Who says good people are hard to come by? In the Me-oriented society we live in we almost expect people to look out for numero uno. And sometimes they do. But not always.

My friend sent me an email about a bone marrow donor recruitment drive for Amit Kadosh, a little girl here in Israel with cancer. Touched by her story, I thought I would join my friend and stop by the mall in Jerusalem on the way home to do our part. I figured with the low response these things typically get, if I had the time and ability I would do it. We headed over to the mall expecting to find a folding table staffed by a couple of medical sorts who would take blood samples from any volunteers who came by. It was just going to be a quick pit stop as we didn't have much else to do in the mall at that time.

As luck would have it, the parking lot was exceptionally crowded. After-school and after-work crowds, no doubt. We maneuvered our way into a tight parking spot and entered the mall. We found ourselves a bit stunned by the density of the crowd. What was going on? A huge closeout on underwear? Was Burger King giving out free Whoppers? In fact, the closer we got to the main center aisle of the mall, we began to notice people converging on one particular area: where they were set up to take the blood samples for Ezer Mizion's bone marrow drive. It was unbelievable. I mean, I would expect people to wait on lines like these to buy tickets to a big-name concert. But to see if they qualify to go through a potentially painful procedure to save the life of a little girl they'd never met? Yet they were all there for exactly that reason.

We squeezed our way over to the registration table, filled out our forms, and each received our own little purple collection vial to hold on to. With the blood we would put into this vial, we would become registered in Ezer Mizion's international Bone Marrow Donor Registry. We then joined the disorganized mass of people that was kind of slowly inching closer to the understaffed tables without any semblance of order. We looked around us and discovered something as phenomenal as the number of people: the demographics were completely across the board! Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, secular and haredi and everything in between; all were standing there together, united for a common cause - in the middle of the mall.

With so many issues that divide us, it is always a truly remarkable experience when we can stand together united for a common cause.

One sick little girl with a desperate need for a bone marrow match turned what seemed like the whole country into willing donors. All around us happy people were clamoring to give their little vial of blood in the hope that any of us givers could be the one who might save this little girl's - or at least someone's - life. It was like we each possessed a lottery ticket whose numbers we could not decipher. If only the one with the winning lottery ticket would come forward. Of course in this circumstance everyone would have been overjoyed if anyone possessed the "winning" ticket.  

Finally it was my turn to fill a vial with a drop of blood. We asked the overworked, yet still smiling, collection station director why they didn't arrange to have more volunteers to handle the large crowds. They told us that they simply never expected such a big turnout. They were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support. In fact they were constantly calling for more and more medical personnel to drop everything to come and volunteer to help. And people kept on coming.

I barely felt the small gauge needle pierce my vein. For me the good feeling of being a part of all this cancelled out the tiny pin-prick. But right next to me was a cringing young woman who was obviously afraid of needles. I was so impressed to see her rise above her fear to do something she felt was so important. Afterward we saw many people walking around with one sleeve rolled up, a square of white gauze taped inside the elbow. To me it seemed less of a bandage and more of a badge - of pride - worn proudly for all to see, uniting so many Israelis and tourists alike.

In fact, I was completely stunned when I realized that the Jerusalem mall was one of over 85 testing centers that Ezer Mizion had set up for the single-day drive. Israel is not such a big country - if the other testing sites had anything close to what was going on at the mall then this was a truly astonishing turnout. Was it due to great marketing? Was it because the little girl is adorable? Was it simply that underlying realization that this could have been anyone's daughter? Maybe. Regardless, thousands of people had taken time out of their busy days to give to a stranger. This was the Jewish nation at its finest. And, one drop at a time, we filled an ocean of love.

Help save the life of Amit Kadosh (click here for her story)  - Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to the bone marrow campaign, Ezer Mizion needs more funds in order to lab test the blood samples taken in a timely manner. To help save the life of Amit, and others like her, donate generously at http://www.saveamit.com/

© 2009 , Laura Ben-David

Laura Ben-David is a freelance writer and the author of MOVING UP: An Aliyah Journal (Mazo Publishers ), a humorous account of the first year of Aliyah.