As Jewish communities around the world prepare to celebrate Shavuot, the holiday of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, and Muslim communities prepare for Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, something meaningful is unfolding here at United Hatzalah National Headquarters.

Two holidays. Two faith traditions. One shared mission – Saving lives.

On Shavuot, Jews read Megillat Ruth. The biblical story of Ruth, a Moabite Princess, and her unwavering devotion to her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth leaves behind her homeland, lifestyle and everything familiar, to stand beside Naomi as they journey together to a foreign land. The story highlights values often underappreciated or overlooked in modern day society. Loyalty, sacrifice, and courage.

At the same time, the Muslim community prepares to celebrate Eid al-Adha, a festival that centers on similar attributes. Faith, selflessness, and devotion to something greater than oneself.

On the eve of these two holidays, a group of three women medics gathered for an ambulance shift in the Israeli capital. The three represent more than their individual religious values. In many ways, they embody the modern-day spirits of Ruth and Naomi, who, like themselves were brave heroines, breaking barriers.

I met this all-female lifesaving crew after they completed a day representing United Hatzalah at a health fair in Beit Hanina, an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

This dynamic team represents much more than emergency medicine they are trained to provide. Yes, they respond to emergencies without hesitation, crossing neighborhoods, languages, religions, and political divides for one purpose: saving human life. But they also represent a side of Israel the world rarely sees Coexistence.

Rania Abu Shaba’an, a Muslim living in East Jerusalem, has been volunteering with United Hatzalah since 2018. Alongside her friend, Safa Taha, an EMT from Shuafat, the two women meet twice a week, responding to emergencies across Jerusalem and providing medical care to whomever requires help. Later in the day, they were joined by Karen Arieli, a religious Jewish EMT also from Jerusalem.

Each of these women found purpose and their life’s mission at United Hatzalah. They embody the very essence of United Hatzalah: an army of diverse emergency medical care providers treating anyone in need regardless of background, ethnicity or orientation, and all completely free of charge.

Raya, who’s been volunteering with United Hatzalah for nearly a decade, not only trained to be an EMT, she decided to become an ambulance driver. Today she told me that she has been so transformed and inspired by her work on the frontlines of emergency medicine, that she is now completing a doctorate in healthcare management.

These women volunteers are just three individuals’ part of a much larger movement within the organization. United Hatzalah’s Women’s Initiative, supported by Adele and Joel Sandberg, was founded in 2021. At the center of this initiative, is United Hatzalah’s Sandberg Women’s Unit, headed by Gitty Beer, wife of United Hatzalah founder and president Eli Beer. The unit empowers women from across Israel to become lifesaving volunteers in their communities. They are medics, paramedics, nurses, physicians, midwives, and mental health professionals. Today, the Unit boasts more than 2,000 mothers, sisters, wives — volunteers united by that singular goal.

In a city often associated with apartheid and division, these women are shining examples of coexistence. They work side by side inside ambulances, at health clinics and hospitals and on the streets of Jerusalem at scenes of all sorts of emergencies. They are quietly, consistently, and without fanfare, part of something powerful; Saving lives and Peace.