When Max, 26, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. first visited Israel for 10 days with Taglit Birthright in 2023, the experience immediately spurred his desire to return to the Jewish State for a longer period. When he got home, he looked for options, leading him to discover the Masa Israel Teaching Fellows (MITF) program. Through MITF, Max lived in Haifa and taught English in Israel for 10 months, beginning in August 2023. But when his time with MITF was coming to an end, he still wasn’t ready to leave Israel, so he signed up for Masa Volunteer’s Magen David Adom program.
“My decision to stay in Israel after MITF to continue helping the country through Magen David Adom was an easy choice,” reflected Max. “Helping Israeli society and becoming part of local life with MITF was such a phenomenal, life-changing experience, and being here in the aftermath of October 7th and continuing this journey through this tragic year built such a personal connection to the people of Israel. So the chance to help and be connected with Israeli and Jewish communities, to support and strengthen our core peoplehood foundations was simply not something I could ignore.”
In the wake of October 7, Masa Israel Journey (founded by The Jewish Agency) established Masa Volunteers to offer Jews around the world wanting to aid in Israel’s recovery the opportunity to come to Israel for 4-6 weeks to volunteer. For individuals aged 18-40, participants will engage in hands-on volunteering ranging from food packaging to agricultural work, and more, and including with Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency service.
Through the Magen David Adom program for six weeks from July to August 2024, Max remained in Haifa, undergoing a 60-hour training course to learn all the basic essentials of first-responder life-saving procedures. Participants learned how to administer advanced CPR, diagnose medical emergencies, treat physical injuries such as wounds and trauma, and more. After completing the course and their exams in the first two weeks of the program, volunteers began doing three shifts per week.
“Our presence in Israel was invaluable because we added to the total available first responders ready to help when needed while assisting the staff as they performed crucial services,“ shared Max. “What I was most excited about when starting this program was to learn how to save lives and help Israelis from all backgrounds. And now with the program over, I feel much more connected to Israel having been an active member of society, working with local staff to help local residents.”
Now that Max is back in Canada, he’s eager to bring his new perspective, skills and confidence to his local Jewish community and to utilize the experience he’s gained through Masa in his everyday life.
“Masa has helped me grow dramatically as a person and I would tell anyone that if they can do a Masa program, they most definitely should,” Max stated. “Particularly now, participating in a Masa program feels more meaningful than before because the need for support from our people around the world has never been greater. This is the time when doing a program in Israel has the greatest impact.”
