Most mornings, the Safed English Library is filled with volunteer workers sorting and classifying donated books, registering new acquisitions, returning books to shelves, and the myriad of other administrative jobs that keep an active library functioning.

An interview with any of the volunteers at the Library would produce an interesting story in itself. Drawn to the library from homes that are often a long bus ride away, the volunteers come in all ages and from varied backgrounds, some working in the Library three mornings a week. All are English speaking or bilingual with Hebrew, Israel’s national language.

Volunteering plays an important part in the lives of many retired people whose days are fuller thanks to the work and the companionship of other library lovers like themselves. Coffee and cookies sweeten the job. Typical of the volunteers is one whose life-long ambition was to work in a library. He began the very day he started his retirement.

New volunteers are welcomed all the time and simply have to make an appearance at the library to be put to work.