MordyS: Volunteer Firefighters Helping Out Israel

A week ago, a bunch of people I know from Monsey went to Israel to help out in the cause in their own unique way. 8 of them are members of the Monsey Volunteer Fire Department and 3 are members of the Hillcrest Fire Department that serves Hillcrest, Pomona, and Wesley Hills, villages surrounding Monsey. There was a story about it two weeks ago on the cover of the local newspaper, The Rockland Journal News and then this Shabbos morning there was another cover story about it with a nice big picture of my friends dad (he's the one on the left).(also, check the pretty cool slideshow!) I'm not sure how much wider news coverage this story got or if anyone is talking about, but I did find this post over at The Yeshiva World and a very nice article about it over at JPost. I also found this cool set of photographs of the some of the members in action and of the whole group.

I feel especially proud of the fact that these are people I see and hang out with all the time. Besides the fact that my brother, and my brother-in-law, and my brother-in-laws father, are all volunteer firefighters, I also went to elementary school with some of these guys and one of them is, like I said earlier, my friend Duvs' father. My brother just started a new job so he can't go just yet, but he is planning on getting out there as soon as he can. My brother-in-law and his father aren't going as far as I know, but I think they're already fulfilling their chiyuv. My brother-in-laws brother (who's also one of my closest friends) Yosh Jacobson, is currently serving in Nachal Chareidi. I've been meaning to get in touch with him, but obviously he's been very busy and I don't know where he's stationed right now. Either way, this post is about those volunteer firefighters that left their families and friends here in Monsey to go help our other friends and family back at home. We're all very proud of you back here and THANKS GUYS! Kol Hakavod! You guys rock!

As I'm sitting here writing this, my brother just walked in and informed me that there are going to be another two rounds of firefighters leaving to go help out firefighters around Israel. As of now, I know that another flight is leaving next Tuesday and then another around or on Labor Day. If you know anyone that's a firefighter that would be interested in going or helping out or showing your support, you can check out the Monsey FD website or just send an email to help@monseyfd.org. Support your local volunteer fire department and stay safe!

Actually, I just found the website of the organization that's taking care of this mission: Friends of Israel Fire Fighters