Bridge Builder Award 2024—Yocheved Ruttenberg Acceptance Speech
The Bridge Builder Award recognizes individuals who are working to bridge divides within the Jewish people: between communities, across ideologies, between the Diaspora and Israel and more. The winner of the Bridge Builder Award 2024 is Yocheved Ruttenberg. Yocheved co-founded the Sword of Iron Facebook group, a platform to centralize volunteer efforts supporting Israelis after the October 7th crisis. What started as a small initiative has grown into a global network of over 37,000 volunteers, uniting people from diverse religious, cultural, and ideological backgrounds. Yocheved’s leadership exemplifies the Z3 spirit through her commitment to fostering unity and cooperation between diaspora Jews and Israelis.
Video Transcript
It really is an absolute honor to be here today.
Every Jew has a purpose in this world. We have a collective responsibility to spread light, to love, and to inspire. Like many of you, I woke up in the States on October 7th with a feeling of helplessness, being so far away from our people when they needed us most. And that's a feeling I will carry with me forever. I knew I needed to be in Israel, so I called my mom, who was already living every parent's worst nightmare.
My brother, lone soldier, was fighting in the south on the seventh. But yet, when I called her to say, Mom, I need to go to Israel, without any hesitation, she said, if you don't go, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Days later, I was on the plane with 23 duffel bags full of supplies, and I was only supposed to be in Israel for two weeks. But three days before my return flight, I called my job and I quit.
I stand before you today and in eight weeks I will officially have my Aliyah status.
A year ago, I was selling roofs, living in Dallas, Texas, and today I get to wake up in Tel Aviv at 23 years old, chasing a mission much larger than myself. And this is what happens when you go after your passions every single day. When you have a purpose, everything else somehow becomes less relevant. You learn to live with what you have, because when you wake up with a mission, nothing else matters.
I saw the urgent need to connect those wanting to help with those in need. And that's how Sword of Iron was born. We quickly became a cornerstone for volunteering in Israel, centralizing all efforts to support soldiers, evacuees, hospitals, and more. No one was left unburdened, and the country needed help desperately and quickly. None of this would be possible without my incredible team that works alongside me every day, Ya'el, Sarah, and Ariel, who work tirelessly to support our community and make sure that they have everything that they need. Today, I want to share with you what I've learned from the over 40,000 people who have joined our movement. If there's a will, there's a way. We can't let life happen to us. We have to chase our purpose with everything we have. We now stand at a unique moment in Jewish history, where unlike our ancestors, we have a privilege that comes with great responsibility.
We have a land for the Jews and it is our job to fight to protect it. We have a legacy to defend and a future to build. We're not just observers of history, we're its authors. We are building the biggest Jewish volunteering community in the world and I invite you to all be a part of this bridge. You all have something special to offer, so please come to Israel and volunteer. Find your way to help. Together, let's transform our pain into action, our fear into strength, and our individual actions into a collective power. If I can promise you one thing today, if you don't go to Israel, you will regret it for the rest of your life.
I can't do this without each of you, so I have three asks. Number one, learn what we do. Join Sword of Iron Israel Volunteer Opportunities. What started as a spark of inspiration can only grow with each of you. The time is now, and we need you, and Israel needs you desperately. Number two, spread the word. We need the world to know the narrative that the news is not talking about. The thousands of Jews and non-Jews that are flooding into Israel to volunteer and support our brothers and sisters. And number three, come volunteer. I hear the diaspora asking, what can we do? Sure, you can send money, but we need your hands. We need your time and we need your love. So get involved and come volunteer. I've dedicated my life to strengthening the Jewish people and the state of Israel. We've done an incredible job in just one year, but we have a very long way to go. So let history remember this as a moment when we didn't just survive, but we united and thrived. Shavua Tov and thank you so much.
