Dignity for the dead, strength for the living

Weissenstern leads an extensive tour of the logistics facility to illustrate the organization’s preparedness and explain what ZAKA does, how it uses its supplies, and the significance of its work.

Before beginning our tour, Weissenstern takes us back three years to the early moments following the Hamas attack on Israel. “On October 7, when we opened our warehouses in Petah Tikva,” says Weissenstern, “we had enough stock to last for a year or two, but we depleted the warehouse in three days.”

Weissenstern recounts the first days of the war, when the organization was frantically searching for materials to maintain itself. “After October 7, we received huge quantities of equipment from private individuals. People sent us packages of towelettes and hospitals sent us disposable gloves from their operating rooms.”

While the organization had long maintained its central warehouse in Petah Tikva, it needed an additional location to maintain its supply of gear. In late October 2023, warehouse space in Hartuv became available, and since then, it has served as the central repository for the supplies ZAKA provides to its 4,000 volunteers.

What exactly are these supplies? They range from protective gear worn by ZAKA volunteers, including gloves, yellow vests, white helmets, protective coveralls, fire-retardant suits, shoe covers, face masks, and special powder that neutralizes unpleasant odors, to powerful lighting systems that enable ZAKA staff to locate all elements of human remains at night, as well as scrapers and utility knives to isolate human remains and towelettes for cleaning blood from surfaces.

Weissenstern also points out a small wagon that was used by volunteer teams in the kibbutzim in the south to collect the remains of the dead after October 7.

Pointing to a large vacuum cleaner, he shares that it is a large industrial vacuum cleaner that was used in the aftermath of the attacks of October 7 to collect human remains from cars and other areas.

Other essential parts of ZAKA kits include foldable stretchers for victims and tents that are erected at accident sites to cover the deceased. “If someone dies in the middle of the street, the public does not have to see everything. It is all part of the concept of dignity for the deceased (kavod hamet),” explains Weissenstern. He adds that before October 7, ZAKA had only 10 tents across the country. Now, they are provided in all ZAKA vehicles.

While Weissenstern says ZAKA members occasionally use gallows humor to cope with stress, touring ZAKA facilities is a serious and sobering matter. The logistics facility stocks tens of thousands of body bags, which have a section where volunteers can mark the name, ID number, and address of the deceased.

He explains that ZAKA added a designated space for identification details on its body bags after October 7, when volunteers had to hastily record information wherever they could on the bags.

Weissenstern notes that knowing the exact information needed to identify the deceased can be critical – not only in religious matters, such as permitting a widow to remarry if it is known that her husband died, but also in matters of inheritance and wills. He also shows a smaller supply of black body bags, which are used for the bodies of terrorists.

The ultimate goal of ZAKA volunteers is to provide for the dignity of the deceased by collecting all of the human remains for burial. However, the concept is sometimes misunderstood. Recalling a brief visit with then-US president Joe Biden, Weissenstern says that he didn’t know how to explain the organization’s work.

“I told him that we were the ZAKA search-and-rescue organization. Finally, I said, Mr. President, do you know what we do? We are the cleaning men. He put his hand on mine and said, ‘I know. Thank you.’”

Weissenstern also points out multiple sets of chairs, benches, and tables that the organization lends to families in mourning. A large pallet contains volumes of the Talmud that ZAKA provides to its volunteers free of charge who are studying the daily Daf Yomi.

For ZAKA volunteers, the logistics center is more than a source of supplies. It is their home. Weissenstern adds that families visiting from outside Israel often visit the center to assemble kits for ZAKA volunteers.

At the end of the visit, Weissenstern sits down for a brief interview to discuss the organization’s plans. While the logistics center in Hartuv is the largest in the country, ZAKA plans to add additional logistics centers in Israel’s North and South.

Although the organization has a large number of supplies on hand, including some 40,000 body bags and significant quantities of many other items, Weissenstern insists that ZAKA must be ready for any emergency.

“In 2017, Israel’s State Comptroller issued a report that stated that the State of Israel was not prepared for an earthquake or a major missile attack, and forecast 4,000 deaths from a missile attack, and 7,000 from an earthquake. After October 7, we led a revolution in our supplies.

“I need to be ready for an emergency. If there is an earthquake, will I be ready? If I don’t have what I have here, then I am not ready. I need to have it stored in the North and in the South.”

For Weissenstern, having enough supplies for emergencies is significant for another reason. “We have huge quantities of supplies. Why do we need so many body bags and bags? Because a Jew is a Jew is a Jew. Take someone who was born Jewish but is an atheist. Ask a Hamas terrorist whether he would kill that person for being Jewish. Of course he would.

“When a Jew dies, we believe that every part of that person’s body has value and is sacred. When someone dies tragically and leaves behind blood and body parts, we perform chesed shel emet, the ultimate act of kindness, one that cannot be repaid. Under Jewish law, the community is responsible for ensuring that those remains are gathered and given a proper burial.”

Sitting in the conference room near the shelves of emergency supplies, Weissenstern makes clear that the organization’s greatest need is something no warehouse can stock: mental resilience. “We could manage without body bags – we can wrap them in sheets. We can also work without gloves, but we need mental resilience.

“We are the only body in the country and the world that took upon itself the issue of kavod hamet, respect for those who have died.”

Weissenstern dreams of opening resilience centers for ZAKA volunteers that would let them relax, recharge, and rest after their work and increase their mental resilience. The organization is planning its first respite center near Rosh Ha’ayin and has appointed a full-time mental health specialist to deal with the emotional and mental health of ZAKA workers. “Resilience is the future of ZAKA,” he declares.

Weissenstern concludes our interview with the story of a ZAKA volunteer who had previously worked in the Home Front Command. He then served in ZAKA for two years, went to the kibbutzim on October 7, and served multiple stints in the IDF reserves during the war. His wife is a midwife.

At one point, he was asked how he managed under the stress of identifying bodies and dealing with the deceased. He said, “My wife brings life into this world. I bring life into the next.”