Here was what one day looked like for the JLIC TLV community.
A soldier serving miluim in Lebanon sent a message. He asked for help getting a tool his unit needed in the field. A group of volunteers finished the base of a new vegetable garden at a homeless shelter. A team of women spent the day baking 250 loaves of challah, in the names of people who needed healing. A Druze friend of the community sat down with people who would help her start a new chapter in New York, where she was about to represent Israel at the United Nations.
None of this was planned as one event. It just happened to land on the same day, because people had a place to bring their time, their skills, and their care.
The Garden That Used to Be a Pile of Rocks
Getting here took months of planning. Volunteers spent a morning at Lasova Gagon, a men’s homeless shelter the community had grown close with over the past year. The land used to be full of rocks and trash. Now it held the start of a real vegetable garden. Carrots and squash had a place to grow.
The care the group brought that day moved the shelter’s manager. Everyone who showed up left with the same feeling: a good day’s work, done for people who needed it.
There was more to do. Part two was already in the works.
250 Loaves, Baked With Prayers
A group of women baked 250 loaves of challah in a single day, saying prayers for refuah sheleima, in the names of people going through health issues.
The challot did not stay in Tel Aviv. They traveled north with two units of Tzanchanim serving in Lebanon, so soldiers far from home could have home made challah for shabbat.
A Message From a Soldier, Answered Within Days
A member of the community was serving miluim in Lebanon at the time. He sent a simple message. His unit worked out of hummers in the field, and they needed a power tool to change tires fast during repairs. It was not standard army gear, but experienced units treated it as a must-have. The cost came to about 2,800 shekel. He asked if the community could help, and made clear there was no pressure either way.
The community covered the tool within hours. It was already on its way to the field.
Nobody planned this in advance to prove a point. It happened because that is simply what this community does. A soldier asked. The community answered fast enough to matter, for a tool that helps keep people safe while they do dangerous work.
Landing Softly, Thousands of Miles From Home
Not every act of chesed happened inside Israel that day. A Druze friend of the community was about to represent Israel at the United Nations in New York. Before she left, the community connected her with people there, so she would not walk into a new city and a new job alone.
Kol hakavod to her, and to everyone who made sure people were waiting when she landed.
Just Another Day
In one day, a shelter got a new garden. A soldier got the tool his unit needed. Hundreds of loaves of challah reached soldiers up north. A friend of the community had people waiting for her, thousands of miles from home. None of it made headlines. It happened quietly, because this community treats care as something to act on, not something to talk about.
Zoom out, and the pattern holds all year. Over the past year, this same community supported 91 miluimnikim, ran 112 volunteer projects, hosted 813 Shabbat guests, and helped 125 new olim find their footing. A day like this one is not the exception. It is the norm. People rely on this community every day, not just when the story is worth telling.
Reach out to any of our Directors to learn more about and to support JLIC programming.
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