through the schools and now was in an acculturating experience through the army. It was so real.”
Wiesenfeld’s first three-week assignment was working with medical supplies. He and the others in his camp worked in assembly-line fashion to update medical backpacks used by doctors and medics in the field. The bags are emptied and outdated items discarded. Products are replaced and by the time the volunteers are finished, these previously used packs look new again, said Wiesenfeld.
It is a typical workday, with assignments starting around 8 a.m. and a lunch break at noon. The workday ends at 5 p.m. Volunteers also enjoy the benefits of traveling to sites throughout Israel. Tours were offered on Thursday evenings and on Friday, just prior to Shabbat, the groups often visited locations such as Yad Vashem and the Western Wall.
After his first three weeks, Wiesenfeld requested a transfer. He said he wanted to have a different experience. He was sent to a camp that worked on the headset earphones worn by commanders driving tanks. These pieces of hardware arrived dirty and sometimes in non-working condition.
It was the task of the volunteers along this assembly line to determine why the units were not working and if necessary, replace parts and clean the headsets.
“When we were finished they looked brand new,” said Wiesenfeld.
“Some of the things I did, if I were getting paid for it, I would have quit,” said Wiesenfeld. However, “everything I did was important because my services replaced a serviceman or woman.”
Volunteers for Israel is a non-political, nonprofit, volunteer organization. When the war with Lebanon broke out in ’82, Gen. Aaron Davidi coordinated a volunteer effort to help alleviate the workload on the Israeli soldier. People from all over the world volunteered leading to the development of VFI offices in 34 countries.
Bernie Needelman has worked with the organization for 20 years since its inception and volunteers his time in the New York office.
“In the first weeks we sent a planeload of 600 volunteers,” he says, remembering his initial time on the job.
Despite what Israelis call “the situation,” he doesn’t see participation lessening. In fact, it’s on the rise.
“We’re loaded — people are calling from all over the country — Jews and non-Jews, from towns I’ve never heard of before such as an Indian reservation,” he says. “The papers would like to indicate that [people are frightened to go to Israel], but based on our experience people are rallying around the situation.”
In such a dangerous locale, one might think volunteers are at risk, but Needelman says that they’ve never lost anyone since the program’s inception. In fact, some have been many times.
“I’ve been there around 18 or 19 times. It’s rewarding. You have to be physically fit. If you can lift 20 pounds you can go and do the work. We work alongside Israeli soldiers — we eat with them, we work with them — sometimes they invite you home so you meet their families.”
There are different camps including laundry, warehousing and food distribution. Volunteers are sent where they are most needed. The volunteers worked closely with young Israeli military women, 19 to 20 years of age, who acted as contacts and who helped organize the group’s tours and activities.
“If my children or grandchildren wanted to go to Israel, I would let them go, ” said Wiesenfeld, who added that he felt very safe during his entire visit.
He would like to encourage others to visit Israel and to perhaps consider serving as a volunteer. Just seeing an American volunteer “builds up their morale,” said Wiesenfeld, who noted that he does not speak Hebrew. “Except for Hebrew signs, everyone speaks English,” he said, “and Tel Aviv looks like an American city. The bus stations are beautiful as are the hotels.”
Last year marked his fourth trip to Israel, and Wiesenfeld has “come back with so much more admiration for the Israeli people.”