Sidebar: The Recipient Organizations

Money raised at the Monmouth-Ocean Celebrates Israel festival in May will aid an Israeli hospital's efforts to treat families of Israeli terror victims.

Organizers of the festival have donated $16,000 to Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem and its Temmy and Albert Latner Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma.

The gift will assist the hospital's work with the Koby Mandell Foundation, which provides spiritual care for families in the wake of terrorist attacks.

The Mandell Foundation, which also received a $16,000 donation from the MOCI event, is preparing a report for the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County, which sponsored the MOCI festival, according to Ann Goldman, the federation's director of planning and allocations.

"This example of generosity will help us treat patients and their families whose lives have been forever changed by acts of terrorism," Aura Wolfe, director of resource development for the Latner center, told NJ Jewish News.

"Sadly, no place is more expert in healing pain than the State of Israel," said Wolfe, who met with Goldman on July 11. "Trauma has many dimensions, and we have learned to recognize and deal with all of them."

The Herzog Hospital psychotrauma center has been active since 1989. The ICTP, together with the support of UJA-Federation of New York, the initiator of the Israel Trauma Coalition, has become a teaching and research facility on the effects of trauma. More than 10 percent of Israelis suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, according to ICTP data.

"When parents have to bury their children, it's a reversal of the natural order of things," Wolfe said. "One generation is supposed to succeed another. But the reality is quite different, and we have learned this lesson well."

Mental health professionals have discovered that individual therapy for such patients is often unsuccessful, which can result in a lifetime of blame, resentment, and anger, Wolfe said.

As a result, trauma treatment programs have been developed for preschool children and their parents in regions of Israel that have been subjected to terrorist attacks, Wolfe said.

Among its other programs, ICTP experts train hundreds of mental health professionals and volunteers each year. It established a national school resilience project in 2002 and staffs the Metiv Walk-in Crisis Center in Jerusalem, the first of its kind in Israel.

The development of modern methods to treat PTSD symptoms by reinforcing natural coping mechanisms has led to a meeting of the minds between ICTP and the Koby Mandell Foundation.

"In simple terms, the ICTP provides psychological care, while the Mandell Foundation offers spiritual care," said Wolfe. "The Mandell Foundation provides spiritual nourishment."

The $16,000 from MOCI will enable the center to provide additional workshops on coping with loss and building resilience, she said. Children and their parents will have a "safe space" in which to endure the grieving and loss processes, Wolfe said.

The allocation also has enabled the center to collaborate with the Koby Mandell Foundation to bring together psychologists and social workers who have been specifically trained in trauma intervention, she added.

"We are in the midst of compiling research and evaluations," Wolfe said. "We have the expertise and, unfortunately, the experience. We can take our hard-earned losses and turn them into something that will benefit other survivors around the world."

More than 2,000 participants attended Monmouth-Ocean Celebrates Israel May 6 at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, which included a solidarity walk and a Judaic expo. The festival, in its second year, was organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County and the Jewish Federation of Ocean County.