Volunteering Maccabiah

I'm sitting in my lounge room contemplating the benefits of volunteering. Israel has so many options!
A year is ending and a new Shana is about to begin. Personally volunteering to invite guests over on a Shabbat or even for a Rosh Hashana celebratory meal tops my list of preferable voluntary gestures.I
We are encouraged to volunteer, almost every nation has roof organisations for those natives of Russian,Spanish, French or English, and its in our psyche to volunteer for the good of the community.

Coming to live in the desert has its benefits, its just an hours bus ride to the lowest point on earth, climbing
Massada with like-minded volunteers one feels like they have conquered  the Everest back in the days of Pamela Earhart. There is nothing like floating freely on the Dead Sea , watching the colourful sunrise as one looks toward Jordan in the distance.

One writes back to fellow colleagues encouraging them to support great organisations all giving hope that maybe the Holyland can provide some solace or moralistic enlightenment nurturing ones need to be connected to the motherland or our home.

I've avoided supporting the causes promoted by Jewish Organisations in the Diaspora for now. Feeling that the spirit of voluntary work should not just be monetary.  Some organisations offer volunteers accomodation in exchange for picking crops(LEKET), volunteering in towns that are constantly under threat from the next barrage of missles, wether by educating the youngsters in their bomb shelters or security rooms or repairing damaged buildings, or sometimes playing with kindergarten children teaching them games in foreign languages or just being mentors to help them get through the days until the next missle bombards them.

Some people volunteer for medically proven establishments helping those with cancer, children injured by mines in the Golan Heights a remnant from the Wars with Syria,or even helping the blind and disabled whom have been run over by fast cars or just born that way.

There is a great theatre place in Yaffo with an attached restaurant run by the blind called Naalagat.
An amazing place to dine during your stay in Tel Aviv that can be prebooked so you can choose from a vegetarian Menu or not and the profits keep the place running providing employment for the many blind people whom are very capable of providing a great service to local and foreign diners.

But if you are volunteering not just for personal pleasure but hoping to offer generous funds because the cause is worthy then try Keren Or a school for disabled in Jerusalem or maybe Ezer Mizion for its transplant programs for needy patients, and of course there is ADI the roof organisation.

My parents brought us up on KKL an organisation which is run by dubious people whom waste many funds and I donated years of pocket money like a young girl from a naive Jewish enclave only to find out that on more than one occasion the money never go to the promised destination.
Still KKL was an organisation of reputable standards building forests and setting up cool vacation areas for locals to have family BBQs or for children to have recreative time.
Some of the money does still go to planting trees to fulfill ones wish of having roots or connections to the land of ISRAEL. And yes the Carmel Fires that saw the loss of Prison guards and police staff is almost a memory.  The Carmel Forest is once again blooming and one can go and see the monument in memory of those whom lost their lives so still there is justification.

Some years back I almost got involved with the Maccabiah, recollecting memories from my past where Jewish teenagers proudly support their sport teams coming to Israel for a memoreable lifetime experience.
I haven't yet volunteered for the Maccabiah cause I'm not the sporty type and really hope that one day I will be able to volunteer for a much needed organisation which helps Jewish Sportsmanship.

I attended a memorial event for the Maccabiah Participants on more than one occaision and have family that are associated to several of the victims families from the Yarkon River Bridge incident that left the Australian Jewish community bleeding. This year there will be an event that is taking place in Teddy Stadium that I pray will go without a hitch.  Unfortunately I recall babysitting as a teenager for a couple of the victims families and also was a neighbour of at least two of the victims families. These people had faith in Israel in the Jewish State and more importantly were supportive of Israel in times of need. Some of them still do and have sent their children to the Maccabiah and just try not to discuss it see it as an unfortunate event that won't reoccur faith but the price paid by victims is high people whom get paid to do a job which they do not oversee in an effort to cut their running costs, should in time pay the price of their laziness or reckless behaviour.

Should I remind you of such inconsiderate,selfish individuals, but the Yarkon Bridge incident wasn't the last time something like that happen.  One may recall the Independence Day celebrations on Har Herzl when a youn female officer lost her life due to negligence just 2 years ago, the Versaille incident in Jerusalem during a family wedding... and the hope that each year such incidents will not reoccur due to the attitude of some Israelis and their trusting comradeship attitude of their compatriates.

Luckily this year the participants to the Maccabiah in Israel return home with memories of all the Sportsmen and Sportswomen participants and the Closing Ceremony didn't report any careless mishaps for the Diaspora participants. I just hope that next time you plant a tree consider where you want to volunteer and which cause is worthy of your financial help and efforts.

Having signed on as an ADI  Donor,and help donating to Aleh an institution in the South when I have some spare time its time to think about your own community whilst their efforts may be admirable sometimes others whom have made Aliyah would be serviced better by providing job subsidies or places of employment for fellow Olim or even offering help to volunteer a seat to a person celebrating the holidays alone are but a few alternatives.
As a resident of Modiin previously from Australia we look forward to keeping in touch with fellow supporters of Israel while you tour Israel and enjoy its fruits.

Mikki Indyk
Translating Dreams in the Holyland
Travelling Twins Blog