Opinion
TOMORROW STARTS TODAY
For Israel’s next chapter, big solutions for big challenges
Over the last year, we have witnessed Israeli society pushed to the brink by unprecedented challenges. The ongoing conflict — including the recent escalation in the north and attack by Iran — worsening societal fractures and economic and mental health strains have exacerbated deep vulnerabilities among Israelis across the country. Israelis who once lived ordinary lives now find themselves unexpectedly at risk, grappling with the harsh realities of trauma and uncertainty.
We have each experienced this reality from a different perspective: one of us as an American Jew and a career nonprofit CEO with long-standing personal connections and professional ties to Israel; and the other as an IDF brigadier general (Res.), an organizational psychologist and mother to children serving in the Israeli military. Together, we share a deep concern for Israel in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
The challenges we face are vast. More than 185,000 Israelis are seeking employment, including evacuees and reservists who’ve returned from military service without jobs; and, according to our estimates, 40% of employed evacuees are now at risk of losing their jobs. Anxiety is prevalent among approximately 55% of Israeli adults; there is a large-scale decline in the physical, mental and social capacity of the country’s oldest citizens, Israel’s founding generation; and Israeli youth have suffered a severe post-Oct. 7 uptick in rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness and substance abuse.
The impacts of these crises are profound and multifaceted, and they require us to craft responses that prioritize those who were vulnerable before the war and those who’ve been plunged into vulnerability since its onset. This is a huge undertaking and the urgency of these needs cannot be overstated: Millions of Israelis who never needed social support now need it to survive.
We have a moral obligation to act swiftly and effectively to confront these immediate social needs and to lay the groundwork for a resilient future, driven by a unity of purpose. This approach — embracing the opportunity found in each crisis — is a necessity for rebuilding a stronger Israel.
Since 1914, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC or “the Joint”) has been doing just that by empowering the vulnerable in the land of Israel. Before the war, 1 million Israelis were helped every week by social services we created. After Oct. 7, we expanded our reach and have directly aided more than 450,000 of the hardest-hit Israelis through our emergency services. We have learned three valuable lessons from this work — lessons that will determine the success of our shared project to rebuild a stronger Israel and reach the millions waiting for our support.
Lesson #1: Success is only possible with far-reaching and inclusive partnerships.
The challenges we face are simply too large for any one NGO, government ministry, municipality, or civil society, business, or volunteer leader to go at it alone. For example, if we want to rebuild Israel’s workforce for a new reality, we must bring together the jobless, the business sector, employment experts, seed investors and the government to develop relevant vocational training to fit the market’s current and future needs. If we want to fill educational gaps and develop efforts to heal Israel’s social divides, we need to partner with educators, cultural figures, local and national government leaders and leading NGOs — and those who will be lifted up by these interventions — to bring diverse and innovative solutions that fulfill the promise of an Israel that’s smart and unified.
How do we know this can be done? When addressing Israel’s post-Oct. 7 mental health crisis, we brought together tech designers, therapists, social workers, government officials and NGOs working in the mental health field, and the Jewish Federations, to design and deploy advanced technology and tools with widespread reach. The result was our National Mental Health Initiative, which utilizes cutting-edge technologies to provide widespread access to mental health services that millions of traumatized Israelis need now.
One of these is our flagship Nafshi platform, providing users with access to validated mental health options tailored to their individual needs and available on their phone, tablet, or computer. It includes self-care practices, community and social support options, youth interventions, medical clinics and other more intensive forms of therapy. This effort frees senior healthcare professionals and one-on-one therapists to handle severe cases without leaving others untreated. Additionally, we’ve created a number of Quiet Rooms, VR-guided oases where traumatized people can process their experience in reduced-stimulus spaces that are calming and offer self-regulation sensory tools. They have been set up in evacuee hotels where tens of thousands of Israelis have lived for months, in our resilience center in Ofakim, and in local hospitals. By collaborating on these projects, we are already helping Israelis heal on a grand scale.
Lesson #2: Philanthropy must be the catalyst for planning and implementing Israel’s next chapter.
Today in Israel, philanthropy sits at the crossroads of Israel’s recovery. It has also played a leading role in supporting the development of social services, arts and culture, education and business, entrepreneurship and investment. This uniquely positions the philanthropic sector to create solutions – and leverage decades of knowledge and resources and the respect of all parties to be an objective player – that transform the lives of those Israelis who need it most.
As we know, between overseas Jewish support, domestic Israeli efforts and funding from the Israeli government, there is more than $1 billion in the system to make Israel’s future viable. Much has been already used to start this process, and more will be needed to finish the job. But philanthropy can serve as the guarantor ensuring those monies are invested responsibly and in solutions that don’t focus on individual passion projects, but on millions of lives – those in the north and south, Jews and Arabs, religious and secular – all for the common good.
We have seen the promise in philanthropy’s investment in people who were injured or disabled on Oct. 7 or in combat. They are among tens of thousands of Israelis out of work and the most profoundly at risk of not working again. Their plight was being overlooked because of the staggering amount of need among Israelis who lost jobs or businesses because of the war and displacement. These folks needed specialized training and care to return to the workforce.
So we stepped in to launch a program called “Back on Track,” which is currently operating in six municipalities and three hospitals around Israel. It provides each patient with individually tailored career services and a coach – trained in trauma career counseling – who leads the patient through the process to ensure they reach their goal, whether it is a new job, training for an alternative career, or rehabilitation to work again. This project has been so successful it is now being incorporated into our partnership with the Israeli government. This will expand its reach and the resources invested in it so that more Israelis across the country can take advantage of Back on Track’s promise for a better future.
Lesson #3: Sustainable long-term solutions are a must if we want Israel to recover.
While addressing immediate needs can feel satisfying and meet the urgency of the moment, we cannot afford to lose sight of a long-term plan for rebuilding Israeli society, particularly in the regions that have suffered the most damage. This means developing sustainable solutions that will empower communities to thrive in the long run.
Most of the devastated areas in the north and south, for example, are comprised of small towns, villages and cities whose social services have been stretched too thin to meet current and future needs. After a year of intense war, these hardest-hit regions face the greatest challenges in bouncing back. Therefore, we must make sure they have their needs met in a holistic way that builds collaborations between all parties addressing these needs and deploys cutting-edge solutions to the complex educational, economic, social and cultural challenges that can be obstacles to building back better.
We have started this work by addressing the needs of 24 municipalities across Israel’s north, deploying tools, training and financial resources to reconstruct public infrastructure and social services. We’re gathering together all those involved in the rebuilding effort and are investing in getting children back to school, getting people back to work, involving residents in community revitalization projects and providing urgent relief to residents under fire. The ultimate goal is to rebuild in ways that provide a better quality of life to current residents and attract new residents in the coming years.
The key is the commitment of local authorities, NGOs, regional stakeholders and philanthropic partners to working together — overcoming differences, compromising and working toward a durable vision for the future of these communities. We must take this model and expand it throughout Israel, understanding that in times like these tomorrow starts today.
In a matter of days we will gather for Yom Kippur, the pinnacle of our practice of teshuvah. We atone in community, a public sign of our commitment to doing better, to being better and to imagining a year ahead filled with blessings and abundance — one God-willing devoid of the sorrow, loss and fear of the current moment.
As we embark on the final leg of that journey, let us also recommit to bring forward the resources, ideas and solutions needed to effectuate positive change reaching every corner of Israeli society. Only together can we build a resilient Israel and one where our hopes for the New Year — the hostages returned home, healing in every Israeli home, and peaceful times for Israel and Jews around the world — become reality.
Ariel Zwang is the CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Hadas Minka-Brand is the executive director of JDC-Israel.