Helping others comes naturally to Olessia Kantor, a social entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and mother of four girls, who has dedicated the last decade to bettering the lives of those in distress.
Before October 7, among other goals, this altruistic Tel Avivian’s efforts were focused on helping women in shelters “get back on their feet” through her mentor scheme that tries to break the cycle of abuse.
“When women are in a shelter, everything is taken care of, but when they leave the shelter they have to deal with real life and sadly, a lot end up back with their husbands,” she noted.
Another pre-war project of Kantor’s involved helping young, bright adults from low-income families attend Tel Aviv University through her scholarship scheme.
But these projects have been put on the back burner for now, as Kantor turns her attention to the more urgent needs of Israeli society: its burgeoning mental health crisis, particularly among young people. Like so many Israelis, Kantor’s life altered dramatically on October 7 due to the “horrific, life-changing” Hamas terrorist attack which, she believes “changed our personalities.”
In an instant, everything that we had previously taken for granted – a strong army, safety in our own land, etc. – was obliterated. “Israeli society lost faith in its government,” she lamented.
As a result, Kantor founded the Lev Esh (Fire Heart) project in November 2023. The initiative connects people whose mental health has been affected by the events of October 7, and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, with a range of practitioners, including psychologists, psychiatrists, and holistic therapists.
Without this support, Kantor believes that many will resort to taking antidepressant medication, which “may not work the first time and can have unpleasant side effects, such as not wanting to go out,” she observed.Kantor is particularly concerned about the young people who are in danger of being lost to society, so great is the national trauma. “We have to do everything possible to get the young people back to their lives,” she stressed.
Through Lev Esh, Kantor works with local authorities and mental health practitioners to connect those who need help with those who provide it.
Kantor is concerned that unless the nation’s ongoing trauma is effectively dealt with by the government, the “circles of trauma will increase.” Accordingly, she believes that a national program should be implemented immediately to deal with the crisis as the “situation now is very complicated, owing to the length of the war.”
Instead of concentrating on the war itself, and the army’s achievements, she feels that we should be focusing on the personal lives of the younger generation, many of whom are carrying the mental as well as physical scars from the frontlines in Gaza. The burden of such trauma often makes it impossible to succeed, she stressed, citing university studies as one example where the problems manifest themselves. “Students in university can’t concentrate as they can’t disconnect from Gaza,” she noted.
Sadly, she continued, this mental health crisis is so severe, that “many young people are leaving the country and won’t be able to protect our borders, as they’re simply not capable,” leaving us more vulnerable than ever.While philanthropists like Kantor are picking up the slack by taking care of these young men and women as much as possible, a concerted effort by the government to deal with this crisis is needed, she repeated, but sadly, it isn’t there.
“Many are frustrated and have lost faith in the government,” she lamented.
Kantor is particularly grateful to Prof. Yossi Levi-Belz, chair of The Center for Resilience, Community, and Leadership at the Ruppin Academic Center. Despite his busy schedule, Levi-Belz always makes time to help Kantor with her project, she said.
THE DISPLACED families have also been “betrayed by the country,” Kantor believes. Instead of being rewarded for their dedication and service to the country, such as working the land and paying taxes, when they needed help, they were “abandoned,” she said.
Many are still living in hotels and temporary accommodations, with little more than the possessions that they were able to carry when they were forced to flee their homes.
Added to this tragic list are newly bereaved families who lost loved ones on both October 7 and since, in the most distressing circumstances imaginable. They, too, are suffering from trauma on an unimaginable scale, Kantor pointed out.
So grave is the level of trauma sweeping the country, particularly among young people, that nothing short of a national program will ease it, Kantor asserted. Until then, she said, it is up to her, and others like her, to “get young people back to normal life as functioning members of society,” by highlighting their problems and doing whatever they can to alleviate them.
Olessia Kantor is among the speakers at The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York on June 3.
This article was written in cooperation with Lev Esh.