By Leah Garber
When on a journey far from home, longings carry us to a family feast: memories of comforting meals, diners’ joy and laughter around the table, a sense of physical and emotional satiety along with wide smiles, open hearts, and fulfilled souls. Security. Home.
The long months of the ongoing war show Israeli civil society at the height of its beauty and greatness, leaving the political leadership far behind. Through various social initiatives, voluntary platforms, and loads of creativity, the Israeli civil arena is filling the gap, offering a response to those whom October 7 left bereaved, wounded, displaced, or on battlefields far from home.
In addition to countless initiatives to help farmers, small business owners, mothers whose husbands have been serving in the army since the beginning of the war, families of hostages, or the country’s PR and advocacy efforts, our Israeli ecosystem has been blessed with various projects leveraging food—for body and soul—all of which are part of supporting the long, difficult healing process.
Imagine opening your own private kitchen, your family’s food shrine, to complete strangers, inviting them to cook a meal they love for themselves. Hard to imagine, right? In the “Come Cook with Me” initiative, women recognized the longing of displaced people to return home to cook for themselves instead of eating wrapped food or meals prepared by someone else who isn’t familiar with their tastes, traditions, or culinary preferences. Through this initiative, Israelis invite others to so much more than their kitchen, sharing more than their cooking utensils and spices. They open their hearts to the less fortunate ones and say, “Mi casa es su casa.” You are not alone.
Hotels hosting displaced families also recognize these families are tired of chef’s meals and long for the simplicity of a home-cooked meal prepared by those who know exactly what their favorites are.
Since the beginning of the war, Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel, has directed most of its resources to support the home front by cooking tens of thousands of hot meals that are sent to displaced families, hospitals, the housebound, Holocaust survivors, and anyone affected by the war. In addition, Asif documented victims’ stories and favorite recipes with the help of their family and friends. Through Asif’s social media channels, they offer an intimate look at the people behind the names.
The “Taste of Memory” project uniquely commemorates the memories of the fallen soldiers and terror victims through cooking, recipes, and the stories behind them. This year, the project also is commemorating the victims of the October 7 massacre by preserving the victims most loved recipes.
The restaurant industry suffered a heavy blow, especially during the first months of the war. When an entire country is in despair and feeling a sense of collective depression, there is no desire to go out to eat, and with so many citizens mobilized and drafted, there are fewer people available to go out to eat with. Even if people do go out to eat, so many restaurants’ professional staff are conscripted that there is no one to cook or serve. Here, too, Asif came to the rescue. Restaurants with no diners cooked instead in an organized manner for military units. Financed by the army, this arrangement let them keep their businesses open and pay the staff they still had.
Despite the lack of professional workers and thanks to volunteers, many restaurants—including those with well-known chefs—loaded their kitchens, and their goodwill, onto food trucks and traveled to remote military bases where they served delicious meal to soldiers who, for one evening, could leave battle rations behind. Other chefs invite soldiers to enjoy gourmet meals at their restaurants—free of charge—and entire units arrive to enjoy these fine feasts, welcomed with applause and gratitude by all the other diners.
Some restaurants, recognizing people’s need to disconnect from the news, hang out with friends, and enjoy a good meal, offer special “Israeli feast evenings.” Instead of sitting around tables with friends they came in with, the seating at these feasts is at long communal tables, with complete strangers side by side and soldiers as the guests of honor. These evenings are characterized by pure gratitude for life, dancing and singing, and celebrating Israeli togetherness—the only way we overcome any challenge.
Cafe Otef, a newly established enterprise in the Gaza envelope, benefits residents of the kibbutzim and communities in Israel’s south who were affected by the massacre. The venture, which will become a chain of cafes throughout Israel, is managed and operated by residents of these communities, who, since October 7, have been evacuated from their homes. The chain of cafes will offer them a meeting place, employment, and a much-needed sense of community. The profits from each branch of Cafe Otef will be designated to one of the affected communities, with revenues used to rebuild and rehabilitate the community.
Along with the organized initiatives of well-known restaurants and chefs, multitudes of families who like to cook or simply like people and want to help as much as possible have been mobilized to voluntarily cook homemade meals for soldiers, demonstrating their understanding that preparing food for others is an act that comes from the heart.
In addition to culinary events, restaurants opened to soldiers, and other food-related initiatives, quite a few restaurants in Israel have set a table reserved for the hostages and/or as a memorial for the soldiers who have been killed. In this way, even when people gather the strength to go out, skip the news, and enjoy a fine, escapist meal, they can’t escape the painful reality we’ve been in for 284 days and nights. It follows us wherever we go.
Food occupies a significant place in Jewish tradition and culture. Holidays are celebrated around festive tables at which we sanctify wine, bless the challah, and enjoy special holiday foods. At lifecycle events—brit milah, bar and bat mitzvah, weddings, and even funerals—traditional, typical mitzvah meals are eaten, with their own blessings and rituals. Much has been said about the power of food to unite, comfort, calm, and compensate, and in the last nine months, we have seen countless examples of how the preparation and enjoyment of food has been used to advance our healing—individually and collectively.
We all yearn for the day when the chairs around the long table in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square and many like it throughout the Jewish world will be filled with hostages who have returned home, safely and in health. Then, and only then, we will all truly enjoy a meal. Let it be.
Together, united, we will overcome.
Leah Garber is a senior vice president of JCC Association of North America and director of its Center for Israel Engagement in Jerusalem.
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