During the first few hours following the October 7 Hamas infiltration and attack on cities, moshavim, and kibbutzim along the southern Gaza border, Israel as a country reacted with shock as the full impact of the day’s events became evident.
While the IDF and government agencies worked on gaining a clear understanding of the situation, those who survived and fled the embattled areas desperately looked for assistance and someone to lead the way. This was when the nation’s great civilian outpouring of assistance and support sprang into action.
A time when the political space is frequently divided, and at times even toxic and dysfunctional, is exactly when the role of non-governmental organizations (nonprofits) becomes even more integral to a functioning society.
This is also exactly when these organizations should step up and shoulder the critical load, as they play an important role in preserving the balance of daily life by providing the missing essentials to those who need them most, when they need them most.
Maccabi World Union
Like many organizations in the Jewish world, Maccabi World Union was part of the amazing response effort following October 7. As an organization that sees itself at the forefront of Jewish community life, we saw it as our responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Israel and the Diaspora and felt compelled to act.
Starting on October 8, we opened our movement’s campus, Kfar Maccabiah, providing hotel rooms free-of-charge to close to 1,000 evacuees from Sderot, Ashkelon, and Moshavim in the South. We built a self-sufficient “city,” with a store where we distributed donated essentials such as clothing, books, and diapers, as well as a dog garden for those with pets and a barbershop.
In cooperation with Israel’s health maintenance organizations, we opened an on-site clinic where the evacuees had healthcare access. With the assistance of several organizations focused on mental health, we also opened a welcoming glamping site where we hosted some 700 survivors of the Supernova music festival, soldiers, reservists, and families from the Gaza border communities for overnight retreats.
During this period, we also hosted hostages released in the first round of the ceasefire deal and their families at Kfar Maccabiah. Some of them have remained with us to this day.
Recently, we were asked by the Defense Ministry to host hostages from the second round with their families. All the familiar faces whom we recognize have found with us a temporary home and the needed privacy they deserve.
While providing for the most vulnerable groups in Israel, it is no less important for us to serve as a bridge between Israel and the Diaspora.
We are focused on coalition-building with other organizations in the global effort to combat antisemitism. We recently signed a contract with the Diaspora Ministry, tasking us with engaging other Jewish organizations, mainly outside Israel, that are interested in Israeli government support for their activities.
We believe this project will attract other philanthropic organizations to join the partnership and, in this way, build a decentralized hub of organizations, philanthropists, and government agencies engaged in combating antisemitism in a more synergetic and effective way through cooperation and the sharing of best practices.
As we gather in Israel this summer for the Maccabiah Games, the flagship of Maccabi World Union and an event expected to bring 10,000 athletes and hundreds of thousands of spectators from around the world, we will be celebrating our greatest characteristic as a people – the strength and resilience that enables us to quickly come together and care for each other in times of need.
As the great former US president John F. Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address: we live in a time in which man holds in his “mortal hands” great power, and it is time to use this power to give back – to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Nonprofits should be at the front line of making this happen.
The writer is director-general of Maccabi World Union, a former consul general in Toronto, and former director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Foreign Ministry.