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BOSTON-HAIFA NETWORK SEMINAR
Working in Crisis
Tuesday, 11 March, 2008,
The Seniors Lobby-Haifa during the 2nd Lebanon War

The founding of the Seniors-Lobby was a direct consequence of a survey carried out by the Haifa Municipal Dept of Services for the Aged. The recommendations included "giving a voice" to the aged or creating a framework where the aged/seniors of Haifa could express their needs as well as contribute in assisting their peers.

From its founding in 2003, the Lobby faced many challenges, internally and externally. However, the situation facing the home front of Haifa in July-August 2006 was so serious that responding or not responding could mean life or death for the elderly in need or at least severe physical and 'mental' pain.

With the increasing danger to the home front, during this period, Mr. Eli Landau, Chm of the Lobby approached the Municipal Dept of Welfare Services expressing the sincere willingness of the Lobby to assist in anyway possible.
The Dept asked for assistance in making food deliveries to homebound elderly and families in distress. Then, for fear of leaving the house or being caught in an air-raid,
How did it work? Eli sent out a call to members of the Executive Committee and each one of these reached out to another circle of friends- of course, those who drove a car. The first distribution started at the NGO Lev Chash. Each volunteer received a list of names and addresses, a carton of produce, consulted the map of Haifa and went off.
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The food parcels
to be delivered
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The volunteers
receiving instructions
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Getting ready to go


The second distribution saw the volunteers and their cars lined up at the Grand Kanyon Mall. Again, each driver received a list of 3-4 names and addresses, this time in the same neighborhood, cartons of produce and a teen-age volunteer to deliver the food - an innovation.

As you may have guessed the needy did not live in neighorhoods familiar to us, the volunteers. We discovered that not all addresses were correct or were so vague that we had to ask people in the street to steer us to the families who are their neighbors.
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Trying to find an obscure address

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Up and down twisted stairways

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The grateful elderlies


More than once did we ring the bell, and the answer was in Russian,"Kto tam?" Who is there? How to find the words to answer? In Russian, or in Arabic?
Thanks to Fahed, it was easy to cover the Ein Hayam mixed Arab and Jewish neighborhood. We became expert at handling alerts while driving … park the car and run to the closest doorway! On the positive side, we made very good time since there was hardly any traffic in the streets.

Towards the end of the war period, the Municipality was arranging weekends of rest, in Jerusalem, for families who needed this.
The Seniors Lobby sent two representatives with each to accompany and coordinate the arrangements with the hosting hotel, etc.

In conclusion, this voluntary effort continued for about two- three weeks. A total of 70 pensioners participated, while 25 to 30 volunteers were active on any one day.
The most difficult part of the experience was that the Seniors Lobby did not have one central place from which to call, coordinate, plan, etc.
At the end, Eli Landau did it from his house which was quite far from the pick-up points of food, medications, etc. This problem of a central office faces us continuously until today.

How did we feel at the end of August? Needless to say, it was an enriching experience for us, as well as for our 'clients'. Values of mutual help, collective strength, solidarity and simple human kindness re-asserted themselves in a society where individualism is rearing its 'curly' head.

SHDEROT EXCHANGES - 2007- No. 1

With the increasing rocket attacks on the southern town of Shderot, the Seniors Lobby of Haifa, having gone through a similar experience, raised the issue of finding a way to alleviate the daily life of the Shderot pensioners.
After an exchange of letters with the local municipality and the contact made with the local pensioners organization, the Seniors Lobby decided to offer a 'rest day' for a group of pensioners, a 'rest day' that might take their minds off the uncertainty in which they live, refill their emotional 'batteries' for the future.

The Seniors Lobby in cooperation with NGO Matab Services for the Elderly and the Municipality of Haifa invited their Shderot cohorts for a day's visit which took place on 17th July 2008.
At 10.30 in the morning 50 pensioners from Shderot arrived at the Community Center Beit Hagefen. After refreshments, they received an explanation on the activities of the Center and the spirit of co-existence pervading the Center serving both an Arab and a Jewish neighborhood.

The group then set out for a tour of Haifa, guided by Zvi Ashkenazi, a pensioner himself.
From the historic (19th century) and picturesque neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas, to the newer (early 20th century) German Colony they drove up the Carmel to Stella Maris (Dominican Abbey and Church), to the Bahai Gardens reaching from the port area to the summit of the Carmel mountains, to the Haifa University and it's breathtaking view of the Mediterranean Sea and the Bay of Haifa, to Eliahu's Cave to light a candle and offer a prayer and back to the city.

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"Coexistence walk
Vadi Nisnas

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Beit Hagefen

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Stella Maris



A festive supper was organized at the Yotvata restaurant and there more members of the Seniors Lobby joined the guests for friendly interchanges.
Of course, the dignitaries took the floor and addressed the guests, but somehow the content was different. The Vice-Mayor of Haifa, Mr. Samuel Gelbhart, architect by profession, stressed the similar experience that Haifa went through the previous year. Remembering those days he spoke about the need for inner strength and perseverance in the face of uncertainty.
He expressed his regret that Shderot is facing its sixth year of attacks with an unknown future. Jacob Elkabetz, the Chairman of the Shderot pensioners, could not find words to express his gratitude for the wonderful day of activities that they enjoyed without worrying about the "Red Color" alert. "You had invited us for two-three days, but we could not leave our children and grandchildren for so long".
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Jacob Elkabetz, Chairman
of the Shderot pensioners
handing an emblem of Shderot
to Eli Landau 		Eli034$.jpg
Mr. Samuel Gelbhart

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I could not resist the temptation
to include this Sunset.

Eli Landau took the floor and admitted that this visit gives him much personal satisfaction. He fills fulfilled that the Lobby could have given this group of brave people three S's, translated : Quiet, tranquility and shalom even for one day. "As the popular song says, "Life is one narrow bridge that has to be traversed and the main thing is not to fear!"
("And know that a person needs to traverse a very, very narrow bridge, but the fundamental and most important principle is to have no hesitation or fear at all…" Rabbi Nachman of Breslov)

Hadas Golan, the CEO of Matab-Haifa accompanied the group all day, especially since her counterpart Lilian from Matab-Shderot joined the group for the visit. Matab is a product of Eshel, the national organization dedicated to developing services for the elderly created by the American Joint Committee. Matab trains and places caregivers in homes of the elderly.

SHDEROT EXCHANGES – 2007- No. 2

After the visit of the Shderot pensioners in Haifa in 17/7/2007, the latter invited the Haifa Seniors for a return visit on 20/11/2007. Very quickly a bus, containing 50 seats was filled. On the morning of their departure, the Mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav boarded the bus and handed Eli Landau three albums of Haifa dedicating each one personally for the Shderot Vice-Mayor Mr. Malka, the Chm of the Shderot Pensioners, Mr. Jacob Elkabetz and his deputy.
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The Mayor, surprising us on our departure
wishing us a safe journey..

It was a wintry rainy day and Mr. Malka waited to greet the visitors, before going off on urgent business and you can guess what! The day's program started with the viewing of a documentary on Shderot one of the many development towns built to integrate the thousands of new immigrants that arrived in Israel in the 1950's. Seeing the film produced by Dr. Arieh Cohen for his Ph D. on Development Towns, took the viewers back to the first years of Israel's independence, where the land was bare, the jobs were few and it took extraordinary courage to survive and continue to believe in Israel's future.
Scenes from the film showing some of the Negev pioneers
who are hardly mentioned in Israel's history books
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Schools and kindergartens were on the visitors" itinerary not to mention the "betonadas" protective walls on each street corner. The visit to the Civil Defense Center was very informative concerning the improved efforts the Army is making to protect the civilian population. Equally, impressive but frightening was viewing the dozens or rather the hundreds of rockets that rained on Shderot until now. The view of Beit Hanoun and Gaza from a nearby hillside just a kilometer away was too convincing of the danger under which the population of Shderot lives.

Lunch was arranged at the Ella Abouksis Center, a Club established by Ella's father, Jonathan Abouksis in memory of his daughter wounded mortally by a rocket as she shielded her young brother with her body, during a "Red Color" alert, on their way home from school. The Club offers course on the Torah, religious education for women and perpetuates the memory of a brave, conscientious young woman.
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Ella's father (right)

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The heroic Ella Abouksis



At the Sapir Community College, adjacent to Shderot, the visitors from Haifa heard a lecture from Mr. Zoar Avitan, in charge of Academic Studies on the importance of developing the Negev, 2/3 of the land mass of Israel and the disappointing pace of government agencies in this respect.
The visitors were happy to hear that Sapir College was recently authorized to offer courses towards the granting of the M.A. degree.

The visitors returned to Haifa full of impressions and renewed sentiments of solidarity. As they said, "We came with the intention of giving support and empathy, yet it is we who returned to Haifa, renewed spiritually, fortified and proud."