AIRPORT CITY, Israel (VINnews) — In what some volunteers jokingly described as a scene worthy of a world record, Eli Beer, the founder and President of United Hatzalah of Israel, spent nearly two nonstop hours personally greeting more than 1,000 volunteers — hugging them, shaking their hands and asking each one where they came from.
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Beer moved rapidly from person to person in what he later described as an emotional marathon, determined to make eye contact with every volunteer in the room. “I literally went from volunteer to volunteer,” Beer told VINnews. “It was important for me to connect with each one.”
The extraordinary gesture came during a special appreciation event honoring United Hatzalah’s ambulance and emergency vehicle drivers from across Israel. The gathering was organized in the shadow of a devastating loss two weeks earlier, when volunteer Hami Erlanger was killed in a traffic accident while serving with the organization.
Beer said the tragedy left volunteers shaken and subdued, prompting him to act. “The mood was very heavy,” he said. “I felt I needed to be there in person — to lift spirits and to do this in his memory.”
United Hatzalah relies on a nationwide network of more than 8,000 volunteers, officials said, making the gathering of 1,000 responders one of the largest in-person assemblies of the organization’s lifesaving force in recent years.
The event, held under the banner “Traveling on a Mission of Saving Lives,” brought together volunteers from across Israel’s social and religious spectrum — from Hasidic and modern Orthodox Jews to secular Israelis, and Muslims — all working side by side.
“When it comes to saving lives, everyone works together,” Beer said. “That’s the real story of Israel.”
United Hatzalah officials said the two-hour, person-by-person greeting symbolized the organization’s emphasis on human connection, particularly in moments of grief, and underscored the bond between its leadership and the volunteers who respond daily to emergencies across the country.
