In a meeting at Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Jerusalem residence, Eli Beer, founder and president of United Hatzalah, presented the President with “Angels in Orange,” a book detailing the unprecedented mobilization of United Hatzalah’s volunteers on October 7, 2023.
Written originally in English by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer, the book sold tens of thousands of copies before being translated into Hebrew by the Israeli publisher Sella Meir. The Hebrew book is now available in Israeli bookstores across the country.
“Angels in Orange” chronicles the extraordinary response of United Hatzalah volunteers on October 7th and the harrowing weeks that followed. Within an hour of the first sirens, volunteer doctors, paramedics, and EMTs donned their distinctive orange vests and raced to the frontlines in United Hatzalah ambulances.
The meeting at the President’s House was attended by United Hatzalah President and Founder Eli Beer, his wife Gitty Beer, United Hatzalah CEO Prof. Ehud Davidson, Deputy CEO Eli Pollak, author Rabbi Nachman Seltzer and Sella Meir Publishing CEO Dvir Schwartz.
Beer recounted the past year’s challenges to the President, reflecting on the war that erupted on Simchat Torah just days after United Hatzalah’s 18-year anniversary celebration at the Presidential Residence. Responding to the President’s inquiry, Beer shared that United Hatzalah’s emergency center had received over 750,000 emergency calls nationwide in the past year, with more than 8,000 volunteers responding to these critical needs.
One particularly moving moment came when Beer shared the story of Awad Darawshe from the northern town of Iksal—the first United Hatzalah volunteer killed while treating the wounded at the Nova Music Festival.
“I want to say thanks,” said President Herzog. “This is very impressive and important to tell the story of the Angels in Orange, who saved so many lives from the beginning on October 7. We have a lot of respect for you and the organization. United Hatzalah is doing holy work. Bless you.”
“Let’s say the following: May this story have no more chapters, God willing. But may this story be reverberated from generation to generation,” Herzog concluded.
