‘How could we not come?’ American Jews flock to Israel to help

OFAKIM, Israel — See that beige duplex? That is where a father sacrificed himself by drawing terrorists’ fire, allowing his wife and kids to escape from a second-story window.

That rooftop across the street, that is where a lone Jewish teenager took down terrorists who were dressed as IDF soldiers, ending their grenade attack against his neighbors.

On this corner is the bullet-riddled home of Rachel Edry, a 70-year-old woman who outwitted five terrorists by baking them cookies and chatting them up for 15 hours until a SWAT team could overtake them.

During her winter break, Sophie Katz, 15, of Atlanta, Ga., listened with awe and sadness as locals walked her through the small Israeli town of Ofakim, which Hamas terrorists besieged on Oct. 7, gunning down 56 people, most of them elderly, in a matter of hours.

“This could have been us. This could have been any of us,” said Sophie, who, on her first trip to Israel, was taking part in a Ramah Israel Solidarity Mission, a four-day opportunity for North American Jews to volunteer in the Jewish homeland as it mourns its dead and fights for its life.

The Ramah mission is one of hundreds of organized trips that are bringing thousands of Jewish volunteers to Israel to fill the needs of a society reeling from war.