“Nothing We Cannot Do”: This Yom Ha’atzmaut, a Conversation between Sigal Shelach & Reeva Ninio

These two JDC experts sit down to talk about JDC's response to the emergency in Israel — and what makes Israel's Independence Day so important this year.

By The JDC Team | May 14, 2024

The most vulnerable Israelis are top of mind for Sigal Shelach (left), executive director of JDC programs in Israel, and Reeva Ninio (right), JDC's Israel operations chief of staff.

JDC was born in the land of Israel, in 1914, when we supported starving Jews in Ottoman-era Palestine. Today, our roots there run deep — and since the Oct. 7 attacks, we have been delivering critical support to the most vulnerable Israelis.

To mark Yom Ha’atzmaut, we’re sharing this conversation between Sigal Shelach, executive director of JDC programs in Israel, and Reeva Ninio, our Israel operation’s chief of staff. The two women recently sat down to discuss JDC’s vital response and the significance of honoring Israel’s Independence Day during such a challenging year.

Sigal Shelach

Sigal Shelach: I was at my home on Oct. 7. It was 6:30 a.m. and I heard sirens — we’re used to it here. Then I heard a loud boom and felt that something was wrong. Just a few minutes from here, Hana Ben-Arzi was killed by a bomb, as she was on her way to open the community shelter. She was the first person who died. We saw it on our phones, and we understood that something significant was happening — but this was before we knew what a huge catastrophe was coming.

Reeva Ninio: I think we are a country in trauma. Every single one of us has been affected some way or another by Oct. 7. I’ve changed my route to work. When I worked at home, I used to leave the doors wide open. Now the doors are locked. I think twice about doing certain things.

SS: I can identify with that. Even as we’re wearing our professional hats, we’re also holding our personal identity — the people we know, the sadness, which is so deep that I can’t even describe, the fear for our children or family that are in reserves.

RN: My children have several friends who were at the Nova Music Festival and lost their friends. We had a few difficult days at home, trying to help them overcome their sadness and having to be able to cope with it.

SS: And yet, we jumped into action. That terrible Saturday, I said to our team, “We’re dropping everything. This is an emergency.” And what we’ve done since then is look at everything we do through a different lens. We turned to all our partners – in the government ministries, on the ground, and in the municipalities, and we asked, “How can we help? What can we do?” We hit the ground running and we did it — and we’re still able to do it — because of what we’ve built over many years.

RN: I couldn’t agree more. JDC has its boots on the ground in peacetime. So, when the events began on Oct. 7th, within a day or two, we could already mobilize ourselves and move into action, because we had the infrastructure, especially in the South.

Reeva Ninio

SS: Our response on Oct. 7 — and JDC’s role in Israel more broadly — has always been, since our founding in 1914, to bring state-of-the-art programs to the country’s most vulnerable, in order to make a strong Israel for all Israelis. You know as well as I do that, each week, one million Israelis are touched by JDC programs. We’ve had emergencies before, and we know that during these times, these vulnerable Israelis need us more than ever. 

RN: Especially right now. I think we’ve moved into what we might grimly call, “the routine of emergency,” which is a very strange concept. An emergency is an emergency, so how do you get routine in an emergency?

SS: Well, as time goes on, needs change, events change, and people move locations, so you have to be focused enough — but also agile enough — to meet the evolving needs on the ground. 

RN: Exactly — and we’re addressing these needs through a multi-faceted response. This includes treating trauma and building resilience in Israel’s youngest children; getting evacuees, reservists, and the newly disabled back to work; protecting Israel’s elderly in wartime; strengthening and revitalizing Israel’s frontline cities; and addressing a national mental health crisis.

SS: You know, I’m reminded of when I first came to JDC. I was told that, when Israel was founded, the country needed to build an education system, a road system, hospitals, everything. And JDC’s mission was to care for the vulnerable — many of them Holocaust survivors. So, we built these vast programs, like Malben — a network of institutions for elderly and disabled new immigrants, including homes for the aged, hospitals, TB sanitariums, sheltered workshops, and rehabilitation centers. In a way, I feel like we’re returning to that same sense of mission and purpose. 

RN: You don’t come to JDC because you’re going to get rich. You come to JDC because you believe in what we do to make Israel — and the entire Jewish world — a better place. In times like these, this mission becomes even more urgent, and people give even more of themselves.

SS: That’s why I think people are heroes here, at JDC and across Israel. Israelis are continuing to work, they’re in the reserves, they’re doing it all — and right now, they’re working above and beyond to actually overcome and somehow put on those professional hats to be able to help those who need help even more than us.

You don’t come to JDC because you’re going to get rich. You come to JDC because you believe in what we do to make Israel and the entire Jewish world a better place.

RN: There’s nothing we cannot do. We have to put our minds to it. This is our country — and we’ve built this unbelievable place over these 76 years, a place we can be proud of and that’s done amazing things. And yet, this Yom Ha’atzmaut, it feels impossible to celebrate —  we still have 132 hostages in Gaza, are involved in military operations in the North and South, and displaced people have been living in hotels for seven months. But the fact that I work for JDC and I can do something to alleviate the suffering of Israelis helps me feel proud in these difficult days  and gives me hope that we can rebuild and will rebuild.  

SS: This will be a huge undertaking. We need everyone, every idea. I can’t imagine the breadth and scope of this work. They say it takes a village to raise a child. It will take the world to rebuild Israel. But we can do it. We will do it. And though it’s just difficult to see, we hold that vision for everyone.

Sigal Shelach is the executive director of JDC Israel. Shelach holds a Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University in the Department of Labor Studies, specializing in the fields of immigration and employment. In 2001, she joined the Research and Economics Administration at the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor and served there for six years. During this period, she was involved in the implementation and management of programs to integrate various populations into the workforce. She was appointed executive director of JDC Israel in 2018.

Reeva Ninio manages JDC’s overall operations in Israel and promotes strategic initiatives, focusing in the past few months on JDC’s emergency response. As Director of Strategic Partnerships at JDC-TEVET, she focused on reducing poverty in Israel through increasing participation in the workforce.  She worked in JDC’s Resource Development Department, leading relationships with communities outside the US, including  Britain, France, Germany, Australia, and South Africa. Before joining JDC, she was an emissary to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington where she directed Partnership 2000 based on the “Lay Leadership” model. This Jewish Agency project connected the Beit Shemesh area of central Israel to Jewish communities in Washington, DC, and South Africa. Reeva immigrated to Israel from South Africa in 1979.

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