- Israel

Being There for Frightened Kavkazim Teenagers

Eyal has been the coordinator of Springboard Program in Akko for the past six months. Springboard, a JDC program, provides training and guidance to immigrant youth before, during and after their army service in order to help them successfully integrate into army life and increase their chances of succeeding in Israeli society.

This past Wednesday (July 12th), when the rocket attacks began in northern Israel, it still seemed that the situation would clear up and things would soon calm down. Eyal left his home in Carmiel, where he lives with his mother and an adopted cat, and drove to nearby Akko, where he had scheduled a meeting for IDF soldiers to speak with local immigrant youth as part of Springboard's guidance program. The discussions centered around the events unfolding on the northern border and the Israeli soldiers who had been kidnapped by Hezbollah earlier in the day. While at the meeting, Eyal learned that one of the soldiers killed in the fighting was a member of Akko's Kavkazi community.

As soon as Eyal received the news, he went to visit the soldier's family, to offer his help and support. When Eyal arrived at the soldier's home, he realized that the situation was worse than expected; the soldier's body had not been recovered and thus could not be buried, causing the family great emotional stress. The family did not even know if they could begin the traditional Jewish mourning process.

At the soldier's home, Eyal experienced firsthand how tight-knit Akko's Kavkazi community is, as a constant stream of family and friends poured in to comfort and lend support to the soldier's family. While he helped prepare members of the local Kavkazi community for army service, this was the first — and hopefully last — time that Eyal had been called upon to help a family who had lost a child in combat.

On Thursday, when it became clear that Israel was at war and residents of the north were on the front lines, the mood became increasingly tense. Eyal explains that when northern Israel, including Akko, came under attack, directives were issued instructing all offices to close and urging citizens to stay at home in a protected place. Eyal, however, felt that the youth he worked with in Akko needed him, so he drove to Akko's Hafuch al Hafuch Center, where he works part-time. (Hafuch al Hafuch is a JDC-sponsored network of drop-in centers providing counseling, mediation, legal advice, identity empowerment and information services to Israeli youth.). Eyal felt he had to be there for Akko's frightened teenagers who didn't understand how in a matter of hours their lives could change so drastically.

Eyal spent the afternoon in the Hafuch al Hafuch Center. As the only professional in the Center that day, Eyal, with his background in social work, was critical in helping the teenagers discuss issues of fear, anxiety, feelings of terror and apprehension and the possibility of traumatic nightmares. The vast majority of those gathered were immigrant youth who admitted they felt torn between a desire to remain in Israel and protect their country and a desire to return to their countries of origin, where anxious relatives awaited them.

Lena, one of many Russian olim, shares her anxieties and new challenges at the Center for Young Adults in Nazareth Illit:

Lena: "I am in my first year of studies in social work at the University of Haifa. I am a single mother of a 3 ½-year-old daughter. I immigrated 16 years ago to Nazareth Illit. I currently live alone with my daughter and work at two jobs to support us. This year the Center for Young Adults provided a volunteer position for me at NANA — Immigrant Youth of Nazareth Illit in exchange for a tuition subsidy. The current security situation has added additional problems to my life, mostly due to the uncertainty of daily life. I don't know if there will be any daycare or camp for my daughter this summer. What about my studies? Is my school year finished? Will there be exams? I find this uncertainty very worrisome. I wanted to find a full-time job for the summer, but I don't know what is in store for the future. I am not doing well."

After the Center closed, Eyal drove back to Carmiel where he remained in his protected home. Eyal and his mother live on the top floor of a four story building.

This past Monday, during a brief period of quiet between the rocket attacks, Eyal's mother went out to buy food and Eyal left to take the cat to the veterinarian. A few minutes after they left their apartment, a Kaytusha rocket hit their building, smashing through the roof.

The rocket hit the ceiling of Eyal's apartment, blasting a hole in the ceiling and causing fear and destruction. When Eyal returned home from the veterinarian's, he saw a large crowd gathered outside his building. His mother and the neighbors were milling about as police and rescue workers assessed the damage.

Had Eyal not left to take the cat to the vet, he would have been in the apartment when the rocket hit, a possibility he shudders to think about. Despite this scare, Eyal refuses the offers of friends to move in with them in Tel Aviv, because his mother will not leave Carmiel and Eyal insists on remaining with her.

July 2006