My earliest memory of a carrot was at Kibbutz Kissufim in southern Israel. At 5 years old, I valiantly attempted to pull one out of the ground, only to snap off the leaves, with the stubborn root remaining firmly lodged in the Negev soil. Frustrated, I left a trail of ruined plants. I wasted so much produce that day. Decades later, as the New England director of Israel’s national food bank, I find myself in the Israeli produce-rescuing field. Perhaps this is my chance to atone for the sins of my childhood.
Israel’s Worst Food Crisis
On Oct. 9, 2023, as Israel reeled from the Hamas invasion, my kibbutz was among those reduced to ruins. The country soon learned that one of Hamas’ goals was agricultural terrorism.
Terrorists went out of their way to target Israel’s agricultural infrastructure, where 70% of Israel’s vegetables are grown. Over the next year, relentless attacks—32,000 rockets, missiles, and drones from seven fronts—devastated hundreds more farms. Fires sparked by rockets increased the damage. Farmers, unable to tend their fields under fire, watched their crops wither. Meanwhile, Turkey banned food exports to Israel, the Houthis in Yemen blocked vital shipping routes, and foreign agricultural workers fled home. With the Palestinian guest worker program ending, and Israeli survivors displaced, the country found itself with a dearth of agricultural workers. It was the perfect storm.
Leket Israel is 21 years old, but with supply dwindling and food prices surging, demand on the organization’s services has increased by a staggering 77% since October 2023. We weren’t sure how we would fill that gap. Two million Israelis were now living in poverty. But you may not have heard about it because something extraordinary happened: We made more with less.
A Miracle in the Fields
Hundreds of farmers invited us to gather unharvested produce. From all over the world, 95,000 volunteers—including many from the Boston area—answered the call. It became among the largest volunteer efforts in Israel’s history.
We needed to move vast amounts of food and mobilize thousands of volunteers. That required trucks, forklifts, buses and fuel. That’s where federations like CJP came in, making a huge investment in Leket Israel. People from across New England and around the world joined in contributing what they could.
Innovating Like Never Before
To maximize resources, Leket Israel is turning to cutting-edge technology. Using satellite imagery, we identify fields ready for harvest and reach out to farmers immediately. Misshapen apples become delicious applesauce, imperfect vegetables transform into nourishing soups, and leftovers feed livestock.
Leket collects fresh, surplus food from 60 Israel Defense Forces bases, the only known military to donate its extra meals to the vulnerable en masse. We collect from hotels, corporate cafeterias and now government offices, thanks to a law, which we lobbied for, mandating that government offices donate their leftover meals to people in need. Nothing is wasted.
Despite the crisis, we remain committed to our mission: only distributing fresh, nutritious food—nothing is ultra-processed or unhealthy.
A Light Unto Nations
Our playbook is being translated into English by a Boston-area nonprofit so that food banks don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Organizations from around the globe have traveled to Israel to learn from us. And over the past six months, dozens of New England congregations and JCCs from across five states have invited me to share this story.
It is no surprise that what is believed to be the largest gleaning operation in the world is in Israel, preventing 70 million pounds of food from being wasted last year alone, while feeding 415,000 Jews, Muslims, and Christians weekly through 296 NGOs. After all, we have had a guidebook for a while now on what to do.
We will be revisiting it on May 10, when we read together in the Torah: “…you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.”
The work is far from over. With food insecurity at an all-time high, every meal rescued matters. You can learn more about volunteering and our efforts to ensure that no one goes hungry here.
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