With Israel’s agriculture sector experiencing a major downturn as the Israel-Hamas War continues, international volunteers, including community members Karen Gerson and her son Gilli, are helping pick up the slack.
The two Gersons traveled to Israel last month on a trip organized by Israel Food Rescue. They are two of hundreds of volunteers across the world who have helped pick crops, sort produce, package food and perform other agricultural duties as necessary to ensure that Israel does not experience a widespread food shortage. Israel Food Rescue says that the agricultural sector’s workforce has drastically shrunk since the war began; Israeli workers were largely called to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and more than 25,000 foreign workers are no longer available or in the country.
“We wanted volunteering to be the center of our trip — not staying at a five-star hotel, volunteering for a few hours here and there and sightseeing,” Karen Gerson said. “Additionally, we wanted to be with family and friends over the Shabbat weekends so we could get a better feel of their thoughts, hopes and feelings.”
Gilli Gerson graduated from Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy before going to the University of Kansas to study business and finance. The increase of both youth and campus antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks was a driving factor of his volunteer trip to Israel.
“What we are seeing on college campuses around the United States and the antisemitism around the world is the exact reason why the State of Israel is so important to the Jewish people,” he said. “I went to Israel because I felt the need to help.”
Karen Gerson served as director of informal Jewish education at Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City for more than 12 years and is on the board of directors of First Call Alcohol/Drug Prevention and Recovery. Her decision to travel to volunteer in Israel aligns with her connection to her family, community work and support.
“We came to volunteer, get a sense of the country through talking with our family and friends, and [be] able to bring this feeling back to Kansas — [sharing] the pulse of Israel,” Gerson said.
With volunteerism in mind, the Gersons flew into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. They said they had no fears about traveling to Israel despite the ongoing war.
“We knew that the Israel Food Rescue and our families and friends would ensure that we were in safe spaces,” Gerson said. “We were not planning on traveling to Gaza or the West Bank and would always be with a group of family and friends. We typically feel safer in Israel than we do here in the United States on any given trip.”
The bulk of their volunteering took place in the village of Beit Ezra. With most regular workers unavailable, the Gersons joined more than 300 volunteers a day for farm work, including pruning cucumber vines and harvesting and boxing cucumbers and tomatoes. The volunteers spent most of their days together, including 90-minute bus rides to and from the farm (the Gersons stayed in Jerusalem), dinners and eight-hour work days in the fields.
“The mood was exceptionally happy and positive with sprinkles of reality and sadness,” Gerson said. “All of us wanted to be there — from Gilli, who is 20 and the youngest volunteer of the group that week, to Lydia, a 79-year-old from L.A.… We sang Israeli songs, we shared our stories with each other, and we all felt a common bond of being in our land with our people making a difference.”
Gerson described the volunteers as a growing family. Despite the different ages, religions and professions, she said that the “family” is bonded by its work and passion for the existence and care of Israel.
Beit Ezra is located between the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod, north of the Gaza Strip. During their farm work, the Gersons heard Israeli jets flying overhead for war missions daily.
“The last day of our volunteer experience, the red alert sounded and we fully laid down on the soft earthy ground and covered our heads,” Gerson said. “Above us, the Iron Dome was doing its job, shooting down missiles that were fired from Hamas… After 10 minutes, we got up — I personally went to find Gilli in another row and gave him a quick hug — and finished the task at hand, picking tomatoes. At the same farm, a group of Israeli teenagers went to the farm’s safe room, and after 10 minutes, went into the fields and sang ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ just like any other day.”
When they weren’t working on the farm, the Gersons spent time with family, friends and Kansas City connections. Amid the joy and excitement of reconnecting in person, the Gersons also learned more about the state of Israelis’ emotions and outlooks in the midst of an ongoing war after an unprecedented terror attack. Gerson said there is difficulty obtaining a sense of normality, as every circumstance that Israelis are encountering is abnormal.
“When asking our friends and family about how they feel or what their mood is like,” Gerson said. “They all said the same thing: ‘We can celebrate a birthday or Shabbat, and then a few minutes later, we realize that there is a hole in our hearts that will not be filled for a very long time. We are all trying to get back to ‘normal’ for the sake of our children, even though our families are in Gaza fighting for our mere existence. Everyone knows someone who was either killed, kidnapped [or] called up to serve, and we all just wait for the knock at the door or the phone call from a friend that a loved one has died.’”
Awareness and reminders of the ongoing hostage crisis were also prevalent. Gerson said that wherever they went, even on the beaches of Tel Aviv, there were signs, flags, t-shirts and artwork with the common theme of bringing the hostages home; the hashtag “#BringThemHomeNow,” in both Hebrew and English, is used frequently.
In addition to family and friends, the Gersons saw former members of the Kansas City Jewish community, including Wendy Claster, past community shalicha Ophir Hacohen and Joshua Wajcman and his family. They also shared their experiences with their family and friends in the United States through regular email updates. Now back in Kansas, the Gersons are doing what they can to share what they learned.
“Whether you are sending money, contacting your congressperson or in touch with your Israeli family and friends, they feel our love and need to continue to feel our love,” Gerson said. “We don’t have any other choice except to support and love our people and homeland at this time. The strength of our own in our land is like no other. Their hearts continue to break daily, and still they continue to wake up and live. That is who the Jewish people are. We continue to fight for the right to be us – a Jewish nation for all. Even if you don’t have blood relatives or friends in Israel – this is your land, and you are always welcome.”
Gerson urges community members to continue to pull for Israel, whether that be through volunteering locally or in Israel; keeping in touch with Israeli family and friends; contacting the Jewish Community Relations Bureau | American Jewish Committee for incidents of antisemitism; contacting local government; or monetary donations to campaigns such as Jewish Federation’s Israel Emergency Fund. She said that the war will not be over quickly, and Israel will need help post-war as it rebuilds.
“I believe that we are stronger together,” she said, “and I know that those fighting for our right to exist in either Israel or the diaspora are helping to ensure the existence of the state of Israel. We too are fighting a war in America — antisemitism… We need to continue to be proud Jews [and not be] afraid to say we are Jewish.”