To the Front…and Back

by Zev Shandalov 
July 17, 2014

After a few days of planning, it was time to head South…towards the Front 
and into areas that had been hearing Red Alerts for days. I joined a small group 
of six others (Yoni, Yehuda, Meir, Mordechai, Miriam and Yael) who decided, 
days ago to bring food, supplies and cheer to a group of 100 soldiers serving 
at the Gaza border. Among some of the supplies purchased locally in 
Maale Adumim were socks, underwear and other essential items. Much of the 
other products that would be needed were to be bought down South in Beer Sheva. 
To help fund all of these purchases, money had been donated both in Maale Adumim 
and from Detroit, Montreal and other places. Children drew cards and wrote letters 
to the soldiers which were brought, as well. My neighbor, Shira Buzelan, (a fellow 
TOI contributor), baked cinnamon buns that were to be brought along to their furthest 
southern location in Israel. So many gave so much!

As we traveled South, we passed through cities whose names have become 
synonymous with the Tzeva Adom alerts and we were able to see some of the 
"open fields" into which missiles had fallen. (We happened to have been travelling 
during the so-called "Humanitarian Cease-Fire" and the trip down was relatively 
quiet. We still kept an ear out and our eyes open.)

Almost from the beginning of the journey, the various acts of Chesed we witnessed 
were almost overwhelming! Our first stop was Beer Sheva. There, we purchased 
thousands of shekel of food and other items to provide the chayalim with an òì äàù 
(BBQ ) experience. As we amassed five cart loads of product, it wasn't long before 
we drew the attention of workers and customers. After discovering what our mission 
was, we were dumbstruck as both store employees and customers LITERALLY 
ran over to us with items that they had purchased to give us for the soldiers. 
We were all so touched at the random act of kindness.

Then, at the store where we purchased all of the meat, we were met with 
another surprise…the owner grilled hamburgers and mergezas for us 
to eat on the spot! In addition, the owner gave us free meat for an additional 
BBQ for one of the sons of one of our group, whose base we were also 
going to visit.

As we approached our first destination, we were informed that the group 
we were going to visit was recently involved in a highly sensitive and 
BH successful mission in the area, and that they were anxiously awaiting 
our arrival.

When we arrived, many soldiers came out to greet us; hug us and 
to help shlep all the food indoors. It seemed that they were quite shocked 
not only at the volume and variety of food and supplies that we brought 
but also how far we had driven. We spent some time getting acquainted 
with some of the soldiers and then one of our group, Yehuda, (the one 
behind this trip) spoke to the Chayalim followed by a brief few words of 
encouragement and Torah from me. The gratitude they showed was 
exceptional. I pointed out to them that our gratitude was first and 
foremost to Hashem, and then we expressed our eternal gratitude for 
what THEY were all doing. We gathered a minyan together, davened 
Mincha and then we were on our way. 

After a brief visit to a nearby base and seeing some of our IDF soldiers 
in action, we began our trip home. As we began to drive, the phone app 
for Red Alert (öáò àãåí) was constantly telling us about incoming missiles 
all over the area. We drove (cautiously) and thank G-d had no problems 
in our return trip coming back from the Front.

I must say that the trip was a highly emotional one; one that truly made 
things hit home even more by being down at the front lines 
(literally and figuratively). But the faces of the soldiers; the chizuk 
that we gave AND received; the sense of gratitude that we felt for 
so many reasons-all made this a magnificent experience.

May Hashem continue to watch over every single soldier and 
may He bring them all home SAFELY soon.