“We’re saying you feel frustrated? Do something good. You feel bad? Do something good. Something just happened and destroyed your world? Go and do the smallest good thing.”
At the entrance to Shuva, Israel, where there was once just a small wall surrounded by rosemary fields, now sits an oasis of calm for IDF soldiers exiting Gaza. It sprung up in the wake of Hamas' brutal October 7 terrorist attacks.
After a field hospital was built at the junction to help the wounded, Kobi Trabelsi sprung into action with his friends and brought whatever they could to help, including a food table with drinks. His brothers Dror and Eliran joined that night, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The spot now known as Shuva Brothers has showers, coffee, hot meals, and other supplies such as clean clothes and snacks, all freely available to the soldiers. The operation even finds soldiers places to sleep. A donations page says "The intersection that saw the blood of our brothers breathes hope and life into our warriors."
It is open 24/7. There is a Fund me page set up for donations. "I say we never close it, because we never opened it," Dror Trabelsi told a group of Canadian journalists who were visiting on a trip organized by Exigent Foundation. Over half a million meals have been served to the soldiers since they began.
"The soldiers come from all over. They know they have a shirt, a bed, whatever they need," Trabelsi said. "We know if they came here, God sent them here. This whole place is managed by God. Miracles over miracles over miracles."
As he spoke, one soldier who was digging into a hot meal looked up, grinned, and nodded in Trabelsi's direction. Everything is donated, and the stop is staffed by volunteers. "Volunteers come in from all over the world to speak with them, to be with them."
Trabelsi described how in Gaza "there's not a moment when people are not shooting at you," but "then they come out, and we're inside the war zone so they can come with their vehicles" instead of needing to go someplace first to drop things off. They are then free to decompress and maybe even play guitar for a bit.
"They need a place to smile for a second." He said that one soldier told him it's the only happy spot in the area. "For us, the army is full of my brothers," Trabelsi said.
When asked how he stays so positive, Trabelsi admitted he shuts out the news before adding "We're saying you feel frustrated? Do something good. You feel bad? Do something good. Something just happened and destroyed your world? Go and do the smallest good thing."
"Once you start the good, you'll see good in anything."
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