Since the October 7 massacre and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) has stepped up its efforts to help the most vulnerable populations in Israel during these difficult times.
KKL-JNF is best known for its activities improving the land, its trees, and its forests, but as Dudu Ashkenazi, head of its department of volunteers and adult special needs, explains, the organization cares equally well for the people living in the land.
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Ashkenazi’s unique department has demonstrated this ability since the beginning of the war, when KKL-JNF volunteers, who usually help out in the forests, were unable to do their work because of the rocket attacks. Furthermore, members of the adult population with special needs, many of whom work in factories performing basic assembly of goods, could not leave group homes due to the war, and the factories themselves were closed.
“When the war started,” explains Ashkenazi, “the employment centers couldn’t take them because they had no safe rooms and couldn’t guarantee their safety.” As a result, he explains, they not only suffered from the same trauma that the rest of the population was undergoing but were unable to leave their homes. There seemed to be no solution for helping them spend their time profitably.
By the second day of the war, Ashkenazi began to train several volunteers from the pool of volunteer workers at KKL-JNF to work with and visit group homes and other locations where adults with special needs are housed throughout Israel, providing them with activities and games.
“KKL-JNF is the only volunteer organization in Israel that assists adults with special needs,” says Ashkenazi. Since the beginning of the war, KKL-JNF volunteers have visited adults with special needs in 150 locations.
Visiting the wounded
In early December, during Hanukkah, Ashkenazi began to direct other KKL-JNF volunteers who had remained idle due to the war to start visiting wounded soldiers who had been hospitalized.
In January, he developed a unique Tu Bishvat Seder program for soldiers in the midst of extensive rehabilitation in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. KKL-JNF volunteers visited a different hospital daily, bringing plants and fruits for Tu Bishvat to the soldiers, speaking with them, and helping lift their spirits.
Ashkenazi recalls a visit to Loewenstein Hospital in Raanana, Israel’s largest rehabilitation center, where he and his team met soldiers as well as non-military personnel who were recovering from the war. Among the people he visited was Baruch Cohen, the Civilian Security Coordinator of Kibbutz Magen, who was injured in the fighting on October 7, and has been there since.
The visit to Loewenstein Hospital, says Ashkenazi, took place on the day following the announcement of the tragic deaths of 21 IDF soldiers who were killed in the collapse of two buildings in Gaza. The radio was playing mournful songs, and the public mood was despondent.
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“We decided that despite what had happened, we could not allow the enemy to defeat us and sadden our visit,” he says. The KKL-JNF volunteers, together with the recuperating soldiers in their wheelchairs, formed a circle of singing and dancing to raise their spirits and those of everyone there.
Similar successes have been recorded with the KKL-JNF volunteers who have visited adults with special needs during the war. Ashkenazi had arranged a schedule of sports activities together with the Special Olympics organization, for adults with special needs who were staying at a hostel near Tiberias. At the time, a squad of Israel Border Police volunteers was also there.
Ashkenazi arranged for the two groups, which previously had little contact, to participate in the activities. Both groups benefited. He adds that the conversations that KKL-JNF volunteers have had with these special needs adults have helped them deal with the tensions and pressures of the war and may be as effective as the activities themselves.
Ashkenazi adds that at the end of each day spent visiting recuperating IDF soldiers and adults with special needs, he is exhausted but filled with satisfaction and happiness.
Many vital projects have been made possible thanks to the support of KKL-JNF friends worldwide. To donate to KKL-JNF and support the activities for adults with special needs and many other initiatives to help Israelis in need and soldiers, click here.
This article was written in cooperation with KKL-JNF.