Media Contact:
Helen Chernikoff
hchernikoff@hadassah.org
NEW YORK, NY—Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, has reopened two facilities at its youth villages in Israel, which serve vulnerable teens and pre-teens, following extensive renovations. The psychological therapy center at Hadassah’s Meir Shfeyah youth village, near Haifa, will now be known as the Ellen Hershkin Therapeutic Center in honor of Hadassah’s 26th national president, who led the organization from 2016 to 2019. At the Hadassah Neurim youth village, near Netanya, the spacious, redesigned emergency shelter will serve as a secure space and command center during emergencies and a leisure and activity space year-round.
The renovations were made possible by more than $500,000 from Hadassah’s crisis-response fundraising efforts following the October 7 attacks.
The youth villages, which are home to almost 700 students and 200 staff members, are supported by Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah program.
Ellen Hershkin Therapeutic Center at Meir Shfeyah Youth Village
The Ellen Hershkin Therapeutic Center offers Meir Shfeyah’s residents a welcoming environment where they can meet with social workers and therapists. The renovation is especially timely given the increasing number of residents experiencing trauma due to the October 7 invasion and the subsequent war.
While the Center is located on the first floor of the Meir Shfeyah administration building, the renovation encompassed the building’s entire exterior and interior.
Said Marcie Natan, co-chair of Youth Aliyah and a past national president of Hadassah, "This beautiful new environment is certain to enhance the interactions between our residents and the superbly trained, highly empathetic counselors who support them.”
“I’m humbled to see my name on an edifice that exists solely to be a safe haven for our young residents,” said past Hershkin. “Children are a country’s greatest resource and nurturing them, which Hadassah does in partnership with many, many talented and dedicated professionals, donors and volunteers, is more than a mitzvah. It is holy work.”
In addition to Herskin, her daughter, Lisa Hershkin Roth, and Natan, among those present at the Center’s dedication were Natan’s fellow Youth Aliyah co-chair, Michele Rubin; Hadassah national president Carol Ann Schwartz; Hadassah Offices in Israel executive director Suzanne Patt Benvenisti; Hadassah’s ambassador-at-large in Israel Barbara Goldstein; and Meir Shfeyah board chair Eli Wagner.
As part of the ceremony, Hershkin and Inessa Shlomov, the mother of Meir Shfeyah graduate Simon Shlomov, who was killed in February while serving with the IDF, affixed a mezuzah to the entrance to the Center.
Emergency Shelter at Hadassah Neurim Youth Village
The almost 4,000-square-foot shelter on the campus of Hadassah Neurim has been upgraded and outfitted to protect students and faculty from attack while providing a year-round leisure and activity space. The shelter now offers four large rooms – a yoga-Pilates-dance studio, a movie theater, a student leadership room and a staff room – as well as two kitchens and two bathrooms. A nurse’s station is available for emergencies and the staff room has been set up to function as a command center in a crisis.
Said Youth Aliyah co-chair Michele Rubin, "In providing a setting for leisure and other activities while acknowledging the possibility of danger, the design of this renovated multipurpose space reflects the reality of Israeli life.”
During the dedication ceremony, which honored Hadassah Neurim graduates and family members killed on or since October 7, those assembled lit memorial candles and recited a prayer for fallen IDF soldiers.
Among those present with Rubin were her Youth Aliyah co-chair, past national president Marcie Natan; national president Carol Ann Schwartz; Hadassah Offices in Israel executive director Suzanne Patt Benvenisti; Hadassah’s ambassador-at-large in Israel Barbara Goldstein; Hadassah Neurim board chair Einat Reich; and Hadassah Neurim director Ami Magen.
About Hadassah’s Youth Villages:
Nearly 33 percent of Israeli children live in poverty and almost half a million live in abusive environments, lack basic necessities and suffer from challenges like learning disabilities. Hadassah’s youth villages, Meir Shfeyah and Hadassah Neurim, give these vulnerable Israeli teens and pre-teens a place to live, a chance to complete their education and the support they need to thrive. In addition to providing wraparound care, Hadassah’s youth villages foster independence and self-esteem through cultural enrichment programs, sports and a wide range of vocational training. Over the last 100 years, more than 300,000 students from 80 countries have graduated from the villages.