- Israel

Plagued by Terror, Haifa's Supportive Community Helps Jelena Survive

Jelena did not leave her apartment for over 30 days once the katyusha rockets began raining down on Haifa. While many of the city residents ventured out at night or in between the air raid sirens for fresh air and social interaction, Jelena was petrified to follow. Each time the siren rang, each time a blast was heard, she was sent reeling, overwhelmed by memories of another blast — a terrorist bombing that nearly took her life eight years ago. An immigrant of less than 15 years, Jelena has already experienced more than her fair share of tribulations as an Israeli citizen.

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Jelena made aliyah in 1992, with her 16-year-old daughter Diana.

Mother and daughter settled on a kibbutz up north and quickly integrated into Israeli society, learning Hebrew and making friends. A few years later, the two moved to Haifa, where Jelena found a job and a nice apartment. Her life seemed to be falling into place, until that fateful day in 1998. After spending the day in central Israel, Jelena and Diana were ready to return home. But they boarded the wrong bus at the wrong time: the Haifa-bound bus made a stop in Hadera, where a suicide bomber boarded the bus and detonated himself inches away from where Jelena and Diana were sitting. Jelena, badly injured, was rushed to the hospital.

Diana, suffering from shock and post-traumatic disorder, was told that her mother had died. Although Jelena did in fact manage to survive, the incident scarred them both for life. Diana suffered a nervous breakdown from which she never recovered, and today she spends most of her time in a mental hospital in Jerusalem. Jelena lost the use of her legs, and can only move about with the help of crutches. Plagued by nightmares, she can only sleep with the aid of sleeping pills. No longer able to work, Jelena now subsists on monthly disability payments from the National Insurance Institute.

In April of this year, Jelena joined Haifa's Supportive Community for the Disabled, which has been helping her deal with the physical and emotional after effects of the Hadera bombing. The Supportive Community provided Jelena with psychological counseling and encouraged her to join several social and rehab groups operating within the city. Already an important part of her life, Jelena never could have imagined that the community was going to be there to help her survive yet another trauma. When the rockets began to fall, the Supportive Community became her lifeline.

Jelena was trapped in her apartment, both due to the psychological trauma caused by the sirens and because leg injuries made it impossible for her to reach shelter in time. Jelena relies on the Supportive Community for both physical sustenance and emotional support. Nira, the Community's social worker, called Jelena each night and helped to ease her terror.

Nissim, the aptly named Community Father (Nissim means "miracles"), visited Jelena — and Diana, who moved to Haifa to be with her mother when the rocket attacks began — every day. Without these visits, Jelena is sure that she would either have been dead or gone insane.

"Instead of getting better, the situation was getting worse each day," Jelena said. "Diana and I would begin shaking as soon as the siren went off. Without Nissim's visits I don't know how I would have continued to function. He brought us food, medicine and comfort. It was his presence that stopped me from going mad."

September 2006