Dear friends,
It has been a busy week filled with meaningful encounters at Shalem. I would like to take the opportunity to share the important highlights with you.
Representatives of our partner organisations, the IDFWO, Homiyah and the Yahalom Foundation visited Prague to share their civilian, professional and reserve soldiers' perspectives on the challenging reality of Israel at war.
We were honored to welcome Dr. Revital Djaoui Ben Yaakov, a mother of three and the widow of late Lior Ben Yaakov, z"l, who heroically fell while defending Moshav Mivtahim on 7th October 2023. Revital's display of incredible courage, resilience and optimism is a humbling reminder of the strength of Am Israel. Revital and her children are new members of the IDFWO, an organisation entrusted with caring for widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers fell while defending the State of Israel.
Hila Attias Almagor came to share the inspiring story of Homiyah, a non-profit organisation founded to provide stratified training to mental health professionals in treating trauma resulting from multi-scale disasters. Hila is the Organization's operational director and has broad experience in leading positions across the private and government sectors.
The representative of the Yahalom Unit, Captain E., shared fascinating accounts of the Unit's efforts in the current war revolving around the location and destruction of Hamas terror tunnels. His colleague, Captain N., a Yahalom veteran and a Yahalom Foundation's CEO presented its mission in embracing the Unit's soldiers beyond their mandatory and reserve duty, especially when it comes to caring for their mental health and bereaved families of the Unit's fallen.
During the two evening events, almost 200 guests including Czech, Israeli and international professionals, friends of Shalem, students and members of the local Jewish communities came together to "encounter" Israel and participate in a meaningful exchange.
The highlight of this week was a warm reception of our Israeli guests at the Czech Senate initiated by Senator Jiří Oberfalzer, the Senate's vice-president, attended by Senator Roman Kraus, chairman of the Senate's Health Committee and Senator Lumír Aschenbrenner, vice-chairman of the Committee on National Economy, Agriculture and Transport. In a friendly atmosphere, further cooperation between the Czech Republic and Israel was discussed, accenting the desire for mutual exchange in the field of mental health.
We are committed to continuing to build and maintain positive relations between the countries and increase cooperation.
I would like to extend my heartful thanks to all who made the events of this meaningful week happen, mainly to all our friends and supporters, Rabbi David Maxa of Ec Chajim, Marta and Dany Kolsky from Mamacoffee for providing catering free of charge, Mr. Evgeny Neimer for his delicious Jebrewsalem beer, Mr. Karel Sedláček, the chairman of the Israel Czech Republic Friendship Association and JCC in Prague.
Thank you,
Anna
