Supporting the four Beit Halochem Rehabilitation Centres in Israel that care for our 51,000 wounded soldiers every day. For the rest of their lives.
WINTER MAGAZINE
2017
WELCOME TO THE
BEIT HALOCHEM
UK WINTER MAGAZINE
Our wonderful organisation, Beit Halochem, is so inspiring and full of hope and each day we hear such incredibly moving stories about our brave veterans and we feel it is important that you hear about them too. This is our first online magazine which we will also host on our website so you can go back to it whenever you like. The contents will give you a snapshot of what’s been happening at BHUK over the past few months and will update you about our future initiatives and events. It will also give you ideas about how you can get involved too. We also hope that the stories we have shared with you (and these are just two miraculous stories from the 51,000 wounded veterans we help) will give you a greater insight into the miracles that take place each day at our four Beit Halochem Centres in Israel. These past few months have been as busy as ever. We have now launched our Beit Halochem Young Ambassadors Network with the aim of raising awareness amongst the students in our community so do get in touch with us if you have children or grandchildren at University who may have some time to support us. Finally, please put the date for our forthcoming annual dinner in your diary: Wednesday 9 May 2018. If you would like to host a table, please email info@bhuk.org. Wishing you all a Chanukah Sameach and Happy New Year! With best wishes, Spencer Gelding Executive Director Beit Halochem UK
WHAT
From the moment they are injured,
DO?
care for our brave veterans, where they can
WE
Beit Halochem will provide exceptional begin to rebuild their lives.
BEIT HALOCHEM. A HOME AWAY FROM HOME. FOR LIFE.
WE PROVIDE OUR VETERANS
WITH:
Respite Specialised Sport Activities Art Therapy Hydrotherapy & Physiotherapy Gymnasium Activities for all the family Young Veterans Club Cultural Activities Childcare Provision of Scholarships Trips & Outings
e ls
WHO WE ARE
Beit Halochem UK is a national charity based in the United Kingdom devoted to raising awareness and funds for the Beit Halochem Rehabilitation Centres in Israel. As Israel continues to face its enemies inside and outside its borders, and the number of wounded veterans continues to grow, the funding needs of the four Beit Halochem Centres increase. Beit Halochem relies on its affiliated organisations such as Beit Halochem UK to help it carry the burden of giving its 51,000 members as normal a life as possible. Funding from our generous supporters around the world enables Beit Halochem to continue on-going programmes, develop new initiatives and purchase much needed equipment for the Beit Halochem Centres. Beit Halochem UK recognises that the men and women of the Israel Defence Forces serve their country with courage and dedication. They are Israel’s first line of defence; a responsibility they face with inordinate bravery. The debt of gratitude that we in the wider Jewish world owe them is inestimable.
“Beit Halochem has been a second home to me for over thirty years. I found a place which not only serves as a Rehabilitation Centre, but also enabled me to make friends, some of whom are now my soulmates. The facilities are extraordinary and it fills my heart with pride.”
Hanoch Budin
Beit Halochem member and elite swimming champion
KELLE EL
N
STOR E Y H
RAF F A O
T
Rafael Kellen was born to an ultraorthodox Jewish family that immigrated to Israel from South Africa. He enlisted with an elite IDF special canine unit, was wounded in a secret operation and underwent a gruelling rehabilitation process including overcoming an addiction to pain killers. Rafael is just 25 years old but with the life story of a genuine hero. “Being in the army was never difficult for me. Maybe because by nature, I'm a survivor whose been forced to survive all his life because I came from a background that was not easy. I was given Tito who in my opinion was the best dog in the unit. He was a joy and he took part in a few very special operations. On his last mission, Tito performed admirably and was decorated for saving the lives of many combatants. Unfortunately, he never got to actually receive the decoration because he was killed in the clash in which I was wounded."
Very little can be told of the event in which Kellen was wounded and his companion Tito killed. The operation was crowned a success. For Kellen, however, the mission ended badly when, on the way back to Israeli territory, his unit was the target of a powerful explosive device that severely injured his legs causing burns and wounds to his entire body, and severely limiting his hearing. He was rushed to hospital in Nahariya where he underwent a series of life-saving operations. Kellen’s physical recovery was considered relatively ‘quick’ but psychologically, his situation deteriorated. "I didn't understand what was happening to me," he recalls. "I began exhibiting signs of post-trauma. I'd look at bushes and was certain there were armed men hiding inside them. I tried to hide the signs with the help of morphine, but by that time I was already struggling to function without my daily fix," he admits. Following a lengthy rehabilitation process to help alleviate his addiction to painkillers, Rafael began attending Beit Halochem in Jerusalem where he receives daily physiotherapy treatments, exercises in the fitness room, and plays wheelchair basketball. Today Rafael is about to embark upon a bachelor's degree in social work. He regularly attends the activities for young people at Beit Halochem and has a very strong support network there. He has plans to one day establish a boarding school for at-risk youths so people will have fond memories of their childhood, rather than trauma.
THE STORY OF ANAT YAHALOM Anat Yahalom was the commander of a women’s unit in the Sinai. On October 6, 1973, Egyptian planes crossed the canal and bombarded her base. She was severely wounded and declared dead twice during her transportation to Israel. Once again, in hospital, she was declared dead upon her arrival but doctors managed to revive her. Her left leg was amputated at the knee and replaced with a complicated graft of artificial materials and her own self-donated tissue. She spent ten days in intensive care, and at one point the staff said she had no chance of survival. On awakening, she found that her commander, Shaul Shalev, and all of her friends at the base had been killed or taken captive. “I lost my body,” she recalled. “I lost my friends. Why should I fight for my life? Why should I live? I just wanted to die peacefully with my friends.” Anat spent a year in the hospital and underwent several unsuccessful surgeries in the US. When she was given her first wheelchair, she was told she would use it for the rest of her life. But several spiritual experiences led her to believe that it was not up to her whether she lived or died, and when doctors told her she would never walk, never marry and never have children, she thought to herself: “That is nonsense. I know I will dance.” Yahalom said she remembers the first time her friend, a fellow veteran amputee, took her to Beit Halochem. She sat by the swimming pool crying about how she couldn’t possibly swim with just one leg. She was also self-conscious. “Men who are wounded,” she said, “they’re war heroes. Women, on the other hand... it’s a different story. Scars are handsome on a man, but not so attractive on a woman.” Another veteran amputee who became a star runner saw her crying and told her she needed to swim. “If you need to cry,” he said, “then go cry in the water. No one will see you. You can shout in there and you can cry in there, and you can sing in there.” She took his advice and took her sorrows into the pool. Everything changed after that. Beit Halochem and its coaches also put Yahalom on a rehabilitation programme which enabled her to walk again. Using crutches and other sports equipment, she was finally able to stand on her own two legs. Eventually she married and had three children. She swam regularly and after two years could walk with crutches, clinging to a wall or supported by her husband, Rafi. Today, she walks completely unaided, and no one would suspect her decade of agony and immobility. She became a high school teacher and was sent as a Shlicha by the Jewish Agency to South Africa. She also took up hand-bike riding and started a riding group for disabled women and subsequently completed the New York hand-bike marathon - a remarkable achievement for a remarkable woman.
BEIT HALOCHEM UK RECENT INITIATIVES PURCHASE YOUR ARMY DOGTAGS! Over the past few months we have launched some exciting new initiatives. Our Army DogTag Campaign was established to raise funds to purchase two specially adapted wheelchairs for the Beit Halochem Wheelchair Basketball Team in Tel Aviv. At only £5, our army dogtags are raising funds for this important cause whilst raising awareness of our special organisation. Please do support our campaign by purchasing one for your children or grandchildren: http://bhuk.org/wheelchair-basketball-fundraiser/
OUR WORK WITH SCHOOLS Our aim at Beit Halochem this year is to reach out to as many young people as possible and to educate them about the important work of our organisation. We are delighted to have brought veterans to speak to pupils at Immanuel College and more recently at JFS and Yavneh College. In the future, we have plans to bring over veterans for various events, so if you work or are involved in a School and would like to discuss how we can work together, please do get in touch.
CALLING ALL BEIT HALOCHEM YOUNG AMBASSADORS Whilst your brothers in Israel are entering the army, how can you help here in the UK whilst you are beginning your careers at university? To become one of our very first ambassadors, we are asking you to help educate, raise money for and promote the work of Beit Halochem. Get in touch if you’d like to join our new network and help us to spread the word.
THE LAST FEW MONTHS: AN OVERVIEW HANOCH BUDIN & SHABBAT UK chosen Israeli charity to support. Hanoch, who lost his right hand during the 1982 Lebanon War, spent Shabbat with the community including a 300-strong uplifting Friday night dinner where he participated in a Q&A session with Rabbi Schochet. Hanoch discussed his injury, rehabilitation and how he was introduced to Beit Halochem where he discovered swimming as a form of therapy. From here, he describes his ‘rebirth’. Within five years, Hanoch was not only a member of Israel’s Paralympic team but gained a backstroke gold medal in world record time in 1988 at the Seoul Paralympics. During his visit, Hanoch also addressed UCL students and members of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue.
BEIT HALOCHEM VETERANS VISIT LONDON Beit Halochem Veterans Shani Kotev, Ben Baker Morag and Anat Yahalom visited the UK to participate in several events for the charity including at JFS School, Yavneh College and two private functions. Tony Page hosted a very special evening for gentleman at his home for Beit Halochem UK where guests heard from Shani and Ben. Michaela Meyohas hosted a small ladies event in her home where guests heard from Ben and Anat. Both events were a chance for attendees to learn more the work of Beit Halochem, some of them newly acquainted to the organisation.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
GET INVOLVED
Annual Whisky Tasting 18 January 2018
During your next visit to Israel, Beit Halochem can arrange for you and your family to visit one of the four Rehabilitation Centres to see the life changing work that takes place every day to improve the lives of soldiers injured whilst protecting the State of Israel. Get in touch.
Yom Haazmaut 19 April 2018 Annual Fundraising Dinner 9 May 2018 Annual Golf Day 24 May 2018
BE INFORMED
Email info@bhuk.org to receive our monthly e newsletters updating you with BHUK news, events and initiatives.
THIS CHANUKAH, REMEMBER THE MIRACLES THAT TAKE PLACE EACH DAY AT BEIT HALOCHEM TO REHABILITATE OUR WOUNDED HEROES…
How can you give back to these brave men and women who put their lives on the line each day? For just £5, our Beit Halochem UK dogtags are the perfect gift for your children /grandchildren this Chanukah and will make a difference to the lives of our brothers and sisters wounded whilst protecting our country.
DONATE
ANNUAL FUNDRAISING DINNER
SAVE THE DATE
AT A CENTRAL LONDON VENUE RECEPTION 19.15 DINNER 20.00 CARRIAGES 22.30 DRESS: LOUNGE SUIT WEDNESDAY 9 MAY 2018 Dinner Chair: Mrs Orly Wolfson
If you would like to host a table at this year’s Beit Halochem Annual Fundraising Dinner, please note we do not charge table hosts or guests an entrance fee but we do give everyone an opportunity to donate to the charity by means of a pledge card. All we require from our hosts are the names of likeminded people who you feel would consider donating to this charity. The Beit Halochem Office will take care of all the administration.
Please email info@bhuk.org or call us on 020 84582455 for more information.
WISHING ALL OF OUR FRIENDS A
CHANUKAH SAMEACH AND A
HAPPY NEW YEAR “In 2002, while on patrol on the border with Gaza, an explosive device blew up and the resulting wound to my knee caused unbearable pain. Worst of all, I developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I finally decided to have my leg amputated. The physical pain disappeared immediately. The PTSD did not. At this point, Beit Halochem entered my life and began turning it around. Amongst other activities, I began wall climbing. With one leg, this was not easy. But it was just me and my thoughts. One leg in front of the other. This healed me more than any psychologist or medication. I know the PTSD is not going to disappear, but thanks to the support of Beit Halochem, I have come a very long way.”
Matan Berman,
Beit Halochem Member & Third Generation Disabled IDF Veteran
DONATE
Tel: 0208 458 2455 Email: info@bhuk.org Web: www.bhuk.org
Registered charity number: 1146950