Unleashing the winner within

Employing physical fitness to support injured IDF soldiers and terrorism victims.

By BENNIE PENZIK
Michael Kazanelson recently participated in the Tiberias Triathalon (photo credit: TIKVOT)
Michael Kazanelson recently participated in the Tiberias Triathalon
(photo credit: TIKVOT)
Recognizing that participation in sporting activities maximizes the potential for successful rehabilitation, the TIKVOT nonprofit strives to help, advance and promote physical fitness as an essential ingredient in the daily lives of individuals with disabilities.
As such, the 13 sports activities offered include swimming, water skiing, horseback riding and memberships at health clubs.
The organization – whose credo is “Unleashing the winner within” – was founded in 2007 by Mervin “Rocky” Muravitz, Vic Essakow and Ehud Edelman together with the late Steve Averbach, an IDF volunteer from the US.
Averbach had boarded a bus in Jerusalem when a terrorist, disguised as a haredi man, set off the explosion that resulted in his quadriplegic paralysis.
Muravitz fondly recalls that he had asked whether he could help Averbach, whose replied, “No! I will help you.”
Averbach became TIKVOT’s vice-president and joined Muravitz on two fund-raising trips to the US.
Muravitz and Essakow, both former South Africans, look back with pleasure and pride on some of the highlights of the past eight years activities, notably the achievements of some of TIKVOT’s “graduates”.
Gal Malihi, commander of the Maglan special forces unit, suffered a fractured skull in an armed clash during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, during which three of his soldiers were killed. He joined TIKVOT and was sent for a week of rehabilitation – together with the wounded members of his unit – on a skiing trip to Aspen under the banner “Challenge Aspen.”
After many months of hard training together with nonprofit’s triathlon team, the TIKVOT Tigers, Malihi recently completed his first competitive triathlon and will be competing in the relay in the Israman event this month in Eilat.
Malihi is an inspiration to wounded soldiers who suffer the effects of physical and emotional stress having experienced severe trauma in the performance of their military duty. They need to deal simultaneously on many fronts – the demands of physical rehabilitation and the struggle to regain a life of happiness, accomplishment and hope.
Times are tough for those hospitalized, when faced with the inevitable reduced frequency of visits from well-intentioned friends, letters of support from schoolchildren and packages filled with goodies.
This is where TIKVOT “kicks in” with many hours spent at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, ensuring that those with disabilities are provided with access to a range of facilities designed to improve the quality of their lives. The organization is firm in the belief that sports participation can play a major role in the rebuilding of the victim’s self-esteem and assist him/her to come to terms with having a disability.
Together with a team of over 50 volunteers, the director of operations, Simone Farbstein, speaks of the donors she has met as well as the humbling experience of observing changes in those who undergo rehabilitation. A number of donors have met participants, spent time with them in hospital or at a joint sports activity and have given them a sense of connection and friendship, extending on occasion to hosting them privately in their homes.
Noam Gershony is a former helicopter pilot who was introduced to TIKVOT by Farbstein during one of her regular visits to Sheba Medical Center. She persuaded him to try water-skiing, which he enjoyed. He then attempted skiing and achieved a level that enabled him to join a ski trip to Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe. Muravitz was convinced that this man, having also survived a wartime helicopter crash in the Second Lebanon War (2006), could do anything. He was proved correct when Gershony won a gold medal for tennis at the 2012 London Paralympics.
Eitan Hermon was wounded in the Second Lebanon War, when a roadside bomb detonated under his armored personnel carrier. He had previously been a competitive athlete but the injury necessitated the amputation of one leg.
He was fitted with a prosthetic leg – organized and paid for by TIKVOT – and began training with the determination that ensured his completion of the full (42 km.) Tiberias Marathon in a time that caused blushes among many able-bodied competitors.
He ran the full marathon in Berlin in 2014 in a time of 3:00:07 hours and won the gold medal in his category in the London Marathon 2015.
Shiri Mervis was eye-witness to the fatal injuries suffered by a friend in a bombing attack. She suffers from the trauma of that experience and lives with the anguish caused by vivid dreams and recollections of the riveting scenes of death. Mervis prays that she will be able to recover fully, having become active in her chosen sporting activity – swimming.
“It’s not just the sport,” she says. “I’m meeting people who know how I feel. It’s changed my life.”
TIKVOT is proud to have been the initiators of a number of group activities: • TIKVOT Tigers, started three years ago by two members of the organization, Adir Mizrahi and Dvir Avizrat.
These two young soldiers, together with “young at heart” Michael Kazanelson, 55, recently participated in the Tiberias Triathlon. The group grew overnight and now numbers 20 members who train five times a week with former triathlete champion Yair Spinko.
• Two surf groups, which surf all year around. One is run by board member Assaf Halevi, who formed a group of girls, bereaved sisters of fallen soldiers, and the other run by Ora Rov, who volunteers for soldiers wounded during Operation Protective Edge.
• A go-karting group run by young hi-tech volunteer, Shoshi Roshnevski.
• Abba’s Friends – together with the Paratroopers Foundation – is a group that brings together young orphans of paratroopers killed in action. Participants enjoy extreme sports activities including scuba diving and rock climbing.
From modest beginnings, the year 2015 ended with over 700 worthy recipients of assistance from the organization.
The undisputed champion fund-raiser is Muravitz, who combines his enthusiasm for his brainchild with his development of an uncanny knack of securing financial support, which is the lifeblood of TIKVOT.
From children maimed in a terrorist attack to double- amputee soldiers, TIKVOT is there, providing the challenge and companionship of sports, witnessing the unique power of sports activities to rekindle hope in shattered lives and restore dignity and self-confidence.
For more information: www.tikvot.org.il


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