Accountants, plumbers, surveyors – whatever it might be, they’ve all got day jobs. Everyone has got kits in their car, everyone responds from wherever they are,” said Yossi Richman, on life as a trained volunteer paramedic at Hatzola, the ambulance service funded by Jewish giving.
Richman also serves as a governance lead at Hatzola in Golders Green, north London, where four ambulances were attacked by arsonists in the early hours of Monday morning.
The attack has left Jewish communities reeling. But alongside the concerns about community safety amid rising antisemitism, there’s a determination to protect the humanitarian civic principles Hatzola represents.
“It’s not just a Jewish service. If a call comes from within the area, they will come to your aid, whoever you are. There’s no cost to anyone and even on the sabbath, they’ll go to any case,” said Andrew Walters, an Orthodox Jewish councillor in Greater Manchester, which is home to one of the country’s busiest Hatzola services.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/23/je[…]