"One doesn't have to be crazy to be an Israeli, but it sure helps," goes the famous saying. It is usually heard when talking about Zionism, but it could equally apply to "Israeliness." The Israeli search-and-rescue teams and the country's above-and-beyond relief efforts in disaster zones are among the most classic symptoms of Israel's "craziness." Starvation in Biafra? Tsunami in Thailand? Earthquake in Japan? Floods in the U.S.? Volcanic eruptions and avalanches? You can rest assured that Israeli trekkers (and emissaries of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement) will be there, and Israeli humanitarians will be dispatched there in a timely manner, if they haven't arrived there already.
In Jewish tradition, saving a life (pikuah nefesh) trumps almost everything else; monetary costs play no role. That is why the circumstances surrounding a tragedy are immaterial, as is its cause (Israel goes out of its way to free Israelis whose own lapses resulted in their captivity, like in the case of Col. (ret.) Elhanan Tannenbaum). What matters in such cases are the lives at stake, even if only one person is in peril. As the old Talmudic saying goes, "Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."
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