The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore and several local synagogues announced on Oct. 7 a new initiative to raise money for trauma relief in the form of mental health services to residents of Ashkelon, the Baltimore Jewish community’s sister city in Israel.
The Associated and its partners in this fundraising campaign are seeking to raise $500,000 from the Baltimore community, with every gift up to $500,000 being matched by The Associated for a goal total of $1 million that will go towards subsidizing therapy sessions for Ashkelon residents.
The motivation behind the fundraiser came from a trip that several local rabbis made to Israel in November 2023 that included a visit to a trauma center called the Ashkelon Resiliency Center, where they heard of a need for expanded access to mental health services.
“Everyone who’s visited Israel from any capacity over the last year has felt the massive mental health impacts [of Oct. 7 and the Israel-Hamas war]. Israel is a small country, a tightly-knit country, and across the country, people are no more than one step removed from the impact of this past year. The traumatic impact is real,” said Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Rabbi Andrew Busch, one of the rabbis who went on the November 2023 trip.
Busch added that the trauma Ashkelon residents are experiencing isn’t tied solely to the attacks on Oct. 7, but includes the continuous rocket attacks and other highly stressful realities of being at war.
Right now, treatments for anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, first responder support and post-reserve serving support are the most needed treatments at the center, according to Dafna Shengras, the director of the Ashkelon Resilience Center.
Shengras said that as recently as Oct. 11, residents woke up to alerts about drone attacks launched from Yemen and woke up on Yom Kippur to sirens due to a rocket attack launched from Gaza, which is bringing back feelings of panic and fear.
“The reality is that more and more people find themselves in situations that require professional support to be able to face the threats that continue to rise daily,” Shengras said.
Situations like the ongoing war are exactly why resiliency centers like the one in Ashkelon exist throughout Israel, as a way to cope with the ongoing realties of sustained war and the threat of terrorism, according to Erez Shitrit and Revital Steinberg, the Baltimore-Ashkelon partnership co-chairs in Israel.
The centers provide vital mental health support to residents in a situation that can wear people down.
Shengras recounted a recent conversation with a colleague in Ashkelon in which the coworker shared the positive impact that therapy sessions had on her two young girls in dealing with their trauma.
“Her two girls, in second and sixth grade, went to therapy after Oct. 7. They each received 12 sessions, and she joined all sessions. The sessions were very helpful and gave the girls tools to cope with stress and anxiety when sirens start. She said that while sitting with each one of them in the sessions, she discovered emotions and feelings they never shared with her,” Shengras said.
But Shengras added that with the ongoing attacks, the coworker was concerned that her children will become continually worn down and need more sessions.
The Associated estimates that an hour of therapy costs $180 and said that resources currently available in Ashkelon are not able to keep pace with the growing needs of the community.
“Unfortunately, we learned that more people need trauma care than there are resources available. As of spring 2024, 1,600 people were receiving treatment, with 1,000 waitlisted for treatment,” Andrew Cushnir, president and CEO of The Associated, wrote in an email to the Baltimore Jewish Times. “Our partner, The Israel Trauma Center, estimates the resilience center could receive between 8,000 to 10,000 applications from residents. We know this initiative will make a real difference in relieving the pain of our family in Ashkelon.”
Busch said that the initiative and its announcement during The Associated’s Oct. 7 event came out of a desire to turn their pain around the anniversary into a force for positive change.
Another added benefit is being able to help the people of Ashkelon in a time of great need, a group that many in the Baltimore Jewish community have strong ties to through the more than 20 years of partnership between the two cities.
“Over the years, we have celebrated joys and triumphs with each other, numerous delegations of all ages from both cities have visited the other, and I have seen the lasting, deep friendships among Baltimoreans and Ashkelonians. We are doing this community campaign because we so clearly understand the trauma inflicted on our Ashkelon family on Oct. 7 that continues to disrupt their lives,” Cushnir wrote.
The campaign will run from Oct. 7 until Oct. 28, right after Simchat Torah, and donations can be made to The Associated directly or through a participating organization, which, as of Sept. 20, includes Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, Beth El Congregation, Beth Israel Congregation, Beth Tfiloh Congregation, Bolton Street Synagogue, Chizuk Amuno Congregation, Har Sinai Oheb Shalom Congregation, Ner Tamid Congregation and Suburban Orthodox Congregation.
