Israeli Sports Program Helps Heal Relations Between Fathers and Sons

The concept of Father’s Day would not always have come easy for 10-year-old “David,” who lives with his parents and older brothers in a coastal Israeli town north of Tel Aviv.

The concept of Father’s Day would not always have come easy for 10-year-old “David,” who lives with his parents and older brothers in a coastal Israeli town north of Tel Aviv.

By the time Eisa Abaker, 28, left Sudan at age 19, he’d seen things with his own eyes most people will never even read about. “People were killed, children died, there were massacres, and whole villages were destroyed. I had problems with the government, with their treatment of people. I left Sudan because it was impossible to keep living there.”

Two years ago, Odet, 19, was in the midst of a deep personal crisis. Born and raised in a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Jerusalem, she was finishing school and looking ahead at the next chapter of her life—one that would imminently lead to marriage and children.

One year ago, Shelly M. felt like she’d hit rock bottom. A 32-year-old single mother of two children, 7 and 5, she was living in public housing and relying on a government-issued food card to feed her young daughters. Shelly hadn’t worked in two years and was drowning in debt.

At his elementary school, Sammy is just one of many students from struggling homes—recent immigrants from the Caucuses, single-parent families, parents with chronic illnesses or addictions, victims of second- or third-generation poverty, and more recently, migrant workers.

"This family has gone from dependency to self-sufficiency—and is now able to help others." That's how their mentor described Danny and Tseganesh Bruk of Rishon LeZion, recent graduates of a three-year JDC empowerment program for Ethiopian-Israelis.

“As a child I couldn’t imagine coming to terms with my disability,” says Hanaa, 32, who was born congenitally blind, the youngest of six children in an Israeli Arab family with limited means. “But once I did, I realized I could derive motivation from it and go far.”

Odelia knew her five-year-old daughter “Tamar” was different. After learning she’d been a victim of abuse at the first day care she ever attended, Odelia was reluctant to enroll her in kindergarten full time. Then she heard about the New Beginnings program at a local kindergarten in Netanya.

Mila A., 24, loves her job. Every day she helps immigrants set out on their life’s course at the very same JDC Center for Young Adults where she was once received help on her own challenging journey, which has now come full circle.

Young Israelis in JDC’s Afikim program benefit from both individual mentorship and group workshops that help them gain self-assurance, develop professional skills, and learn real-life problem-solving strategies.