By Cindy Mindell

SOUTH WINDSOR – Last month, when Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman and his wife, Mindy Radler Glickman, checked in with Turkish Airlines for their flight to Israel, the couple handed over four suitcases: two filled with donated school supplies for an after-school enrichment program serving Ethiopian-Israeli students, and two filled with gift-wrapped mugs and teabags for soldiers of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). (A week’s worth of clothing can apparently be stuffed into a carry-on bag.)

Over the summer, the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor and his wife had closely followed Operation Protective Edge, the IDF’s ground operation in Gaza.

“Each time the app on my phone announcing another rocket launched at Israel would activate, my heart would jump,” says Mindy Glickman. “I wanted to do something but felt helpless. Eventually, we decided to step up to say, ‘Hineini’ [Here I am]. We wanted to meet the soldiers in person to say ‘thank you.’”

Two IDF soldiers show off the gift-wrapped mugs presented to them by the Glickmans.

The Glickmans signed up for a week-long stint with Sar-El, the National Project for Volunteers for Israel, via Volunteers for Israel-USA.

“First and foremost, we all wanted to let the young people [of the IDF], most of whom had just graduated high school, know that even overseas, there are people who count on them and appreciate what they do,” says the rabbi.

The Beth Hillel community joined the effort. Congregants purchased and gift-wrapped more than 100 ceramic mugs filled with organic teabags; Beth Hillel Hebrew school students wrote personal thank-you cards to attach to each gift.

Arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, the Glickmans were assigned to their Sar-El group with 19 fellow volunteers from around the world, ranging in age from 50s to 70s. They also learned that they would have to carry their own luggage from then on.

“So we started walking around the airport, looking for soldiers to give the mugs to,” recalls Jeffrey, lightening the load before boarding the bus to the base. During a falafel pit-stop, the Glickmans encountered busloads of soldiers and handed out 50 mugs.

The rest were distributed to the soldiers on the small munitions base in the Negev Desert, where the Sar-El group was tasked with preparing used bullet-casings for recycling.

Meanwhile, many of the soldiers on the base spent eight-hour shifts at computer screens, monitoring activity in the desert, which borders Gaza and Egypt. There are few R&R opportunities on the base between shifts.

“It was immediately obvious that this base was not one that Friends of the IDF had adopted,” says Mindy. “We noticed a basketball court but soon found that there was no ball. There was one TV in a small room with a torn couch. These kids would sit outside rolling and smoking cigarettes.”

The gift-wrapped mugs served as an ice-breaker and helped to bond the Sar-El group with the young soldiers.

“These were very nice young people who couldn’t understand why we would come to Israel to do this,” says Rabbi Glickman. “We told them, ‘We think you’re heroes, protecting Jews and justice not only in Israel but all over the world.’”

One night, the Sar-El volunteers sponsored a pizza party, ordering the pies from outside the base and watching them clear a security inspection at the front gate.

“Our week with the IDF turned out to be a life-changing experience,” says Mindy Glickman. “We made friends with people from around the country and the world – Haiti, Austria, England – and have young Israeli friends who know we care.”

Now the Glickmans are planning a return trip in March, when they will lead a group from Beth Hillel and beyond and offer another opportunity to thank the IDF soldiers on the Negev munitions base. The itinerary will include a day at a Dead Sea spa, where the group will host a busload of the soldiers whom the Glickmans befriended. The soldiers’ “day of pampering” will include spa treatments and dinner, made possible by donations from Beth Hillel congregants and other community members.

For more information about the Israel trip and sponsoring a soldier: tbhsw.org / (860) 282-8466

For more information on Sar-El: sar-el.org.

Comments? email cindym@jewishledger.com.

CAP: Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman (middle row, 5th from left) and his wife, Mindy (back row, second from right.)