With airports in Israel closed, Jewish New Yorkers are desperate to find ways in
Despite a current US State Department advisory against travel to Israel 'due to armed conflict, terrorism and civil unrest' and closed airspace, some determined New Yorkers want to be in the Holy Land to show their solidarity with and support for the Jewish state.
'I feel guilty that I'm not there with my brothers and sisters being subjected to these missiles,' said Todd Richman, a Long Islander whose flight to Israel was canceled last Thursday as news broke of Israel's preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear sites. 'I feel guilty. It's hard to explain.'
Since airports are shuttered, the 55-year-old, who works in finance, said he's looked into alternate means to get into the Jewish state, including a ship, to no avail. The minute flights open up, Richman declared, 'I'm there.'
4 Amidst Israel's conflict with Iran, some New Yorkers say they would like to be in the Holy Land showing solidarity with Israelis.
ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The married dad-of-three added, 'It's hard to explain how you can want to be in a war zone right now, but there's something you feel in your heart.'
With friends and family running into bomb shelters every night amidst a barrage of ballistic missiles launched from Iran, there's a sense of powerlessness.
'I'm watching it through their eyes and I wish I was there with them,' he said. 'There's something unique about the Jewish ruach (spirit) about being together during such a situation.'
With 24 Israelis killed and hundreds injured in the days-long Iranian missile barrage, people are determined to stay resilient and strong in the face of evil.
'They're having bar mitzvahs in the shelters, singing in the shelters, celebrating life in the shelters,' Richman said, adding, 'I still feel safe there. In some ways you feel safer being in Israel with ballistic missiles landing than you do in most other parts of the world.'
Chava Blivaiss, a 36-year-old trauma surgeon, feels similarly.
'People think I'm crazy, [but] I just feel the need to be there,' she told The Post.
4 'I feel guilty that I'm not there with my brothers and sisters being subjected to these missiles,' said Todd Richman.'
Courtesy of Todd Richman
The Long Islander is on standby with a fully packed bag, passport and medical IDs sitting by the door.
'I'm always ready to run into the fire — and if I could be there right now, I would,' she said. 'Even if I wasn't a trauma surgeon, I'd want to be there just as much. I'd go shopping there and help the economy, buying falafels.'
While she's had no shortage of rockets and close calls before in Israel over the past year — sometimes having a mere 30 seconds to run to the bomb shelter in places like Ashkelon — Blivaiss asserted, 'it still feels safer there than it does here … you get used to the rockets and the running and the sirens.'
Yocheved 'Kim' Ruttenberg, the American founder of Sword of Iron – Israel Volunteer Corp, a grassroots initiative that began as a modest Facebook group after October 7, said she's been inundated with messages from would-be volunteers from all over the world trying to reach Israel now.
4 'People think I'm crazy, [but] I just feel the need to be there,' said trauma surgeon Chava Blivaiss.
Courtesy of Dr. Chava Blivaiss
'It doesn't make logical sense. It's something you can't explain, you just feel it,' Ruttenberg, 24, told The Post.
It's a sentiment that David Harris, former longtime CEO of the American Jewish Committee, understands.
The 75-year-old longtime Jewish activist, who lives in Manhattan, told The Post that he is planning to go to Israel as soon as he can. He's gone against the grain before.
During the first Gulf War, when missiles started flying from Iraq to Israel, he said he was on the 'first plane to Israel.' He got a flight with legendary comedian Jackie Mason, with virtually no one else on board.
'We wanted to show solidarity and sit in the sealed rooms simply because there was nowhere else we wanted to be,' he said.
4 Yocheved 'Kim' Ruttenberg said her organization has been inundated with requests from people wanting to volunteer in Israel.
Courtesy of Yocheved "Kim" Ruttenberg
During the 2006 Lebanon War, he never thought twice about running to the Holy Land to 'sit in bomb shelters and tell Israelis they're not alone,' he said. 'And to tell myself that I wouldn't simply be a bystander rooting from far … There's no way to simply say that's their war and my place is here. My place is there.'
Richman noted that people feeling this way is unique to Israel and the Jewish people.
He said, 'Tell me what other country that's at war that has people scrambling to get back into the country.'
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