Introduction and Background

Why did Israel respond so quickly and extensively to the Tsunami (December 26th 2004, S.E. Asia)?
What has experience taught Israel and Jewish communities about providing emergency assistance?
What added value assistance has Israel supplied and what of the future?
Why have Israeli organizations, together with Diaspora Jewish communities, thrown themselves into supporting relief efforts, in the immediate and longer term?
What do Jewish sources say about helping others worldwide?

These are questions that educators need to address and we begin with a little history and a representative survey of what has been going on at the Israeli end of operations, and broaden this to the larger Jewish picture.

On August 12, 1953, a powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale rocked the southern Ionian isles off the western coast of Greece, leveling entire towns. Not far from the disaster, four Israeli naval warships on assignment in the Mediterranean Sea received S.O.S. signals coming from the Island of Kefalonia. The ships quickly headed to the island, and soon Israeli sailors were providing emergency medical aid, food, and water to survivors of the quake. This was the first time that Israel had provided aid to a disaster-stricken area, but it would hardly be the last.

Since 1953, Israel has been involved in providing aid all over the world to countries that have suffered from both natural and manmade devastations. The Biblical precept of, “Don't stand (idly) by the blood of your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:16) is very much a part of the ethos of Israeli society, and the Jewish people as a whole. One might assume that the Israeli people would be too absorbed with coping with Israel's difficult security situation to become involved in rescue and relief operations in foreign countries that all too often do not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. However, the ethos of helping those in distress is so strong in Israeli society that it overrides any possible temptation for Israel to only look inward at her own calamities caused by war and terrorism.

Ironically and sadly, Israel's history of post-war recovery and coping with terrorist bombings have made Israelis the world leaders in: search and rescue, medical treatment for physical and mental trauma, and victim identification.

The combination of a profound commitment to helping victims of catastrophes, along with expertise in rescue, treatment, and identification, explains why Israel - despite being a country of only six million citizens - is making such a significant contribution to current relief efforts in Southeast Asia, in the wake of the horrific tsunami that struck the region on December 26th 2004.