Help Jonah Maurer Support

Each time a projectile is fired from Gaza toward Israel an alarm sirens, alerting residents to seek shelter immediately. Imagine that each time you hear this siren you have no more than 15 seconds to reach a fortified shelter. For context, the fastest human on earth can run only 200 meters in 20 seconds. Imagine the impossible calculations you’re forced to make each time. Should I run and save myself. Can I possibly help my child, my parents, my siblings? What about the most vulnerable-the babies, elderly, infirm and disabled? For 17 years this is the reality for Israeli citizens that live near the Gaza border. 

In honor of my bar mitzvah, I am choosing to support the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC). Unsurprisingly, well-founded studies suggest that as many as 63% of citizens living near Gaza suffer from PTSD.  I was able to visit the ITC and was impressed with their work. Even their treatment rooms double as rocket shelters, so therapists do not need to ironically interrupt PTSD sessions when rockets strike.  

Judaism places the highest value on life. We have a proverb: “he who cannot endure the bad will not live to enjoy the good.” The ITC works to provide kids with resilience to endure. During my visit I spent time in a border kibbutz, Nahal Oz; the kids told me that 95% of their life is beautiful and 5% is an absolute hell on earth. I am committed to helping these kids, but I cannot do it without your generous support. I need to raise $50,000 to build an Adventure Therapy course. Let’s give these kids the tools they need to weather bad times, so they may enjoy the good.

Thank you for helping to make this world a better, saner place!

- Jonah Maurer