Israel Magen Fund

Founded in 1995, ZAKA is Israel’s dominant non-governmental rescue and recovery organization, with over 3,000 volunteers deployed around the country, on call 24/7 to respond to any terror attack, disaster or accident immediately, professionally and with the necessary equipment. ZAKA, a civilian volunteer organization with sole responsibility in Israel for dealing with incidents of unnatural death, works in close cooperation with all the emergency services and security forces.

Honoring the dead is considered an act of Chesed Shel Emes (true virtue). In Judaism, this is considered the greatest mitzva (good deed) that can be performed, because the recipient has no way of repaying the kindness.

ZAKA (the Hebrew acronym for Disaster Victim Identification) became an official volunteer organization in 1995 and has grown organically over the last two decades, finding the best solutions to the operational needs as the scope of the volunteering work increases.