Those We Call Heroes

People saving others and making lives better

Volunteer pediatric surgeon Dr. Avi Schlager from Florida (right) with Schneider Children's Medical Center chief of surgery Dr. Dragan Kravarusic, November 2023. (Courtesy of Schneider Children's Medical Center)

November 17, 2023, 12:17 pm

First wave out of 7,000 foreign doctors wanting to help amid war have come to Israel

With many Israeli physicians called to military duty, organizations in Israel and abroad work with the government to identify the professionals needed most by hospitals and clinics

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Oren Shmueli, left, and Hai Ashkenazi sift through material from a burned home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, looking for remnants that can help identify victims on November 9, 2023. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)

November 17, 2023, 1:35 am

Archaeologists sift through devastation to help families of Oct. 7 victims gain closure

For weeks, archaeologists have been searching the burned homes of the Gaza border communities, using methods honed for historical excavations to help try to identify modern remains

By Melanie Lidman

Some of the young partygoers rescued by Oz Davidian (right) on October 7, 2023. (Channel 13 screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

November 16, 2023, 2:18 pm

Truck dashcam footage shows farmer dodging bullets as he saved 120 from music festival

Oz Davidian took a different route each time as he made some 20 trips to Re’im, where Hamas terrorists overran the Nova rave and slaughtered partygoers

By Sue Surkes

Illustrative: A newborn baby in an Israeli hospital. (Chen Leopold/Flash90)

November 12, 2023, 1:22 pm

Shepherding life into the world following catastrophe brings hope to Israeli midwives

Beersheba-based midwives and doctors talk of helping women give birth following Hamas’s murderous invasion on October 7 — regardless of race, nationality and religion

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Shai Graucher on a mobile laundry truck his charity provides to IDF soldiers. (courtesy)

November 11, 2023, 8:43 am

Israeli charity aims to provide it all for soldiers, including mobile laundry and spas

With a special orientation towards reserve soldiers and evacuee families, the Klal Yisroel Organization also wants to bridge the religious-secular divide

By Gavriel Fiske

Four cousins from Rahat, including Ismail Ismail Alqrinawi (second from right), recount how they rescued dozens from Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. (screenshot courtesy Have You Seen the Horizon Lately)

November 5, 2023, 9:38 am

Four Bedouin drove from Rahat to evacuate their cousin in Be’eri; they rescued dozens

Seven-minute video from coexistence group Have You Seen the Horizon Lately tells the chilling story of how a kibbutznik cyclist was saved from Hamas by a cafeteria worker’s family

By ToI Staff

Artist Netta Lieber Sheffer paints in the square of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, October 26, 2023, as part of the This is Us project. (Bernard Dichek)

November 4, 2023, 9:34 am

In Tel Aviv, diverse mix of artists shines spotlight on Israeli hostages

From around the country, artists come to city’s museum square to paint victims held in Gaza, in the hopes of drumming up support — and one day gifting portraits to their subjects

By Bernard Dichek

Israeli reserve soldiers seen during military training in the Golan Heights, northern Israel, October 30, 2023. (David Cohen/Flash90)

November 2, 2023, 7:44 pm

Venture capitalists launch emergency impact fund for war-affected Israeli startups

The fund, backed by investors from Pitango, Viola, and Silvertech, has a goal of raising $20 million to ensure early-stage startups can continue to grow during the war with Hamas

By Sharon Wrobel

Birthday cakes for displaced children is just one idea approved for funding by the Daybreak project. (Oleksandr Sytnyk, iStock at Getty Images)

November 1, 2023, 8:32 am

Non-profits join forces to award microgrants for small-scale acts of kindness

Project offers grants from NIS 5,000 to NIS 20,000 for programs helping Israelis deal with war in little ways, like sending birthday cakes to displaced children

By Sue Surkes

Israeli volunteers, including dozens of teenagers, at work at Shuk Tzafon market in Tel Aviv making meals for Israeli soldiers and others in need, October 12, 2023. (Bar Mandel/JTA)

October 31, 2023, 3:34 pm

With adults off to war, Israeli teens are stepping up in their communities

Thousands have been organizing independently and through youth groups to volunteer to babysit, deliver art supplies to kids home from school and prepare food for soldiers

By Daniela Gribetz

Ruti, a mother of 12, who has six sons in the IDF reserves. (Channel 12 screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

October 30, 2023, 1:25 am

Mother of 12 has 6 sons, 4 sons-in-law, 3 grandchildren & 1 nephew in IDF

Ruti, identified only by her first name, tells Channel 12 News, ‘I know we’re doing the right thing. Our role, on the home front, is to support them’

By ToI Staff

Superintendent Shifra Buchris, 45, commands the patrol unit of the Border Police Southern Brigade. (Israel Police)

October 29, 2023, 10:48 pm

Orthodox mother of 10 worked for 12 hours to rescue revelers from party of death

Shifra Buchris and colleagues from the Border Police rescued young people from Supernova party while it was still under Hamas attack, determined to reunite them with their families

By ToI Staff

Eritrean asylum seekers volunteer at the Civilian Operations Hub, Expo Tel Aviv, October 19, 2023. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)

October 26, 2023, 5:14 pm

With memories of atrocities in Africa still vivid, asylum seekers are helping Israel

‘Our country is bleeding, and we are standing with it,’ says Brhane Negasi, who experienced Islamist terror in the Sinai Desert; ‘Hamas is even worse than they were,’ he insists

By Sue Surkes

Dream Doctors medical clowns peform a pretend wedding for a nurse and her fiancé, who had to cancel their real wedding because of the Israel-Hamas war. Sheba Medical Center, October 2023. (Dream Doctors)

October 26, 2023, 9:04 am

For Israel’s medical clowns, getting a giggle has never been a tougher sell

With the whole country traumatized — including themselves — ‘Dream Doctors’ do their best to therapeutically raise the spirits of the war wounded and displaced

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Nitza Hefetz with Camille Jesalva. (Shalev Shalom, Yedioth Aharonoth)

October 25, 2023, 4:36 pm

Filipino caregiver paid off terrorist, saved herself and 95-year-old employer

Camille Jesalva opened wallet, handed over $370 intended for a trip home, and smartphone

By ToI Staff