Hugs from the heart: The bakers sending challah and cake to IDF soldiers during wartime

Located in Ramat Gan’s Diamond Exchange Complex, adjacent to the Ayalon Highway, the Amot ATRIUM Tower rises 40 stories high. Glass elevators overlook the stock exchange complex, with an eight-level parking lot at a depth of about 30 meters. 

It is not in the offices above but in the parking garage below ground where activity is found on Thursday nights. HaHamal HaMatok takes over the space vacated by those working in the offices during the day above. Hamal is a term used for “war room,” and matok is Hebrew for “sweet.” At the beginning of the October 7 war, multiple hamals were organized by volunteers to help evacuees and soldiers with food and supplies, and many are still going strong. After over seven months, HaHamal HaMatok still delivers sweets to thousands of soldiers each week in the North and South of Israel. 

A divorced single mother, Tamar Arbel was home with her young son after October 7. Her former husband was called up for reserve duty as the war began. Living in an apartment without a safe room meant that she had to run to the stairwell with her son every time a siren went off, and she would not leave him home alone. 

At first, as with most Israelis, the uncertainty of the situation kept her inside, so she baked for soldiers to stay busy. She mentioned it to a few friends, and they also baked some cakes and cookies to give to soldiers. 

Arbel kept baking. She told The Jerusalem Report that when she mentioned to one of the soldiers that her son had baked the cookies, the soldier asked for the phone number to call and say thank you. “Imagine,” Arbel said, “in the middle of a war he wanted to say thank you. That is what he was thinking, and it brought tears to my eyes.”

As the word spread through social media, she needed more space, since the HaHamal HaMatok grew with more and more challot and cakes delivered each week. By the fifth week, 4,000 soldiers received the baked items. 

Itzik Sade of Amot Investments Ltd. came into the picture with a valuable solution. The garage space is secure; and as deliveries arrive at night from all over, they are unloaded onto tables in the underground space.

Dozens of volunteers organize, sort, and package the freshly baked treats made by hundreds of bakers as they arrive by car and van for distribution. Each cake or package of cookies or challah is marked;as kosher, parve, dairy, vegan, or nut-free. But as popular as the baked goods may be, the notes, letters, and drawings attached along with the sweets and challot and addressed to the soldiers on the front lines are just as greatly appreciated.

Sending sweets to the front lines

Miriam Adler’s children on Kibbutz Saad were evacuated on October 8. Her grandchildren helped her bake for the soldiers and wrote notes to include. Her daughter gave birth to a healthy baby boy two months later. Adler sent the leftover cakes from the baby’s brit milah (circumcision ceremony) to soldiers with a note that read: “The baby was named Neta [“seedling”] in the hope that they would return to Saad to plant, thrive, and build again.” She thanked “our holy soldiers for making this possible.” 

Adler received back a note: “Shavua tov, Dear Miriam, Thank you for the treats and the blessings. Together we will win. From the Reconnaissance Company of the 8th Brigade in the far North.”

Adler is a member of the Jerusalem branch, called the Bake Battalion, headed by Hedy Rashba. (Full disclosure: I have been a member and on the WhatsApp group since the end of October.) Rashba partnered with Nadia Levene, who proudly stated, “We have been baking for our soldiers for over 28 weeks. I joined Hedy’s Bake Battalion after the first week and set up my branch with Marilyn Neril, called BubbiesRBaking. You don’t have to be a grandmother to join or be female. We have 150 members on our WhatsApp group and over 80 in the Bake Battalion group. We have been showering our armed forces with love in the form of challot, cookies, and cakes, with loving messages, pictures, and much more. We often add our WhatsApp numbers and receive personal thanks, videos, and even phone calls from our soldiers and police officers.”  

Some bakers send baked items each week and encourage their kids and grandkids to make artwork to include. Some offer their time and hours finding boxes, sticking labels, and greeting bakers. Levene has the reputation of not leaving one bubby or one cake behind. “She’s ready to go and pick up from the lovely ladies who bake who cannot drive,” Rashba emphasized. 

“BubbiesRBaking gives everyone who can bake in their kitchen the opportunity of doing a mitzvah by feeding our troops,” Levene said. “We find that the older generation in particular feel very connected to this war effort, and often baking gets them through these difficult weeks.” In Jerusalem, the assisted living residents at Beit Moses have been baking challot. 

The Bake Battalion had a group of 20-year-olds baking for their friend’s recovery to good health. One teen brought 18 challot she and her mother had baked. A professional baker made tank cookies. There were boxes full of Purim mask cookies in exquisite packaging. One baker painstakingly wrote down all the ingredients because he remembers the kindness another baker did when he served in the army years ago.

Yvonne’s Yummies is a group that donates weekly packages of 450 to 500 small challot and other goodies. Then there are the people who purchase dozens of challot and cookies because they don’t have a kitchen. 

At the special needs school Neurim, teacher Hofit heard about the effort and got her classes to bake and write notes. They have baked many boxes of different-flavored cookies, including eight crates individually packed in Purim mishloah manot bags with drinks and other snacks, and included the notes.

Groups from the US have made bracelets to go with the baked goods, and others have sent packages of mitzvah money in beautiful Ziplock bags.

One couple drives weekly from the other side of Jerusalem to the Katamon central collection point on Thursday evening. Arriving the Thursday after the Passover break from baking, a taxi was in the driveway and a woman got out. She pulled out bags and boxes of bakery-quality-looking cakes and cookies, delivering the kilos of freshly baked delicacies that her daughter had made all Wednesday night before going to work. 

Soon after Passover, only two carloads went from Jerusalem to the HaHamal HaMatok in Ramat Gan instead of the usual three or four dedicated drivers who go weekly to Ramat Gan. But the next week, in honor of the upcoming Independence Day, hundreds of challot and blue-and-white decorated treats were delivered to the Jerusalem drop-off location. 

Arbel doesn’t like the term “volunteer”; rather, she calls what she and others have been doing for months ”hugs from the heart.” 

“It’s really good for our bakers’ souls!” said Rashba. 

“In times of existential threat to our nation’s existence, there’s a shared desire to actively support the defense of our land and people,” stated Tanya Prochko, the psychotherapist who founded and is director of Get Help Israel. 

Prochko added “Engaging in altruistic actions not only activates the brain’s rewards center but also reduces stress levels. Moreover, it fosters the creation of support networks, instills a sense of belonging within a community, and triggers physiological changes in the brain associated with happiness. It’s no surprise, then, that this initiative has grown exponentially, providing not only sustenance to our soldiers through heartfelt baked goods but also nurturing the mental well-being of the bakers involved.” 

There are dozens of sweet stories. One favorite was shared on the WhatsApp group on November 16, 2023. A little girl named Avigail made a green tank out of paint, toilet paper rolls, and a green vegetable container. The HaHamal HaMatok made sure it got to a tank unit. The soldiers loved it. They posed by their tank and sent photos and a video back to Avigail. She and her family have been baking and sending drawings to soldiers ever since.

“Thank you for your heartfelt message and your delicious cake” was the response another one of the regular bakers, Meirav, received. “It means so much to us to have the support of Am Israel behind us. We are resolute in protecting the northern border from all threats, and never cease to give our all to fulfill this mission. It is not easy to leave our families and loved ones, but faced with the threats our small country is encountering, there is nowhere any of us would rather be. Sincerely, Mobility Unit Battalion 9220 Etzioni Brigade.”■

Prochko’s Get Hope Israel conference in Tel Aviv is scheduled to be held on June 3, 2024, for mental health professionals, “to prepare Israeli clinicians for being the optimal healers during this unprecedented time.” https://gethelpisrael.com/mental-health-conference-2024/