On Sunday, January 7, exactly three months after the war in Israel began, the Great Neck Synagogue hosted a Boots for Israel boot packing event. Marc Yehaskel is a friend and life-long Great Neck resident. His invaluable advice and inspiration overseeing every aspect of the day brought Sunday’s Boot Packing in Great Neck to fruition. Rabbi Dale Polakoff, Rabbi of the Great Neck Synagogue, not only lent his shul, but “rolled up his sleeves,” and he and his wife Ellen spent the whole day packing, cleaning, and generally making sure to accommodate all the needs of the Boots for Israel group.
Sunday saw people from the ages of two to 92 come from all over the tri-state area to help get 6,000 boots into 500 duffel bags. What was originally supposed to have taken three hours took exactly two hours and ten minutes. This is a true testament to the hundreds who showed up to put in the labor-intensive job of packing the boots into the duffels, then zipping them up, also not an easy feat, finally tagging them and getting them ready for El AL flights.
While parents were doing the more arduous jobs, tables had been set up for children to write notes so that they may be put into the boots that were packed. There was music, pizza, bagels, cream cheese, and drinks provided to give a boost of energy in order to get the job done. The event was able to take place due to a very generous anonymous donation. This individual wanted to help our chayalim, and make sure that all who came to the event had an enjoyable time while fulfilling an incredible mitzvah for our soldiers.
Boots for Israel was honored to host Mazi Pilip, a member of the Nassau County Legislature, as well Mayor Pedram Bral, the Mayor of Great Neck. They were able to see first-hand the commitment of the Boots for Israel families.
Boots for Israel began with Yakir Wachstock, a native of Great Neck whose energy knows no bounds. He is an Occupational Therapist by profession, a member of Hazolah of Queens & Great Neck, and is Chairman of the Board of his shul, the Young Israel of Holliswood. When Covid hit, Yakir resorted to selling Barbie dolls and houseware items as work was unavailable in his designated profession.
On October 11, Yakir received a call at 1:30 a.m., in the middle of the night, from General Daniel Jacob of the IDF. Yakir was told that he was recommended to the General as the person who would be able to procure boots for the platoon, as Yakir knew all about selling on Amazon. Yakir told the General that he did indeed sell on Amazon but did not know anything about selling boots. During that conversation, Yakir remembered that his friend, Avi Shacharov, also a member of the Young Israel of Holliswood, sold shoes on Amazon. Avi told Yakir that he had just posted a full shipment of tactical army boots that he was selling out west for hunters. After Yakir relayed his conversation with the General, Avi magnanimously pulled down all the boots from his Amazon post and donated them to General Jacob.
When Yakir called the General back, Yakir asked him how many pairs and what sizes were needed. With some ingenuity and hard work, those 88 pairs of boots got packed, sent, and were on the feet of the soldiers in a day and half. When the General phoned Yakir to express his gratitude, General Jacob said that the name of the plugah (squad) was Yakir. Yakir’s response to that was “you didn’t have to name your plugah after me.” General Jacob said, “No, Yakir, that was always the name.” It was hashgachah pratis, divine intervention.
Since that day, a multitude of orders from different commanders have come in. As of now, Boots for Israel has sent over 30,000 boots. At first it was supplying mainly some of the 300,000 reservists who were called up with no notice at all to serve in the Israeli Army. Some of these soldiers came with boots held together by duct tape. Some of them had boots that were ill fitting and brought them blisters and fungal infections, and some of them had no boots at all as these reservists had served in the IDF many years prior.
Currently, we are providing the IDF with boots for soldiers who came with their own, but, were not new at the start of the war and are beginning to wear down due to the very harsh weather and terrain both in the North and South, where the soldiers are fighting.
Boots for Israel, led by Yakir Wachstock, is a totally volunteer initiative. It has over 400 volunteers coming from the Tri-State Area, Boston, California, and Israel. There are many opportunities to help out, including packing boots, getting the boots to holding places, driving the boots from holding places to airports, writing notes that go in each pair of boots before they are packed, and much more. We are always looking to recruit people. We want to be able to continue equipping any soldier who is in need of new boots. In order to sustain this initiative, we count on donations. This is the only way it can happen. Every penny goes to the boots, which we get at wholesale in order to stretch our dollars.
Other costs include the duffel bags, ancillary supplies going towards the function of Boots for Israel, and what we pay to get the duffels onto El Al, who has unbelievably partnered with us in this endeavor. This is so much so, that each time we have a shipment going to JFK or Newark, our members bring home-baked goods as our thank you to them, and in turn they are very appreciative to us. We have also partnered with the National Council of Young Israel, Soldiers Save Lives, and Israel Friends.
Let’s hope that our services will not be needed for much longer. But until then, let’s all be in this together. Am Yisrael Chai!
To donate, visit www.thechesedfund.com/bootsontheground/bootsforisrael.
By Debbie King
