By Rabbi Nachman Seltzer
Joe Teplow is a volunteer EMT with the New York branch of Hatzalah. Joe had been visiting Israel for Succos, and as soon as he heard news of the massacre on October 7, he went to the United Hatzalah headquarters to help. Joe will never forget what he saw in the first few days of the war.
One of the things that made an impression on him was everyone’s willingness to contribute to the war effort. As soon as they sent out a message saying that the soldiers needed something — toothpaste, for example — a truck would pull up outside the United Hatzalah building, and a hundred boxes of toothpaste would be deposited on the pavement, there for United Hatzalah to transport to the soldiers in need. Two tons of water were delivered by water companies. It was the same with other goods and supplies.
When Joe, who had been making himself indispensable, was ready to return home a few days after the war started, he went to say goodbye to United Hatzalah president Eli Beer. “Listen,” he said, “I wish I could stay here longer, but I need to get back to New York.”
“Okay, but I’m going to need you to continue helping me from there.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to be my man in America to ensure that we have access to supplies that we need. Although today things have changed and we can buy a lot of supplies and equipment in Israel, there is a shortage of certain supplies. I can’t get enough bandages here because they’ve all been sold to other countries like America and Ukraine. There’s also a shortage of tourniquets and special medical scissors.
“Of course, there are also plenty of things that Israel doesn’t manufacture. I need to know that I have someone like you in place to help us obtain those supplies. You will serve as our purchasing agent in the States. You’ll meet with the companies and negotiate good terms and, most importantly, serve as the liaison with the New York branch of Hatzalah, which also purchases a lot of equipment and will be able to get us good deals. Can you do this for me and for United Hatzalah?”
To his credit, Joe agreed. Little did he know what the job entailed. Though it wouldn’t have mattered. Once he agreed, he never wavered or backtracked. He was in — one hundred percent.
The Man to Speak to If You Wanted to Help Israel and United Hatzalah
Practically from the moment Joe landed in New York, people started calling him. The word was out: He was the man to speak to if you wanted to help Israel and United Hatzalah.
Caller: “How can I send diapers to Israel?”
Joe: “We don’t need diapers.”
Another caller: “I want to send a batch of undershirts.”
Joe: “We don’t need undershirts.”
Joe was on top of the situation, only accepting gear and equipment that was on the list and nothing else. Dovi Maisel, too, arranged to send more bulletproof vests and helmets — the kind of stuff they really needed. Over the next few weeks, Joe was responsible for sending three El Al cargo planes loaded with an immense supply of medical equipment and other vital things to Israel.
The first two planes were free of charge — courtesy of El Al. Upon landing at the airport, they were met by United Hatzalah staff who made sure that customs allowed everything through without taxation, in accordance with a special wartime amendment that was passed in the Knesset.
Also Reached Out for Donations
From there, the equipment was loaded onto United Hatzalah trucks and driven to the main warehouse on the outskirts of Beit Shemesh. Not only did Joe work nonstop as the liaison between United Hatzalah and what seemed at times to be a million people, he also arranged a really good deal for the organization, reaching out to businessman Josh Kushner and asking for his support.
Josh was familiar with United Hatzalah and wanted to help in a big way. “Joe,” Josh said, “I’ll make you a deal. You work for one of the most successful Jews in the world, Marc Benioff. Tell Marc that if he donates a million dollars to United Hatzalah, I will match it.” Joe relayed the message, and Marc Benioff agreed without hesitation. Joe now had two million dollars to spend on purchasing equipment and was able to tell Eli and Michael Brown, the hardworking VP of United Hatzalah, to use the money they were raising for other things.
No matter how much money was coming in, endless amounts were flowing out to the extent that it was hard for Eli and his team to keep up with their very real needs. The cost of operating the ambulances on a daily basis was one hundred and fifteen thousand shekels. One hundred fifteen thousand shekels a day. That kind of money adds up very quickly. That is not to mention the cost of operating the command center at Sdei Yoav, the supplies and equipment, and the million other things involved in running an operation like United Hatzalah in wartime.
Phase 3 – Assessing Needs for the Long Haul
If phase 1 was making sure that everyone had what they needed in the first few days of the war and phase 2 was replenishing the warehouses after all the equipment and supplies had been exhausted, now they were at phase 3 — which meant doing their best to assess their needs for the long haul, or, at least, however long the war would last.
There was another factor that Eli and his team had to take into consideration: training all the new volunteers who wanted to join the organization. When 90 Seconds: The Epic Story of Eli Beer and United Hatzalah was published in the beginning of 2023, there were about 6,300 volunteers in United Hatzalah. The goal was to reach 12,000, which would allow them to respond to every emergency in the country in less than ninety seconds. Since that time, the organization has grown. There are now more than 7,000 volunteers — with another 2,500 waiting to join.
The Plan to Train Another 2,100 Volunteers
People around the country have been lining up to join the organization, especially after seeing the volunteers’ heroic behavior on Simchas Torah and the number of lives they had saved. They, too, want to join in the effort and do their part. Though United Hatzalah normally trains 700 volunteers a year, the plan right now was to train another 2,100 volunteers in the coming year. But for that to happen, United Hatzalah needed to be able to pay for it: the cost of training one volunteer is ten thousand dollars.
This means that the budget just for training volunteers was projected to reach twenty-one million dollars in 2024. Aside from all this, United Hatzalah is constructing a new three-story building in Sderot. And then there are all the new vehicles that need to be purchased for the coming year and the upkeep, as well as the new medical machines, the epipens, and the defibrillators. The expenses never stop.
But unlike in the past when this would have made Eli extremely nervous, now he is confident that the money will arrive — because, as he says, “our people know what’s going on, and I know that they’re going to be there for us.”
Sometimes Eli will look at a group of donors meeting with him and say, “Right now we need to raise money for more bulletproof vests. I know that you are people who care about Israel and want United Hatzalah to be able to deal with emergencies under fire. But for that to happen, we need more vests. This is the situation. Are you in?” And time after time they are. Because they really care.
Reprinted from the Parshas Mishpatim 5784 edition of At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the ArtScoll book – “Angels in Orange – Uplifting Stories of Courage, Faith and Miracles from the United Hatzalah Heroes of October 7th” by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer.
