‘There’s nowhere else for me to be’
West Orange doctor volunteers six times at Rambam in Haifa
In the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack and the ensuing war on multiple fronts, Dr. Jonathan Blank, a 62-year-old pediatric anesthesiologist from West Orange, succeeded in doing something he had attempted once before: volunteering at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Dr. Blank had tried to volunteer at Rambam, but Israel’s Health Ministry had no system for vetting foreign physicians. By 2023, the situation was different. He found his pathway through a new volunteer network called ISAACC18 (International Support of Anesthesia and Critical Care in Israel).
“On October 10, on our first Zoom meeting with over 160 fellow wannabe volunteer anesthesiologists, I said I was ready to go immediately,” Dr. Blank recalled. “I packed a bag with medical shears, an emergency coat with my name on it, phone batteries, protein bars, and scrubs. I knew the need was great.”
It took nearly two months to make all the arrangements, but finally, on December 5, 2023, Dr. Blank was aboard an El Al plane flying toward his first medical mission in Israel. Since then, he has done five additional volunteer stints at Rambam.
Each time, he has received the blessing of his department heads at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center to trade his earned vacation time, and more, to offset war-related staffing shortages at the 1,100-bed academic hospital that serves roughly 2.7 million people in northern Israel.
Dr. Aeyal Raz, Rambam’s chief of anesthesiology, helped secure Dr. Blank’s initial approval in 2023. He said the need for outside help continues to be critical.
“Rambam is the only tertiary and Level 1 trauma center in northern Israel,” Dr. Raz said. “After October 7, many physicians were called to reserve duty, and we found ourselves extremely short staffed. We were hard pressed to continue providing optimal care for our patients.
“Dr. Blank, and several other volunteers from the USA and from other places around the world, came to our help during this time of need. They understood that to allow other physicians to go out and provide care in the field, someone needs to be at the hospital and provide care there.
“Dr. Blank joined the department, helping in anesthesia of pediatric cases and especially in pediatric cardiac cases — a specialty field that is very difficult to man, especially during a crisis. The surgeons were very happy with the service he provided, and the residents appreciated the high-quality teaching. We see him as a friend and a colleague and are happy that he is willing and able to come and work hard during times of crisis.”
Dr. Raz noted that during the most recent conflict with Iran, in March, “despite the difficulties in getting to Israel, and despite the threat of being targeted by Iranian missiles, he was willing to come and assist, enabling us to continue the pediatric cardiac anesthesia service. Indeed, Dr. Blank proved himself as a friend in need, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart.”
When Dr. Blank arrived just before Passover, he found that patient beds had been moved to a fortified underground facility due to missile fire from Lebanon. He understood that this visit was going to be unlike the earlier ones.
He and emergency physician volunteers from MiluEM, a North American organization led by Dr. Ari Greenwald, provided patient care in the Rambam trauma bay for wounded IDF soldiers airlifted in by the 669 rescue unit.
“For the first time, I was treating soldiers regularly,” Dr. Blank said. “I was asked to take shifts, stay late, and cover for others so that they could go home. I was fully part of the team.”
One Rambam colleague, called away for reserve duty, reached out from the field to request that Dr. Blank take responsibility for two scheduled neonatal surgeries. “When we spoke, I could hear helicopters in the background,” Dr. Blank said. “Consulting with a colleague who’s possibly in a military helicopter — it changes your perspective.”
That sense of proximity to the war continued to extend beyond the operating room when another colleague sent him an aerial photo of the Sea of Galilee taken from a helicopter returning from Lebanon.
“I knew why I was there before,” Dr. Blank said. “But this time, there were sirens, explosions, and conversations with colleagues on the battlefield. I wasn’t just helping the team; I was a part of the team.
“One doctor who had previously seemed skeptical of volunteers smiled and said, ‘Glad you made it,’” Dr. Blank recalled. “That meant a lot.”
He remembers many difficult moments as sirens regularly sent staff and patients to shelters. For instance, during a brain surgery procedure called an “awake craniotomy,” a missile alert sounded mid-surgery.
“Everyone instinctively checked their phone’s Israel national emergency app,” Dr. Blank said. “But the surgeon didn’t stop. That focus was incredible.” Equally striking was the calm. “No panic, no chaos,” he said.
The diversity of the staff and patients has also left a lasting impression. “On my first day, over two years ago, I assisted in surgery on a Muslim Arab baby,” he said. “The team included Israeli, Ukrainian, Russian, and Palestinian staff. Hebrew was the main language, with others mixed in. It was intense — but it worked.”
Dr. Blank acknowledges the cost of his volunteer visits in terms of lost vacation days, time away from family, and the accumulated weight of working in a hospital under fire. Nevertheless, he feels that his presence in Israel is the most tangible expression of a connection that spans his entire life.
His father helped smuggle munitions to Israel during the 1948 War of Independence, long before young Jonathan first set foot in Israel as a child. He continued visiting often over the next decades with his wife, Paula, and their four children.
Two of the Blanks’ sons, Kyle and Zach, chose to enlist in the Israeli military and make aliyah. Kyle lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and two young sons; Zach, soon to be married, also lives in Tel Aviv and has served more than 300 reserve duty days in Gaza.
Kyle Blank, executive director of Israel Friends, runs a new nonprofit that supplies military and medical equipment to the IDF. The Blanks supported the effort from New Jersey, helping to raise more than $100,000 in just days, while gear collected locally was packed up and shipped over.
“I have boots on the ground,” Dr. Blank said, referring to his lifelong affinity with Israel. “I felt I needed to be there too.”
He and his wife bought an apartment before the war, in Modi’in, roughly equidistant from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He also secured his Israeli medical license through the Nefesh B’Nefesh MedEx program in preparation for an eventual partial retirement in Israel.
“There’s nowhere else for me to be,” he said. “This is where I feel connected.”
He encourages other physicians to consider volunteering in Israeli hospitals. Organizations such as ISAACC18, MiluEM, and Hinenu can assist with details and paperwork. “More doctors of all specialties are needed,” he said. “The system is there. You just need to show up.”