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Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-coronavirus-spreads-israelis-seek-meaning-through-volunteer-work/
Israelis Volunteer to Help in Coronavirus Fight
(Times of Israel) Sam Sokol - When Israel shut down its schools in March due to the coronavirus, high school biology teacher Mazal Byalsky decided she had to do something to help. Byalsky had earned a PhD in hematology and immunology and she contacted the coronavirus testing lab at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center, offering her services for free. "It's very important to feel that I'm doing what I know how to do because not everyone can do that," Byalsky said. "I see it like [army] reserve duty. I'm happy that I can help." Around half of the technicians in her lab are now volunteers, and while they face many of the same risks as other frontline medical personnel, they all see it as "holy work," she explained. "The Israeli population is mobilizing to help." Growing numbers of people have turned to charity work, volunteering for local organizations to help those hardest hit by the pandemic, from delivering food packages to making pharmacy runs and operating programs for the children of essential workers.