Israelis provide tons of food to soldiers, displaced families

Cookies. Challah rolls. Barbecued meat. Salads. Sandwiches. Cakes. Soup. And more.

Since Oct. 7, Israeli citizens have been preparing and distributing massive quantities of food to soldiers, displaced families, and families of soldiers. Some of the efforts are accompanied by grassroots fund-raising campaigns, and some are funded from the donors’ own pockets.

The Magazine spoke with a few volunteers about their culinary contributions to the war effort. It’s important to emphasize that the efforts described here are being duplicated and amplified daily by legions of volunteers in kitchens throughout Israel.

Expanding her Soup Gemach

In 2020, Yael Kaner of Ma’aleh Adumim opened The Soup Gemach in memory of her son Eliyahu Natan Kassorla, who, according to Kaner, “was known for making and giving away food wherever he went. I wanted to do a project that captured his essence and kept my connection with him.”

Kaner worked in the food industry before making aliyah. “The Soup Gemach has survived for nearly four years and has been able to meet the needs of the community. I am blessed that some friends and family send me donations to keep it going. I joke that every shekel cries from being squeezed. I am truly happiest when I am working on this project. I cry when I send it out, and sometimes my recipients cry when they get the packages. I know it means something to put all my love into my food,” she said.

Kaner’s original motivation was “to serve the needs of Ma’aleh Adumim for the sick, the sad, and the ‘can’t make it to payday’ community members.” When the war started, Kaner teamed up with neighbor Andrea Brownstein and started “sending out soup to the widows and orphans, as well as the wives of soldiers and their families.”

She expanded her culinary efforts further after learning about “a Hebrew-speaking group of Ma’aleh Adumim women that are sending out meals each week. I contribute what I can and know that these righteous women are doing amazing work.”

Kaner makes five huge pots of soup every week. “In addition, for the soldiers I make Oriental sesame peanut butter noodles, Moroccan carrot salad, [and] huge veggie salads. This week I am sending out four large containers of each. When I make the noodles, I am elbow-deep with gloves. I can cook most things, but I have to keep an eye on the budget.”

Not having a car, Kaner assembled a group of “women I call my ‘Driving Angels.’ I meet them in the parking lot, and they transport [the food] to a pickup site. I couldn’t do it without them,” she said.

This form of chessed (loving kindness) comes naturally to her. “Hashem [God] gives everyone gifts. I used to say I could cook for 400 people before I broke a sweat. Hashem gave this mission to me, and I can contribute in some small way to keeping our soldiers healthy and in fighting form. I say Tehillim [Psalms] like our lives depend on it, but I feel that I have to cook and nurture. It is the best use of my talents.

“I share what I am doing on Facebook with pictures and recipes. I want people to see that this is Israel. We care for each other, we spread light and love with all of our gifts. I am blessed to be here.”

It doesn’t take much for Kaner to feel appreciated for her efforts: “I got a sweet note from a recent war widow, and it meant the world to me that I could in some small way be there for her. That’s what keeps me going. It matters how we connect. This is my hug,” she said.

Smoking brisket and baking eye-popping cakes

Preparing meals for community members in need is a year-round activity for Abigail Moskovits of Efrat. Since the war started, she has ramped up her efforts considerably.

“I have done everything, from donating money to others who are organizing food for soldiers to giving raw ingredients to a woman in my community who is well known for taking care of the soldiers stationed locally. But my most favorite thing to do is cook and bake and feed those who are protecting us.

“I recently participated in a smoked brisket evening on a miluim [reserve duty] army base in both Telem and Hebron, where a bunch of people smoked some briskets and prepared indulgent brisket sandwiches on sourdough bread and served them to hungry soldiers.

“I have baked with my kids and driven around our area distributing our baked goods, and I have driven to the Ben & Jerry’s factory store to stock up on some pints of ice cream and handed them out to soldiers stationed at checkpoints throughout the area,” she recounted.

“Most recently, I organized a barbecue for a group of 300 soldiers stationed on the Hermon. My brother is serving up there, and we wanted to bring some warmth and love to the soldiers he serves with. We hired a caterer to prepare the meats, and my children, parents, and I prepared the rest – everything from jelly donuts to cake to salads to baked potatoes and pickled vegetables.

“I try to prepare food multiple times a week in an effort to thank the soldiers for keeping us safe,” Moskovits elaborated.

Family – her own and those of the soldiers – serve as her primary motivation. “I am a parent of children ages seven and a half to 18. My children are not yet of the age to serve in the army. My husband and I don’t serve in the army. I want to give back. I want to thank those who are keeping me safe, as they spend cold nights away from their families.

“I want to serve [food] to those who serve [in the army] because food is an expression of love, and it’s the way I have always expressed gratitude. Often, when someone does me a favor, I will show up with a plate of cookies or a babka that I made.

“I love preparing food, and I love making people happy with food. It just feels good to give back. It truly brings me joy to cook and bake for people who are working on my behalf, in conditions that aren’t always ideal,” she explained.

Moskovits’s signature contribution was “a cake that was designed to look like a soldier’s uniform. Soldier after soldier who saw this cake insisted on taking a picture of the cake to show their family back home to what lengths someone went to show gratitude and make them feel good.

“They knew it was a cake that took time to prepare and required special materials for it to look the way it did. The pictures that were taken were proof that they see how much we care and how much we appreciate the sacrifices they are making. They didn’t look at it, eat it, and move on. They looked at it, ate it, and appreciated the efforts that went into it so much that they wanted to share the love they felt with others,” she said.

“Everyone I know feels so connected to this war. Our lives are literally at stake here, and we all want to contribute in our own way. Everyone is doing what they can to help the war. I bake. I always have. This is my way of giving back. If I can’t be on the front lines of the war, I can support those who are in the best way I know how,” she concluded.

A Jewish mother makes heartier sandwiches

Ronda Kruger Israel of Modi’in has helped make thousands of sandwiches in the industrial kitchens of the Lord Sandwich food retailer.

“I help prepare sandwiches for the army on a conveyor belt. Each time I am there, we prepare thousands. I stand in a freezing, refrigerated giant room with six conveyor assembly lines, helping to prepare sandwiches,” she explained. The sandwiches are loaded into company trucks and delivered to army bases the same day.

Asked why she subjects herself to such conditions, she quipped, “This is such a wacky, unusual opportunity. Who wouldn’t want to be on a freezing sandwich line with Filipinos, Russians, special needs people, and volunteers to feed our chayalim [soldiers]!?”

This story of connecting with other volunteers really stood out for her. “I was watching this one person next to me put coleslaw on the rolls after the meat was put on. I kind of felt that there wasn’t enough meat for a grown boy on each [sandwich], let alone a soldier. I soon saw that, farther down the line, other things were added.

“I and the girl next to me plopped and spread coleslaw as the conveyor belt moved past us. I glanced over and saw that she was only putting a small amount on the sandwich, while I was putting a large amount. I thought to myself, ‘This is not a Jewish mother!’ So I said in Hebrew, ‘Put more, more!’ holding up a hand with a large amount of slaw. I had to yell over the loud noises of the factory, ‘This sandwich could be for my sons in the army! More! More!’\

“She smiled, and I saw that she started putting more. I came to realize she was a special needs young woman who works at the factory, but she understood what I said to her,” Israel recounted.

With experience volunteering during previous wars as well, Israel shared this observation: “I am volunteering all over and see the Anglo volunteers are hardworking, diligent workers who should be doing this all the time to make our country more efficient. We get the job done so well, that often the Israelis don’t have enough work or material for us to continue because we are so quick!”

Feeding and caring for those who fled their homes

Like a lot of other kitchen warriors, Roxanne Weinberger has often made meals for local families in cases of illness or when a new baby is born. Her efforts have gone into overdrive since the war.

Weinberger joined a team of volunteers who look after hundreds of residents of Shlomit, a displaced community located just 700 meters from Israel’s border with Egypt.

“Every week, I volunteer to collect baked goods and challahs for [the displaced residents of] Shlomit, to give them a taste of home for Shabbat. This week, I also [helped] organize a food drive to collect snacks, drinks, and other various dry foods for soldiers coming in and out of Gaza. A ZAKA volunteer set up a tent and meets these soldiers right before they go in and right after they come out, giving them chizuk (strengthening support) and snacks on their journey.

“The food organization is just a small part of what I do. Any way I can help others right now, I feel is important. Whatever way I can help out, I will. Whether collecting food, distributing food, coordinating where the food goes, or any other project that comes my way, I will find a way to try to help,” she emphasized.

The sweetest of cookies

Daniella Robinson of Efrat immediately jumped into efforts to prepare and organize food. “Through various connections I have made with people within and outside of Efrat, I have been involved in preparing and organizing food since the first week of the war. I prepare meals for families [of soldiers] two to three times a week.

“I also made connections with people who asked me to prepare homemade food or buy packaged foods for soldiers stationed [nearby] for Shabbat and for during the week, including food for late-night snacks for soldiers to have something to eat during their patrol shifts. The meals I organize can be for a group of soldiers as small as 20, up to a few hundred. I have created dozens of Google spreadsheets to help [my community] organize these sign-ups,” she said.

“I’ve helped moms bring meals to their sons’ units, which brought me great joy. I organized collections of snacks, beverages, and much-needed supplies for soldiers right before they go into Gaza and for right when they exit Gaza.”

Robinson’s home is a well-known local collection point for others to drop off their contributions. Sometimes she delivers, and “other times the contact with the army unit comes to my house to collect the food. One time, I helped organize Shabbat meals for an elite unit that was based in Efrat, and a few hours before Shabbat they were moved somewhere else. My contact with this unit collected the food from my home and met the unit somewhere along the way to give them all the Shabbat food!”

Kitchen tzedakah is a natural match for Robinson. “Cooking and baking come easily to me. I am very efficient in the kitchen. I find easy dishes to prepare so I don’t find this task onerous. Like most Jews, I like to show love through food, so I want to express my appreciation to all of our soldiers close and far [whether it’s to army families or soldiers themselves] for their sacrifices that they are making for our nation,” she explained.

Although none of these kitchen heroes do it for the thanks, Robinson was especially touched by a video she received from a small group of soldiers she had recently fed.

“Just today, this crazy story happened!” she related. “I saw a post on a local Hebrew-speaking volunteer group, asking to help prepare homemade dishes for a group of soldiers stationed in the Gush [Gush Etzion].” She immediately offered to make some couscous and vegetables and threw in a few bags of cookies that she had made earlier in the week, along with paper goods.

She was without a car that day, so when the food packages were ready, a soldier came to her home to pick up what she had prepared. “Several hours later,” Robinson reported, “the soldier with whom I coordinated the pickup sent me the sweetest video of him and a few other soldiers enjoying my cookies [one added that they were better than his wife’s cookies], profusely thanking me for them, how I filled their hearts and stomachs, and hoping that the guys in the fields received and enjoyed my couscous. He thanked me for giving him the feeling of being at home and [added] that Hashem should bless me.

“This was the first time that I received a direct thank you for my contributions, all because I couldn’t drop off the food myself! I realized that this act of giving, coupled with their desire to say thank you, is what living in Israel and being Jewish is all about,” she said.

“We value hakarat hatov, expressing appreciation to others for the good that was done to us. They didn’t have to send me any video and, to be honest, I never know where my baked goods will end up. But in this situation, they felt a strong desire to express their appreciation to someone who made them connect to home and who went out of her way to send some love their way. I told them I am happy to help again!

“It also warmed my heart to show this video to my family members so they can be proud of something routine that I did [which] made a big impression on a group of soldiers.”