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Talking about youth mental health and wellness By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
Tim Baker/Herald
The Long Island Youth Wellness Summit recently returned to the Brookside School, where 350 participants from schools in Nassau and Suffolk counties took part in a daylong program that focused on mental health and wellness.
Over the last four years, the Brookside School in North Merrick has hosted the Long Island Youth Wellness Summit, sponsored by the New Jersey-based Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide. The conference brings together hundreds of students and staff from Long Island high schools, and through specialized training and programs, they learn about the skills today’s youth need to build a life of resiliency. The conference was the brainchild of Stacy Brief, 26, of Bellmore, who is a 2016 graduate of Mepham High School, a licensed social worker and director of the society’s Long Island chapter. Brief told the Herald that she went through a difficult period in high school, CoNTINued oN page 4
Survivors of Oct. 7 attacks speak to Merrick-Bellmore community By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, Jewish pride in Merrick and Bellmore remains steadfast. At Congregation Ohav Shalom last week, the Merrick Bellmore Jewish Community Council presented “Rebuilding After Oct. 7 — The Story of Kibbutz Nir Oz.” Speakers from Israel, who experienced the initial attacks, joined members of several congregations who gathered to hear their stories and to learn about ways that American Jews can help communities in Israel. “This week, the cover of the most recent edition of The
Economist magazine takes a picture of a lone Israeli flag, covered in grime,” Rabbi Ira Ebbin, of Ohav Shalom, said. “It’s blowing in the desert winds, being held up by a single twig. The title of the article simply states, ‘Israel Alone.’” “Are Israel and its citizens all by themselves in the world?” Ebbin asked. “There’s one thing that I’m absolutely certain about,” he went on. “The answer to the question … is unequivocally no. Israel is not alone. Since that horrific day on Simchat Torah, our prayers, our tears, our thoughts and our resources have all been centered around our brothers and sisters.”
Shani Goren and Omar Vehab, residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, recounted where they were, and what happened to them, when Hamas ter rorists stormed into their community. Nir Oz is near the Gaza border, and Hamas killed, injured or took captive about one-quarter of its residents. Goren, who addressed the crowd in Hebrew through a translator, was kidnapped. She spent 55 days as a hostage in Gaza. She recalled that on the morning of Oct. 7 there was a Code Red warning issued by the Israel Defense Forces in communities near the Gaza border. A Code Red usually
warns of incoming rockets, so she went into her home’s safe room and tried to contact her family members to figure out what was happening. Members of Hamas entered Goren’s home and threw a grenade into the safe room, but it didn’t explode. Then five terrorists walked into the room, and discussed what to do with her. “I asked them a few times,
three times, not to take me,” she said. “I refused. But each time that I refused they had weapons towards me.” They forced her to leave her home with them. “I realized that the army was not there — there was nothing we could do,” she said. Goren and other hostages were moved into a small house CoNTINued oN page 2