The pain we all feel for Israel and its citizens, our brothers and sisters, is palpable this week. Facing an unsympathetic, monstrous enemy, the IDF’s fight to save the remaining hostages seems more elusive than ever, especially since the most recent hostages found had been executed in cold blood just a day or two before their bodies were recovered. It is crueler and feels more unjust that those beautiful six, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, didn’t get the rescue we all prayed for so intensely.

But what can we do? Many of us cannot serve in the IDF and we can’t go get the hostages back on our own, much as we would like to. And while there was an incredible Bergen County mission to Kerem Shalom, comparatively few of us visited Israel this summer. Even before the U.S. airlines started their default boycott and stopped flying to Israel last month, Israeli tourism was in dire straits. Even if their hearts were not already broken, this entire summer has been a financial nightmare for many Israeli businesspeople, particularly those who cater to non-Israeli tourists and their families.

Even Israel’s beautiful national parks are desolately empty these days. When my kids and I were there last month, we had “exclusive” tours of the Qumran National Park and the Stalactite Caves Nature Reserve. But it’s not like we were celebrities who rented the whole place for the day, or even paid extra to have our own tour guide; it’s just that there was literally no one else with us to see the majestic, mysterious location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found or one of the most impressive natural caves in the world. Granted, there were more than a few people at Ein Gedi and the Enot Tzukim Springs, but these were primarily Israeli residents and their families seeking relief from the August heat.

I mentioned in my editor’s notebook a couple of weeks ago that I felt a change from the last time I’d been in Israel back in 2023, a different kind of temperament displayed by Israelis who work in the tourism industry. And how could they not? This year has been bruising and battering for all, on many levels. Every person in Israel has been touched, in one way or another, by the war and its devastating effects. For all residents, including the myriad industries outside of tourism, families have lost loved ones and friends, and many families and businesses are doing without key members who are away, often for weeks at a time, serving in miluim (reserves).

I think Israeli businesses are very negatively affected by the incredible disconnect between what’s actually happening in Israel and the news about it. Imminent strikes are most certainly not being launched in metropolitan areas all the time. Other than the north, most of the country has had no sirens since shortly after October 7. I feel that Israel is about 150% safer than any other place for Jews, despite what the news says (and for anyone who saw footage of 7,000 Hamas sympathizers marching on Labor Day in New York City, you know what I mean). Israel, despite all news to the contrary, continues to be a first world country that does everything it can to protect everyone inside its borders.

This week, specifically, was also tremendously battering for us as Jews worldwide. The loss of six more hostages, now known to have been executed just a day or two before being reached by the IDF, hit us all squarely in the hearts. Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s wrenching, eloquent words since October 7 have melted even the most stoic of Zionist hearts. With Rachel as the default spokeswoman for all Jewish mothers worldwide, we all can’t help but cry with her.

But is there, perhaps, something more we can do? Maybe some can go to Israel and mourn in person. Maybe others can make plans to volunteer and tour and just spend money in Israel, helping to boost the economy. I encourage every one of our readers to think about doing something like this, with whatever budget you might have.

Volunteers are desperately needed. Most foreign workers, specifically those from Thailand and the Philippines, left Israel after October 7, creating a large void in farm assistance in addition to people who are not available because they are serving in miluim. There are many WhatsApp groups for non-Israelis that make volunteering to pick produce or plant vegetables extremely easy, including Leket Israel. Tzitzit for Tzahal also hosts volunteers multiple times a week. The Facebook group ‘Swords of Iron—Israel Volunteer Opportunities’ has options for many different kinds of volunteer roles almost every day of the week, including shuttling soldiers, making meals, repairing clothing, painting houses or working on kibbutzim. JNF is running subsidized volunteer trips as well as many others. My children and I had very meaningful experiences helping to plant grapevines and working in a winery for a day. It felt like work, but it was somehow more rewarding than work. And it gave my kids a taste of doing something important and necessary for Eretz Yisrael.

So please make that Sukkot trip this year, not next year. Make reservations to celebrate simchas with Israeli friends and families, visit your kids in seminary or yeshiva and take some time to enjoy the delicious coffee at Aroma. While I hope that by the time of this writing our U.S.-based airlines will have ended their boycott, one of the cost-saving solutions my family found was to take a flight across the Atlantic on an American airline (under $1,000), and then switch to El Al to continue on to Israel. Israel has provided some fixed prices for those flights from four European cities: El Al flies to Larnaca, Cyprus for $199, to Athens, Greece for $299, as well as to Vienna, Austria and Dubai, United Arab Emirates for $349.

As we mourn, as we cry, as we pray, as we stand with Israel, as we connect to our fellow Jews, we must also think about how to physically help Israel. Visiting Israel is not the only way, but let’s all try to do something. With Israel in our hearts all day anyway, perhaps some of us can actually put our hearts (and the rest of us) in Israel, too.