A few months ago, on a Shabbat afternoon, I was reading A. B. Yehoshua’s novel, The Tunnel. In the novel, Yehoshua mentions an organization called “Road to Recovery,” through which, he said, volunteers meet Palestinians who are entering Israel for medical care at checkpoints, drive them to the hospitals to which they need to get, and then another volunteer picks them up and drives them back to the checkpoint.
I’d never heard of “Road to Recovery,” and wasn’t entirely certain if it was real or a creation of Yehoshua’s fiction. So after Shabbat, I checked, and sure enough, it does exist. And what it does is truly astounding. In 2019 alone, “Road to Recovery” volunteers drove 1,260,000 km, encompassing 10,105 trips and catering to 20,000 patients, mostly children. (If you’d like to support them, their PayPal address is roadtorecovery10@gmail.com).
I met with two volunteers from the organization, Alona Abt and Myron Yehoshua (both pictured below). Alona, secular, is among the leaders of the organization, while Myron, religious and a resident of a “settlement” south of Jerusalem, is a volunteer driver. I found them fascinating and inspiring, and hope you will, too.
Music credits: Medieval poem by Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Gvirol. Melody and performance by Shaked Jehuda and Eyal Gesundheit. Production by Eyal Gesundheit. To view a video of their performance, see this YouTube:
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Awesome podcast and inspiring
Thanks so much. Their work really moved me ....
Road to Recovery is an amazing and inspiring NGO. Hearing that very last anecdote about the Palestinian Authority officer who helped save the IDF soldiers under attack and who then contacted Yuval to say RTR helped his relative brought tears to my eyes. This is grass roots peace building, no question!
Incredible initiative. I wish more American Jews were exposed to this sort of information. It would change their view of Israel.
I could not agree more about the importance of American Jews being exposed to Road to Recovery as well as so many other Israeli grass roots peace building initiatives. So important!