From a distance, it seemed like a relaxing get-together among friends. A group of men sitting around a crackling bonfire in the Jerusalem Hills, one strumming a guitar while others sang along. Between each song, they laughed and joked.
But when the music stopped, each Israeli volunteer rescue worker was handed a pen and a scrap of paper. Then they were instructed by psychologist Vered Atzmon Meshulam to write down a negative thought, something they wanted to release, and throw it into the fire.
The bonfire, singing and the practice of casting away a negative thought, a custom usually performed ahead of the holiest Jewish day of Yom Kippur, were part of a two-day therapy retreat for rescuers from Zaka.
The organisation is a unique Israeli rescue and recovery group tasked with collecting the remains of the dead. Every part, including blood, is collected for burial in accordance with Jewish religious law.
On October 7 last year, these men, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews, were among the first responders to reach multiple sites in southern Israel attacked by Hamas militants.
The sheer size and brutality of the attack left them all with deep psychological scars. Although their lives continue as normal, they are unable to forget the death and carnage they witnessed that day and on those that followed.
“I was in a very bad mental state, couldn’t sleep at night, I was sleeping on the floor and had all kinds of strange symptoms,” Oz Avizov, who has volunteered with Zaka for more than 15 years, told AFP.
The 48-year-old, who spent several days in southern Israel after October 7, said it took him months to realise that his behaviour was abnormal.
On a visit to a psychologist he talked about his experiences last year, when he spent hours hiding in a sewage pipe as Hamas militants rampaged nearby.
It “helped me to wake up and come out of the stupor I was in,” he said.
It was then, Avizov realised, that other volunteers might also need help and so he pushed to create the organisation’s first therapy programme.
– ‘Healed my soul’ –
Atzmon Meshulam, who specialises in trauma, runs the Zaka retreats in which visitors undergo a mixture of treatments such as ice baths and voice therapy with the aim of lowering stress levels and building resilience.
Dressed only in shorts, the volunteers submerged themselves in a metal tub filled with water and ice. A staff member then held each of their hands as they slowly breathed in and out. Some grimaced through the pain.
Founded in 1995, Zaka — a Hebrew acronym for disaster victim identification — relies on donations and its more than 3,000 civilian volunteers, who are ready to respond to disasters or accidents countrywide at any moment
Dubi Weissenstern, Zaka’s chief executive, said that for more than 30 years there was little talk of providing therapy or trauma relief to volunteers who witness tragic and horrific scenes.
“I used to be against these workshops. I thought they did harm to the soul,” he said.
Weissenstern, who has led Zaka since 2013, said he now finds personal comfort in the camaraderie and tranquillity of the sessions, which began at the start of the year.
He has set aside funds for a mental health department and several retreats in 2025.
“I can’t explain what happened here, but when I come, I leave as a different person,” he said. “I’m happy I came — it healed my soul.”
– ‘Take care of you’ –
Atzmon Meshulam leads the new resilience department created as part of the changes Zaka has made to better support their volunteers.
But she admitted that addressing such extreme trauma was a lengthy process.
“The events they were exposed to were on a scale no one had ever encountered before,” said Atzmon Meshulam. “There are memories that we can never erase.”
Zaka sees its work as a religious “mitzvah”, or good deed, of the highest order because the recipient has no way of repaying the kindness.
For Atzmon Meshulam, who first encountered Zaka while working with bereaved families following October 7, the retreat is a way to give thanks.
“(It’s) telling them: ‘You take care of the people of Israel, and we will take care of you so you can continue doing this important and holy work’,” she said.
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