As someone who made aliyah at 32, I’m grateful to have integrated as well as I did. But I’ve always felt a tinge of regret for being past the age to serve in Israel’s army.
In my view, IDF soldiers are our Jewish nation’s giants who put off rite-of-passage pursuits, such as university, to protect our borders. So I jumped at the chance to join some of these soldiers on the Belev Echad (One Heart) trip to New York City this past November.
As noted on the Belev Echad website, the organization – founded in 2009 by Rabbi Uriel Vigler and wife Shevy – began as a local initiative of New York’s Upper East Side Jewish community, a gesture of solidarity and support, with an annual tour of the city. It has transformed into a global movement assisting IDF wounded-in-action (WIA) veterans reintegrate into civilian life and thrive.
Yossi Nasser, a Belev Echad board member, expands on the 10-day trip’s mission: “Give these heroes a break, introduce them to New York City’s world-famous sites and embrace them in the love of the local Jewish community, to help them rehabilitate emotionally and give them strength to return to life.”
“Give these heroes a break, introduce them to New York City’s world-famous sites and embrace them in the love of the local Jewish community, to help them rehabilitate emotionally and give them strength to return to life.”
Yossi Nasser
Although these may seem like just pretty words, I was continually moved by how the 12 WIA veterans on the trip – seven men, five women; in their twenties and thirties; some married with children, some with partners, some single – enjoyed experiences that I, a New York native, never dreamed of having.
Moreover, they met with, told their stories to, and were enveloped in the grateful kindness of hundreds of Upper East Side natives who actively support, fund and host Belev Echad and its soldiers – in their homes and at the “hottest-ticket-in-town” fundraising gala that capped off the trip (also attended by Israeli actors from the Fauda and Tehran TV series who were specially brought in by the organization).
The soldiers in Belev Echad
Last March, former soldier Elie Chazzan was a victim of a terror attack in Hadera that left two of his friends dead and another eight seriously wounded. Chazzan himself took three bullets but managed to open fire on the terrorists, shooting for 90 seconds straight until he neutralized the enemy.
“We were surrounded, and minutes before the attack my friend shouted, ‘Cover me!’ I wasn’t able to save him. I took a bullet in my back to protect Noy, a fellow soldier, saving her life, but I couldn’t save them all.
“I awoke from surgery into a new reality. That fateful day, I went from soldier to physically handicapped.”
Chazzan spent two months in the hospital, then dealt with extensive rehab. Today, he’s back home but still undergoing intensive therapies. He says of Belev Echad, which approached him to join while in the hospital, “They gave me a place where I felt accepted and understood... and the courage to believe that I can triumph over disability and physical and emotional pain.”
Veteran Doron Akiva of Petah Tikva shares how post-injury, he fell into a depression. Nearly losing his life when a terrorist dropped a cinder block on his head and then another on his foot from a height of four floors, he remembers, “My body was one mass of agony. My neck was exploding in pain; I couldn’t move my left hand, but I still had no idea how badly I’d been wounded.”
“My body was one mass of agony. My neck was exploding in pain; I couldn’t move my left hand, but I still had no idea how badly I’d been wounded.”
Doron Akiva
With three torn neck vertebrae, he dealt with a period of lying motionless in the hospital and another four bedridden months at home. Finally, with intensive physiotherapy and hydrotherapy, he regained most of his physical functions.
Not yet restored? His emotional health – Akiva suffered PTSD and depression. In an effort to help him emerge from despair, Belev Echad invited him on the New York trip. He recounts meeting co-founder Rabbi Vigler, who “taught me that disabled people like me can still live our dreams. Maybe not the ones we originally planned, but other new and meaningful ones.”
Raz Mizrachi was badly wounded in a vicious car ramming in May 2021, after being deployed to east Jerusalem during Operation Guardian of the Walls. The aftermath? “From a talented athlete who could run 10 miles without losing my breath, I needed to learn how to walk again,” she recounts. “Ten steps with excruciating pain was an accomplishment.” Mizrachi also required intensive emotional therapy and psychiatric intervention to recuperate from the fear, anxiety and depression that followed.
But, thankfully, “the guys at Belev Echad are awesome. They did so much for me. They introduced me to other wounded soldiers and terror victims who’ve suffered similar incidents. That alone gave me so much strength to go on.”
At the gala, Mizrachi brushed back tears and told the crowd of a thousand, “The terrorist might have injured me physically, but he did not succeed in his mission. I am still here, I am still fighting, and I am still motivated – and I love my Israel more than ever!”
Exceptional experiences in New York
Belev Echad went above and beyond to ensure that the veterans had the trip of a lifetime. And honestly, while it would probably be a better use of time to list what activities they didn’t do, here is a glimpse of what they were treated to:
- Luxury helicopter rides for up-close views of the city panorama – including the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building, you name it
- Not your average drive around NYC streets – in Lamborghinis
- Private tour of the New York Stock Exchange
- Watching a Brooklyn Nets basketball game from a private box in Barclays Center
- Shopping sprees
- Wining and dining at NYC’s top kosher restaurants like Prime Grill
- Pampering ahead of the gala: professional hair and makeup for the female veterans.
It doesn’t end there
While the trip provided some much-needed time away and chizuk (emotional/physical support and encouragement), that was just the beginning. As Raz Badani, who directs the Belev Echad Center in Kiryat Ono, notes: “We do everything in our power to place hundreds of IDF veterans into the workforce. After all they’ve given for our country, this is our chance to give back to them.
“Today, many WIA soldiers and veterans are employed in corporate Israel, serving as role models for their colleagues and other IDF veterans as individuals who scaled the mountain of challenge to succeed in life.”
“Today, many WIA soldiers and veterans are employed in corporate Israel, serving as role models for their colleagues and other IDF veterans as individuals who scaled the mountain of challenge to succeed in life.”
Raz Badani
Just how does the organization do this and so much more? See section Belev Echad by the numbers.
HAVING NOT been in my hometown for four years, it felt fitting to be returning with a truly Israeli group. The homeland I immigrated to would not exist if not for the sacrifices of these soldiers and those preceding them. It was heartwarming to see how Belev Echad equips them to “face the music” and live the successful post-army lives they so richly deserve. ■
For more information: belevechad.nyc/
The writer was a guest of Belev Echad.
Belev Echad by the numbers
- 500 wounded IDF soldiers in the “Belev Echad family” who receive active support
- 3,600 meals served annually at the Belev Echad Center in Kiryat Ono
- 1,200 food packages delivered to wounded soldiers
- 300 hours of medical massages at the Belev Echad Center
- 250 soldiers granted financial aid for basic necessities
- 250 hours of private tutoring for soldiers
- 150 soldiers spending time in the Belev Echad Center on a weekly basis
- 120 educational scholarships
- 60 soldiers who have experienced a trip to New York and/or Miami
- 60 laptops gifted to assist soldiers in their studies
- 50 soldiers using the Belev Echad gym weekly, with professional instruction
- 45 medical devices distributed
- 40 professionally trained therapeutic dogs given to wounded soldiers
- 35 soldiers provided with professional coaching
- 32 US colleges visited by soldier ambassadors, reaching over 1,500 students to help fight BDS and antisemitism
- 30 soldiers undergoing weekly martial arts training in the Belev Echad Center
- 25 soldiers provided with career mentors
- 25 soldiers provided with mentors to advise them on mortgages
- 25 CEOs who have given motivational real estate lectures to 500 soldiers at the Belev Echad Center
- 25 soldiers provided with legal aid in navigating their government rights
- 20 soldiers surfing weekly at the surfing center
- 20 annual community events at the Belev Echad Center, attended by 500 soldiers
- 10 soldiers receiving financial grants for home purchase
- 1 annual weekend providing all soldiers involved with five days of therapy and love