Israel Heart2Heart is building a Detroit community of mentors and supporters to help Israeli soldiers and their families navigate PTSD and recovery.
When Rabbi Shneur Silberberg of Bais Chabad Torah Center of West Bloomfield heard through a family connection about a program to help Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reservists and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he knew the community would want to get involved.
So, Silberberg helped bring the group, Israel Heart2Heart, to Detroit to show people how much of a difference they can make in the lives of these individuals and their families.
Silberberg, now the director of its Detroit chapter, helped welcome the delegation of seven — including five soldiers from Israel and accompanying staff from Israel and the U.S. — to Metro Detroit for a Shabbat dinner at Bais Chabad, some 10 meetings in people’s private residences, and multiple opportunities to unwind during their weeklong stay. Because of security, the events were not widely publicized.
The ambassadors came to tell community members about the problems they face, and how Heart2Heart’s 18-month therapeutic program has impacted them, bettering their abilities to be fathers and partners after trauma.
Participants and staff join community members for a backyard dinner hosted by Marty and Dale Goodman.
While other initiatives exist in the area for Israel-related support, Silberberg says he was moved by the chance to be part of this compelling community partnership, which will include mentorship opportunities and training for local participants.
Mentors — who don’t need to speak Hebrew to participate — commit about an hour a week and take part in regular check-ins as well as ongoing connection with the veterans. “It allows us to zoom in and connect in a very meaningful way, more than just sending gifts, more than just sending money, all of which is good,” Silberberg says. “But here, I believe there’s a unique opportunity for connection; that’s what really spoke to me about this program.”
Adopting Cohort 10
Through the program, Detroit has adopted Cohort 10, which will support 13 veterans and their families through their 18-month journey with Israel Heart2Heart. The Detroit chapter is listed on Israel Heart2Heart’s website alongside other United States-based chapters Miami and Chicago, and Silberberg says he hopes to keep people updated on ways to get involved. Israel Heart2Heart, according to its website, supports more than 500 veterans, reservists and family members annually around Israel.
Israel Heart2Heart participants begin the day with Power of the Morning,
“The thought that we can make a dent, and we can actually give life back to someone who put everything on the line for others and now is struggling on their own … I think it’s just an opportunity that if we have it, we can’t let it go by,” Silberberg says.
Ilyse Aaron of West Bloomfield and her sister, Andrea Jacobson, hosted dinner for the visiting delegation this summer, inviting some 60 people to a “friendraising” dinner to hear from the soldiers and about the organization the group represents. Three soldiers spoke bravely, she says, telling their stories and about how Israel Heart2Heart has changed their lives.
Israel Heart2Heart participants begin the day with Power of the Morning,
“It was deeply moving and everyone was connected; you could hear a pin drop in the room. It was incredibly emotional,” she says. “We just want to help these guys, help their families, help their wives, help their children. They’re fighting for their country and they’re fighting for us. It could be anybody’s kid.”
She still speaks to the soldiers at least weekly, she says, adding that hearing about the program’s impact motivated her even further to help support the 18-month program for a cohort of a dozen-plus soldiers in the months ahead.
More than 20 people have signed up to serve as mentors for the soldiers as part of the program as a result of the soldiers’ visit, she says, with many others enthusiastic about providing financial support.
Pull Quote
“I consider this all part of the same duty to take care of the soldiers who take care of us.”
— ADAM BAKER
“My hope is that we raise enough money to sponsor each of these soldiers through their [12-month] therapy program, which costs about $1,000 a month per soldier,” she says. “And at the end, my hope is that we’ll have raised enough money where we can bring them to Michigan for their therapeutic final experience, and they can meet their mentor face to face and just have an amazing week here.”
On A Path Toward Post-Traumatic Growth
Sarah Schain, director of operations for Heart2Heart’s U.S. organization, is a trauma-based somatic therapist focused on PTSD. She created the cornerstone therapy for the 2019-founded organization after getting involved in 2021 and came to Detroit with the group. She says she was impressed by the schedule Rabbi Silberberg, with coordination by community member Illana Stern, set up for them. “We had three events a day for a week; we had lunch-and-learns, we had events and BBQs in people’s backyards,” she says.
Heart2Heart’s year-long program focuses on post-traumatic growth and ends with the Mission of a Lifetime, where the soldiers will come to West Bloomfield for 10 days of wellness and therapy, meetings with mentors and more.
Israel Heart2Heart participants begin the day with Power of the Morning, IH2H’s signature somatic healing practice.
“We prepare them for going back into the workforce, and we offer workshops to improve their communication with their spouse and their children,” she says, adding that being home can be a big trigger. “Our job is to get them back on their feet and get them engaged in life.”
West Bloomfield will become a sister city as part of the organization’s growth and a new home for this next group of soldiers, she says. “Part of my mission was to see where else we can fundraise for our healing and wellness center in Israel, and on that journey of fundraising I realized people want to be mentors and be part of the hero’s journey.”
The Israel Heart to Heart participants and staff enjoy informal moments together.
Heart2Heart offers training for mentors on how to support someone with PTSD, such as how to hold the mentee accountable for the little things they can do and the big things they want to do, she says.
“Hopefully this is the first cohort of many, because the need in Israel is overwhelming,” she says. “And how can Israel Heart2Heart grow in a sustainable way where we can continue offering this to soldiers in Israel and creating this grassroots experience for people in the United States where they feel like they’re making a difference by being part of someone’s life and being a part of someone’s journey.”
The organization does 85% of its programming in Israel and also has a healing farm and programming on 14 acres of land in Florida, she says.
The cohort being “adopted” by West Bloomfield is made up of soldiers who have been in a rehab program in Hadassah Hospital the last six months. In September they’ll join Heart2Heart’s main program, then in October they’ll get mentors. The group will take part in annual programming, and have a “Mission of a Lifetime,” visiting Metro Detroit next summer. This is the program’s first cohort out of Hadassah. “These are young men who deserve nothing but the best; I’m so excited for it to land in the heart of the United States,” she says.
‘Taking Care of Those Who Take Care of Us’
When Adam Baker of West Bloomfield heard about Heart2Heart, he expressed interest right away. “I said ‘yes, yes, yes.’”
Gathering at the Tam-O-Shanter Country Club
In addition to helping drive the visiting group around, including to Great Lakes Crossing for some shopping, and spending time with them as they experienced area hospitality, he says he plans on putting Heart2Heart on the agenda for his father’s foundation, which gives to Jewish causes. “I consider this all part of the same duty to take care of the soldiers who take care of us,” he says.
Baker is deeply connected to Israel, from his great-uncle being a founder of early kibbutz Ein Horod to visiting the Golan Heights for the first time in 1969 and his family spending summers in Israel back in the 1970s, where they would pick up hitchhiking soldiers. He’s been going to Israel with his kids every summer since 2008, he says, and is eager to support this initiative for soldiers who give so much to Jews everywhere.
He has signed up to be a mentor and is in touch with the organization’s operations in Jerusalem on an ongoing basis, he says. “I care about these soldiers like they’re family members.”
Cary Bloom of Franklin Village went to a luncheon to learn about IH2H this summer, and says she also plans to be a mentor to an Israeli veteran or a family member as needed as the program gets going in Detroit. She’s been seeking smaller organizations that can directly support soldiers and their families, she says, and was impressed by the therapy and support IH2H provides.
A private dinner and community gathering hosted by Ilyse Aaron and Andrea Jacobson
“PTSD is so often overlooked, and so many lives are being lost to this in Israel” she says, adding that the connections veterans and families make with their mentors in the diaspora is very valuable. “I feel it shows them that they are not alone, and how we truly all are family.”
For more information or to get involved, visit https://israelh2h.org or email shneur@ih2h.org. To sign up for the Detroit Cohort, visit https://israelh2h.org/ChapterDetroit.
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