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ZAKA
ZAKA (Hebrew: זק"א, abbreviation for Zihuy Korbanot Ason, זיהוי קרבנות אסון, lit. 'Disaster Victim Identification') is the name of a series of voluntary post-disaster response teams in Israel, each operating in a police district (two in the Central District due to geographic considerations). They are recognized by the Israeli government. The full name is "ZAKA – Identification, Extraction and Rescue – True Kindness" (זק"א - איתור חילוץ והצלה - חסד של אמת). The two largest ZAKA factions are Zaka Tel Aviv and ZAKA Search and Rescue.
ZAKA faced insolvency before 7 October 2023. Given the job of retrieving the dead bodies after the October 7 attacks, they started fund-raising on 8 October 2023. By 31 January 2024, they had raised over 50 million shekels ($13.7 million). According to Haaretz, ZAKA's conduct in the aftermath of the attacks was unprofessional, including mixing up remains and spreading misinformation about atrocities that never happened in order to raise money.
ZAKA volunteers respond to the scenes of violent attacks and homicides throughout Israel. The volunteers are trained paramedics and are on call 24/7. ZAKA collects the remains of the dead, including their blood, so that they may be buried in accordance with Jewish religious law. Volunteers are allowed to work on Shabbat, because the sabbath can be broken in matters of life and death.
Members of ZAKA, most of whom are Orthodox Jews, assist ambulance crews, aid in the identification of the victims of violence, road accidents and other disasters, and where necessary gather body parts and spilled blood for proper Jewish burial. They also provide first aid and rescue services, and help with the search for missing persons and participate in international rescue and recovery operations.
After acts of violence, ZAKA volunteers also collect the bodies and body parts of non-Jews, including suicide bombers, for return to their families. The phrase "Chesed shel Emet" refers to doing "kindness" for the benefit of the deceased, which is considered to be "true kindness", because the (deceased) beneficiaries of the kindness cannot return the kindness.
The organization traces its roots to a group of religious volunteers who assisted in the recovery of human remains after the Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 attack in Israel in 1989, during the First Intifada. ZAKA was formally established in 1995.
During the attack on bus line 405 in 1990, Yehuda Meshi Zahav arrived with other yeshiva boys to provide first aid to the victims. On his way home, he concluded that if in the enemy's view everyone is equal, so too for him. In the 1990s, he arrived at the scenes of suicide bombing attacks in Israel, among other things, and treated the bodies of those killed. As a result, ZAKA (Disaster Victim Identification) was founded. In his capacity as Chairman of ZAKA, he worked for inter-religious and secular reconciliation.
In 2005, ZAKA established a minorities unit with Bedouin, Muslim, and Druze volunteers to serve Israel's non-Jewish communities, primarily Bedouin in the Negev and Druze in the Galilee. These units also function when religious Jews cannot, on the Jewish Sabbath[dubious – discuss] and holidays. According to Jewish law, Jews may violate the Sabbath to save a life, but not to deal with the dead. In 2010, ZAKA said it planned to increase its minorities units to 125 volunteers.
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ZAKA
ZAKA (Hebrew: זק"א, abbreviation for Zihuy Korbanot Ason, זיהוי קרבנות אסון, lit. 'Disaster Victim Identification') is the name of a series of voluntary post-disaster response teams in Israel, each operating in a police district (two in the Central District due to geographic considerations). They are recognized by the Israeli government. The full name is "ZAKA – Identification, Extraction and Rescue – True Kindness" (זק"א - איתור חילוץ והצלה - חסד של אמת). The two largest ZAKA factions are Zaka Tel Aviv and ZAKA Search and Rescue.
ZAKA faced insolvency before 7 October 2023. Given the job of retrieving the dead bodies after the October 7 attacks, they started fund-raising on 8 October 2023. By 31 January 2024, they had raised over 50 million shekels ($13.7 million). According to Haaretz, ZAKA's conduct in the aftermath of the attacks was unprofessional, including mixing up remains and spreading misinformation about atrocities that never happened in order to raise money.
ZAKA volunteers respond to the scenes of violent attacks and homicides throughout Israel. The volunteers are trained paramedics and are on call 24/7. ZAKA collects the remains of the dead, including their blood, so that they may be buried in accordance with Jewish religious law. Volunteers are allowed to work on Shabbat, because the sabbath can be broken in matters of life and death.
Members of ZAKA, most of whom are Orthodox Jews, assist ambulance crews, aid in the identification of the victims of violence, road accidents and other disasters, and where necessary gather body parts and spilled blood for proper Jewish burial. They also provide first aid and rescue services, and help with the search for missing persons and participate in international rescue and recovery operations.
After acts of violence, ZAKA volunteers also collect the bodies and body parts of non-Jews, including suicide bombers, for return to their families. The phrase "Chesed shel Emet" refers to doing "kindness" for the benefit of the deceased, which is considered to be "true kindness", because the (deceased) beneficiaries of the kindness cannot return the kindness.
The organization traces its roots to a group of religious volunteers who assisted in the recovery of human remains after the Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 attack in Israel in 1989, during the First Intifada. ZAKA was formally established in 1995.
During the attack on bus line 405 in 1990, Yehuda Meshi Zahav arrived with other yeshiva boys to provide first aid to the victims. On his way home, he concluded that if in the enemy's view everyone is equal, so too for him. In the 1990s, he arrived at the scenes of suicide bombing attacks in Israel, among other things, and treated the bodies of those killed. As a result, ZAKA (Disaster Victim Identification) was founded. In his capacity as Chairman of ZAKA, he worked for inter-religious and secular reconciliation.
In 2005, ZAKA established a minorities unit with Bedouin, Muslim, and Druze volunteers to serve Israel's non-Jewish communities, primarily Bedouin in the Negev and Druze in the Galilee. These units also function when religious Jews cannot, on the Jewish Sabbath[dubious – discuss] and holidays. According to Jewish law, Jews may violate the Sabbath to save a life, but not to deal with the dead. In 2010, ZAKA said it planned to increase its minorities units to 125 volunteers.
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