Alumni Spotlight: Jonathan Swill

Due to the war initiated by Hamas on October 7th, the tragedy that Israel has witnessed, and the ongoing war in which over 200 people are being held hostage, Taglit-Birthright Israel BEYOND is featuring stories of alumni who are taking action and making a difference. 

Jonathan Swill is the Operations Manager of Supplies to Soldiers, a nonprofit with zero operating costs that works directly with soldiers to fulfill their requests for critical supplies within 48 hours.

At Columbia University, Jonathan Swill wears a kippah to class. 

Currently earning a Master’s degree in biomechanical engineering, the 2017 Taglit-Birthright Israel alumnus resides in New York City. Originally from New Jersey, Jonathan attended the University of Florida, home to the country’s largest on-campus Jewish population. The University of Florida President Ben Sasse released one of the only clear condemnations of terrorism and statements in support of Israel, whereas, at Columbia, outspoken Hamas sympathizers are controlling much of the narrative. 

Nevertheless, among Jonathan’s anti-Israel classmates and professors, he is proudly Jewish with a kippah atop his head. 

Soldiers on base receiving supplies sent.

The Lifelong Connection to Eretz Israel

Before participating in a Taglit-Birthright Israel, Jonathan had visited Israel five times. He was Bar Mitzvah’d there, as was his brother. Israel “connected him to Judaism, as well as the Jewish people because it is a tangible asset,” where “you hear the Jewish people alive and in one place, living their best lives.” When Jonathan went on Taglit-Birthright Israel, witnessing his friends develop a connection with the land for the first time brought him tremendous joy.

Jonathan told the story of his Taglit-Birthright Israel tour guide asking those who had been to the kotel—the Western Wall—and those who had not (and whose families had not) to separate into two lines. To the group who had not been, he said: 

“For the last two thousand years since the Jews have been in exile every single day, someone in your family has prayed…God, allow us to return to the city of Jerusalem. And for the first time in your lineage, over 2,000 years 200 generations, you’re the first person to actually bring that prayer to fruition.”

Even his macho friend, who hadn’t shown any interest in Judaism, was awe-stricken. To Jonathan, this illuminated that “the Jewish people cannot be defeated. No matter how much others try to take away our homeland, no matter how much these people try to rip us apart, we will always be there, even if it takes 2,000 years to get back. We’re always going to be there.”

Swill and a soldier whom he kept company at the airport late at night before a flight to Israel.

Reaching Soldiers in Israel from New York

When the war broke out on October 7, it was Shabbat, and Jon was with a friend who had his phone on. He heard about the war around 2 a.m.:

 “I was seeing live streams of hundreds, hundreds of terrorists, storming through the border, and at this point, the Israeli military hadn’t responded at all. I realized that this was a war, and I immediately started to think, how can I help?” 

Jonathan spoke to us, Birthright Israel BEYOND, on his Jewish birthday, turning 27 years old, the cut-off age for the Israeli Defense Forces volunteers. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go and physically defend the country. “I just tried to find a way to funnel my pain because I was struggling deeply. I said all right, how do I do this? Turn the negative into light.” He was added to a group chat called New York City Volunteers for Israel and immediately mobilized with the group. 

The leader of the group opened up his apartment to store and distribute goods. When Jonathan joined the group, there were 12 people, and as of October 16, there were over 100. On his birthday, he continued to raise funds.

“I put up a message. Basically, ‘today’s my birthday; I’m still going to be collecting because this next round of donations is going to go toward families that were in southern Israel that, by the grace of God, survived the horrible terror attacks. Still, their homes have been burnt, their dogs murdered, and they know people whose families have been murdered or taken. And I want to be able to donate to one specific family that I know—anything will help.” 

He felt strongly that after seeing the carnage, no amount of money would be sufficient, but of course, we must try.

Fighting Sadness with Light and Action

The first Monday following the onset of the war, Jonathan had an exam. He was distraught and saddened throughout, making it a difficult experience. 

He asked himself how to move forward and decided to begin fundraising over Instagram, simply communicating that he would be collecting supplies and shipping them to soldiers in Israel.

“Gloves, thermals, socks, batteries, chargers, headlights—the main thing that every single soldier needed was headlights, and we got over 100 of them in the end,” Jonathan shared. “It was interesting because, in the first days of the war, all the news that we were getting from the soldiers was that they needed ceramic vests.” 

For the average civilian, attaining military-grade ceramic vests doesn’t seem possible, but Jonathan’s father’s company “worked directly with the IDF and ordered [the vests] from Germany. And they got delivered.” Soldiers and their families have reached out to him directly, sharing their needs.

Shipping equipment to an advanced army is no easy feat; materials need to be approved by the IDF. But no obstacle could deter these efforts. Within a few hours of posting on Instagram, Jonathan received approximately $3,000 from more than 50 donors, “the majority of them are Jewish, but to my surprise and my heartfelt appreciation, a lot of people who weren’t Jewish but grew up with Jewish friends were donating money.”

Once he received the equipment, he went to Costco and spent as much as he could. “I thought I spent $5,000. Thank God, Costco is super cheap.” 

He bought the necessary materials with the funds that he raised and brought them to the organizer of Volunteers for Israel to distribute. 

“The leader of the group has a system in which, each time an El Al flight is announced, a mass text is sent out listing the exact supplies needed on each individual flight,” He explains. The organization finds out which soldiers are going to be on each flight and tells the soldiers about the goods available. The soldiers are matched with someone who will meet them at the airport. 

“It’s an incredible thing because it has nothing to do with shipping. These people are just taking them as checked bags. They’re big duffel bags completely filled with supplies, so it’s really incredible.”

Soldiers on base receiving gear from funds collected by Swill.

The Heartfelt Appreciation of Courageous Soldiers

Within 48 hours of purchasing, “I had already gotten pictures of the soldiers wearing the headlights on their heads, plugging their phones into the portable chargers, wearing the fleeces. I couldn’t have imagined a better thing. I’ve always been somebody who felt pressure to uphold my word, and so all these people on my Instagram are donating, and I wasn’t to show them the impact they are helping create. So it has been really important for me to get those pictures, post them on my Instagram, and say, ‘Here, this is the impact of your donations. Here’s what we’re doing.’”

With his friend Sean Portmann’s help, the donations kept coming. 

“We got a notice from the IDF on Thursday essentially saying we appreciate all the supplies being sent, but for right now, we’re okay.” 

Jonathan redirected his efforts, and another friend, Carli Fogel, who lived in Tel Aviv, put Jonathan in contact with a logistics center in Tel Aviv. They take the supply lists to each unit that needs it, and they go to stores in Israel to buy needed items and deliver them directly to the units on the front lines. 

“It took a while to try to figure out how to exchange the currency and get it into their bank accounts and whatnot. I’m happy to say that as of this morning, it finally hit their bank account, the $3,500 dollars, and I got news that it’s going to go to the units in the South, which is very exciting,” said Jonathan. 

Continued Efforts on the Ground: You are Needed

Jonathan believes that this initial supply push was successful, as millions of toothbrushes and other supplies were collected and distributed in Israel. 

“I think this is going to be a protracted battle, in my opinion, so it’s not just physical supplies, and it’s not just monetary supplies. Organizations are doing free telehealth, social work for children of Southern Israel, and so on.”

Wherever you are across the globe, there are likely services that you can provide to help the effort—and they don’t even necessarily include opening your wallet. “My brother, he’s a therapist, and he’s in charge of a group of 10 therapists who are conducting [free] sessions with children from Southern Israel,” Jonathan added.  

He also emphasized that there are ways to donate one’s time, as he recalled a story in which a soldier, Roi, was headed to Israel from New York. He showed up at the airport at 7 p.m., and the flight was at 6 a.m. In a group chat, someone asked if anyone was up—it was 11:30 p.m.—to spend time with Roi at the airport. 

“I brought him a board game; I brought him a tennis ball.” He even brought Roi a machine to stimulate his muscles, “He was like, ‘thank God, my back’s been hurting,’ and I told him to bring it back with him to the base; he was so thankful.” 

Jonathan emphasized that Roi is not an isolated case, “He’s already on the front lines; These people are willing to put their vacations—their lives—completely on hold because the land of Israel is under fire and being attacked. Just because we are not citizens of the state of Israel doesn’t mean we can’t also put our lives on hold and do everything we possibly can to aid in the defense of the land of Israel.”

Action epitomizes what is currently demanded of Jews in Israel and in the diaspora. Social media serves a purpose, but Jonathan emphasizes that “We can’t be okay with just posting Instagram stories and marching in the streets. It’s not enough.” 

Soldiers Fighting for Jews on Campus, in the Diaspora, and in the Land of Israel

At Columbia University, a thousand people showed up, chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which calls to end the Jewish state in Israel. 

“There were thousands of my fellow students there. I’m supposed to feel safe on campus when these people are calling for the murder of my family.” Jonathan explains that he agrees with freeing Palestinians—but from Hamas, the terrorist organization that takes humanitarian funds and uses them, instead, to wage war. Yet, rallying students on campus have threatened Jewish students—in some cases, physically attacking them. 

One of Jonathan’s cousins in the IDF reserves was sent into the Golan Heights for four days to patrol the area. When he returned, he saw hundreds of boxes of donations, “Most of it was American donations, and he said a lot of his soldiers started crying…They left the base on Saturday, thinking that they are the defenders of the seven million Jews in the land of Israel, and they came home to the base to realize that they are the defenders of the 14 million Jews around the world.”