Providing Support for a Torn Community

In the aftermath of October 7th, the families of hostages found themselves in unimaginable darkness. But a new kind of light emerged—a community of friends, neighbors, and strangers who dropped everything to offer support. Their selfless commitment, often at the expense of their own lives and jobs, sparked the creation of a new organization: Kamim.

The immediate trauma of the hostage crisis extended far beyond the walls of the direct families. As Simon Soesan, a representative of Kamim, explains, "If we talk about 251 hostages, and you take a broader circle of family, you come to 10,000 people before you know it. There's a whole wider circle. And that circle isn't recognized by the authorities."

These extended networks—the friends, cousins, neighbors, and colleagues who became pillars of strength—have been deeply traumatized and often overlooked. Businesses went bankrupt, and personal lives were torn apart as they focused solely on the crisis. Kamim was created to help those who "fell between the chairs."

Kamim provides comprehensive support: psychological health services, financial aid, help getting back on track with jobs and businesses, and legal assistance when needed.

The lives of the friends and family of the hostages have been put on hold since October 7th. They are the essential support system, standing in the gap for those who have returned from Gaza and those still in captivity. To acknowledge and help these "heroes," CBN Israel supported a series of retreats designed to give them the tools they need to heal.

Yonatan Almeida, the director of CBN’s newly built resilience center, offered his support during a three-day retreat. "It's so important that we can listen to them to give them this space where they can bring out the things that waste so heavily on them, and to offer attentive ears," he shared. The retreats provide an excellent way to support these workers and let them process everything they have gone through.

The grief is widespread and ongoing, especially in the Gaza border communities. "They are all one big community," Yonatan notes. "They may have been spared, but it doesn't really make a difference because they know of, you know, they've lost friends in other kibbutzim or in the Nova or there's just circles and circles of grief, unfortunately, within these communities. And the grief hasn't ended."

For Ela Mor, attending the retreat was both professional and personal. She is the aunt of Avigail Idan, who was taken to Gaza as a three-year-old and is now five. She is also a volunteer with the Kamim foundation.

"I’m here, like in two different ways because I’m a family member and I’m a family member inside of Kamim Foundation. So I worry about the families because I know what their needs," Mor states. She explains that while the returned hostages get some limited help from the government, "all the circles around these people that were holding everything for them and also deeply, deeply traumatized, they're like invisible."

In some tragic cases where family members were murdered and there were no immediate relatives left, the burden of holding everything fell to cousins, friends, or even neighbors. Kamim, Mor asserts, is the voice of these people who don't have one.
Mor now gives lectures on Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG), striving to speak about hope, resilience, and optimism as the way forward. She expresses profound gratitude for the external support, stating, "I'm family. I didn't have a choice. But CBN has a choice. The organization doesn't have to, but they choose to do.”

This commitment from organizations like CBN Israel is deeply felt. Yonatan expresses that the evangelical community in the U.S. remains "so connected to the community here in Israel and wants to help. And it's just very touching. It's the ongoing just support for us. It's tremendous." Simon Soesan adds, "CBN... if you call on them, they're there... They're your partners."