This article appeared in the May 16, 2003 Jewish Advocate.

Four local Volunteers for Israel

by Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

GREATER BOSTON - "We stand with Israel now and forever. Be strong. Be brave. We care," wrote Anna Krasko of Sharon on a Wall of Friendship mural at a Tel Aviv medical supply base, during her first Volunteers for Israel tour of duty in July, 2002. Involved in the organization since the late 1980s, the EPA engineer has traveled at least once a year since, helping with any number of civic duties which have included packing and distributing gas masks, volunteering in hospitals, maintaining emergency equipment, and, while on tank bases, helping to clean and service tanks and vehicles, re-wire field equipment on a community base, distribute food and repair border fencing at the Golan.

"I would be so bored just hanging around a golf course, which is like watching paint dry," remarked the Russian-born Krasko, who is married and has a teenage daughter.

Krasko joins Boston-area VFI enthusiasts Doug Tanger and Howard Passman, both of Brookline, and Davida Harris of Danville, New Hampshire, in her enthusiasm for the effort. "Israel is one of America's most reliable allies and certainly our most dependable ally in the Midle East," said Tanger. "Making this trip (during the Iraq War) was a way for me to both support Israel during a difficult time and contribute to a loyal friend of America."

The nonprofit Volunteers for Israel, known in Israel as Sar-El, began in 1982 in response to an Israeli manpower shortage caused by the war in Lebanon. The organization arranges for Jews and Gentiles of all ages, from all over the world, to relieve Israeli reservists from civilian work. While helping out at army bases and hospitals with essential functions such as repairing helmets, gas masks, machines and vehicles and organizing uniforms and food, volunteers live, work, share meals and create relationships with Israelis. Most volunteers serve two and three-week stints, though some stay longer. Last year, they saved the Israeli government $2.5 million.

"Participants feel the pride and satisfaction of making a personal, hands-on contribution," said Canton-based publicist Sherry Alpert. "Their stories shed new light on the passion that draws people to put their lives on hold and volunteer for Israel," she added.

"This is what I can do to give back to Israel for being there for me and any other Jew on this planet," said Harris, who has gone with her husband Bob and their 15-year-old daughter Shauna. (The Hebrew University bombing of last July, as well as some bus bombings, occurred during the Harris' first trip.) "Time and again I am awestruck by the spirit, determination and resilience of the people of Israel," she said as she noted how reservists took them into their homes, taxi drivers refused their money, and Israelis cried upon hearing that they were volunteers, American, and Jewish.

"If Israel disappears, we as Jews will also disappear. That is why I try to help to the best of my ability, to make sure that my people will survive," said Passman, a Checkpoint Systems executive who has taken ten VFI trips, serves on its Board of Directors and its Executive Committee, and is the VFI gatekeeper for New England.

During the first Gulf War, Passman helped over 250 volunteers get to Israel. He added that he has always felt safe in Israel, noting that by comparison, he flew back from one trip into New York's JFK airport just before the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, which he monitored from nearby New Jersey.

"With all the terrorism we read about and see on TV, Israelis still seem to live life with great passion," said Tanger. "They are the civilized, living in an uncivilized neighborhood." Though he found his overall experience profoundly valuable, he could not help but note that he was the only Jew and the only American among the four in his group. "It was both inspiring and a bit disappointing," he said.

"We think of ourselves as like-minded adventurers, proud to be Jewish and willing to put ourselves on the line," said Krasko. "Many people talk the game, but don't do the walk. I and others do the walk and are darned proud of it, and of being Jewish. This is real bonding, for a real cause."

For more information, call Volunteers for Israel toll free at 1-888-473-6527, Passman at 617-571-7373, or visit www.VFI-USA.org.