Small Businesses Found Support Through Real Connection
Students arrived ready to work at a moment when help was urgently needed. In the Western Galilee, participants from the JLIC Technion and Bar-Ilan University communities weeded fields, cleared olive orchards, and harvested lettuce alongside farmer Dor Pintel, who faced overwhelming volume and time-sensitive work. The students stepped in where extra hands made a real difference, building trust through steady effort and a longstanding partnership with JNF-USA.
The day came together through the leadership of Abraham’s House Israel Fellow Eliyahu Freudenstein. Abraham’s House Israel is a program of JLIC that trains and supports student fellows to design and lead community-based initiatives. A Bar-Ilan University student who moved to Israel five years earlier, Eliyahu lives in Givat Shmuel and studies economics while serving on the JLIC Bar-Ilan chessed committee. He wanted to apply his economic background to real-world outcomes, and supporting small businesses offered a direct way to see impact beyond theory.
Rather than organizing the project within just one campus community, the initiative brought together students from both Bar-Ilan University and the Technion. Bringing together two JLIC campus communities allowed more students to take part and learn through shared experience. Working side by side, students who might not otherwise cross paths showed up for the same purpose and strengthened the day through collaboration.
“This is what Abraham’s House Israel is about,” said Dianarose Blivaiss, Abraham’s House Israel Project Manager. “When students get real agency, they step up. Eliyahu saw a need and organized the energy around him to meet it. Heturned an idea into something that truly supported small businesses and local communities. That kind of leadership changes how students see their place in Israeli society, not just as participants but active contributors.”
After the work in the fields, the group gathered for lunch at Noor, a restaurant owned by Basma Hino. For Eliyahu, this stop reflected exactly why supporting small businesses mattered. Nor stood as the first and only kosher Druze restaurant, built through determination and care for people beyond its walls.
Basma began by cooking meals for her son’s army unit. When she saw the impact of that small act, she chose to expand her reach. As more soldiers arrived, she learned that not everyone could eat the food because it was not kosher. Rather than accept that limit, Basma committed to the long and demanding process of kosher certification. For a non Jewish woman, this required extraordinary persistence and trust, and it reshaped her business from the ground up.
Today, Basma continues to provide hundreds of meals to soldiers each week and welcomes visitors into her village through food and hospitality. With the support of JNF-USA, she sustained a small business that served as a bridge between communities. For the students, the meal at Nor became more than a pause in the day. It showed how inclusion, resilience, and care could shape both a business and a mission.
This work took shape with the support of JNF-USA, whose partnership powers Abraham’s House Israel programming. From longstanding relationships with local partners to ongoing investment in student-led initiatives, JNF-USA makes it possible for students to turn values into action.
By the end of the day, students saw that their actions, even small ones, could have a real impact on local business success. In fields cleared and meals shared, they learned that meaningful support did not require grand gestures. It required attention, effort, and the choice to show up where help was needed.
Reach out to any of our Directors to learn more about JLIC, Abraham’s House, and to support our programming.
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