Boris Lecht, maintenance team leader for the electric company in northern Israel, was under no illusions when he woke up on October 7, 2023, to find his country at war. “As a resident of the north, I understood where this was going,” he said. “We would have to work under fire.”
This is not Lecht’s first war. A 61-year-old from Karmiel, he immigrated to Israel from Ukraine at the age of 13 from Ukraine. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Lecht managed the team that repaired electrical faults under fire.
That morning, Lecht went to the Karmiel logistics center. “I took some teams and we headed south, to the Ashkelon area, where reinforcements were needed,” he said. “For two or three weeks, we traveled south every day early in the morning and returned late in the evening.”
In the first days of the war, the electricity infrastructure was destroyed in many communities, and entire areas were left in darkness. Lecht was the right man to help—he’s been at the electric company for 36 years and has spent the past 26 years managing power line maintenance and repair in northern Israel.
“We understood there would be alarms and shooting while working, but we already know that from the north,” Lecht said. “We knew we had to finish the work quickly to restore electricity to the people. The good thing is that the grid is the same and the infrastructure is the same. In the company, this is a procedure we are already trained in. When there is a large event or a large drill for a natural disaster, for example, teams are mobilized from the south to the north and vice versa.”
Lecht and his team worked in the Gaza border area until rocket fire toward the north intensified. “When we returned, we had many problems,” he said. “You have to remember that we are always also working on regular faults and repairs, and now we have to work additional hours and prioritize to fit everything in.”
Given how crucial electricity is, Lecht has had to prioritize his work over nearly everything else. “At the end of October, my grandson was born,” he said. “I was at work somewhere in the north, at the border. Only when I finished work did I travel to Jerusalem to meet him. Work must be finished. My wife immediately went to be with our daughter. I came when I was done.”
The northern kibbutz of Manara, just 150 yards from Lebanon, has been one of the hardest-hit sites that Lecht and his team worked on. “Until then, we had gone through several difficult and painful events,” he said. “But the images of Manara, the destruction of the community, the infrastructure destroyed, there are no homes. That’s something I can’t stop thinking about.”
Sometimes, he doesn’t tell his family where he is to avoid worrying them. “They still worry,” he said. “There is fear, and we have to work wisely and manage risks.”
He recounted working under the cover of darkness, accompanied by military escorts. Sometimes, the team must wait until approval from the military escort while tension builds, until they are finally allowed to start working. “Suddenly, sirens start, and we take cover, waiting for it to pass, and then we continue,” he said.
In November, a worker was killed on the frontlines. “We lost friends,” he said. “It’s hard.”
Despite all the challenges, Lecht manages to avoid despair. “It can’t reach a state of despair as long as we understand why we’re doing this and are aware,” he said. “Sometimes with the new workers, when we have to work at height under fire, it’s stressful. But that’s why I have the experienced workers to guide them. We know we have a mission, and our mission is to restore electricity. After that, we can sit down and talk, to unload.”
The work has connected him with northern communities he hadn’t known before. “Three months ago, there was an emotional moment for me when we restored electricity to the poultry farms in Avivi and Margalit,” he said. “I never understood the importance of poultry farms, of chickens, but suddenly you’re restoring their electricity, bringing back their work and lives, and seeing the residents happy about—it was special for me.”
The workers share his sense of national mission, Lecht said. “We are like the army,” he explained. “We must be ready to be mobilized anywhere.”
“Even in 2006, workers had to risk their lives in the dark,” he said. “These are not the same workers as today, but the DNA of the electric company hasn’t changed. When the light returns to the residents’ homes, you see what it does to them. I think my people are like warriors. They fought to bring back the light.”
