What the media says about Ziv Tzedakah Fund

The Jewish Week (of Greater New York)

(Excerpted from) Israelis Look Outward To Help Others

By Michele Chabin

Jerusalem — January 5, 2005 -- Until this week, not many Jerusalemites had heard of the Koach Latet warehouse in the fervently Orthodox neighborhood of Romema, which ordinarily hands out used furniture, appliances and baby cribs to the city’s neediest residents.

That all changed when killer tsunamis ravaged South and Southeast Asia, creating the largest natural disaster in modern times.

Israelis, preoccupied for the past four years with their own intifada-related suffering, suddenly are looking beyond their borders to help others.

“It is a sign that we are back, aware of the world’s problems, not only our own,” said Hebrew University professor emeritus Eliezer Jaffe, an expert on Israeli volunteerism and philanthropy.

Since the Asian disaster, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have opened their hearts and pocketbooks to help strangers across the world, many of them Muslims.

Four Israelis were killed in the tragedy, and three others are missing.

In southern Thailand, Israeli personnel are spearheading the huge international effort to identify victims who are beyond recognition. Israeli recovery teams have also been deployed in the hard-hit Tamil Nadu region of India.

A glitch related to the relief effort was a misunderstanding of an Israeli offer of aid to the government of Sri Lanka for that tsunami-ravaged country. In fact, Sri Lanka has accepted tons of food, water, blankets, tents, medicine and other essentials from Israel, as well as a team of 10 medical experts.

While lauding Israel for its generosity, the Vatican’s official newspaper mistakenly slammed Sri Lankan officials for adopting “a small-minded approach that restricts their horizons.” (See box.)

Dr. Danny Brom, director of Herzog Hospital’s Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma, believes the scale of Israeli generosity reflects two factors.

“Israel is a roller-coaster, and there is some feeling at this moment that there is something else happening in the Palestinian Authority for the better,” he said. “I think we very much want to believe we’re over the terrorism, and this has provided us with some emotional breathing space. It’s allowing Israelis to say, ‘Let’s help others.’ ”

That the disaster took place in South and Southeast Asia, an extremely popular destination for young Israelis who have just completed their military service, is also significant, Brom said.

“After the army, if you want to go to the Garden of Eden, you go there,” he said. “We Israelis have a lot of identification with the place, and that makes the disaster all the more frightening. It’s supposed to be our safe place, and now it isn’t.”

Many of the tens of thousands of Israeli nonprofits “already have their mission, their contacts, their trucks and warehouses in place,” Jaffe said. “Now what they’re doing is switching to another track. Now they’re making the link with foreign countries.”

Jaffe offers the Ziv Tzedakah Fund, which funds numerous Israeli charities, as an example.

“The foundation has joined with Rebbetzin Kapach” — a local woman renowned for her good deeds — “and other people it funds, and through an agreement with representatives of the Sri Lankan government, they’re sending clothing,” he said.

The fact that a nation like Sri Lanka has accepted any Israeli aid “is a sign of normalization of relationships between countries,” Jaffe said. “It takes two to tango. If the countries wouldn’t allow Israel to be part of this, it would be shut out. The fact is, many of the primarily Muslim countries [affected] are working with Israel.”