In December, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was given a special opportunity to help expand a community home for dozens of Holocaust survivors in Haifa. Our German branch was able to quickly respond with a donation of $25,000 to allow the charitable group “Yad Ezer L’Haver” (Helping Hands to Friends) to take possession of the ground floor of a building next door to their current respite home. After renovations are completed in March, their enlarged assisted-living facility will be able to house and care for another 26 Holocaust survivors in a warm family environment.

Nearly a third of Israel’s some 250,000 Holocaust survivors are impoverished, struggling with illness, or living alone. The ICEJ has been giving new emphasis in our ministry in recent years to helping ease their suffering as this unique group of people reach their twilight years, whether through adoption programs, special assistance at holidays, or investment in initiatives like Yad Ezer.

Yad Ezer was started in 2001 by brothers Baruch and Shimon Sabag. Shimon was a successful businessman before suffering a serious car accident. After his recovery, the two brothers wanted to give more to Israel’s poor and needy, and began providing food and shelter through a hostel that cares for Holocaust survivors, most of whom are now well into their 80s or older.

The charity also sponsors soup kitchens, home food deliveries, homeless shelters, free legal representation, psychological counselling, after-school children’s homes, home visits, blankets and heaters to the elderly, a free dental clinic, and an annual Passover Seder meal for the disadvantaged. But their greatest passion is for their unique hostel where 14 Holocaust survivors currently live free-of-charge and receive care from volunteer doctors, psychologists, and social workers. The ICEJ’s donation will now allow room for three times as many survivors.

“It is my heart’s desire to give those people who suffered so much some dignity and joy as they live out their last years. Time is running out for them”, said Shimon Sabag as he received the gift from ICEJ international director Dr. Juergen Buehler.

The waiting list of people applying for a place in the new facility is already up to 850 people, mostly survivors of Nazi death camps in Poland and Germany.

Yad Ezer needs another $160,000 to buy two more floors in the building so 50 more survivors can get help they desperately need. It’s the only place in Israel where survivors can live and get medical treatment at no cost and spend their waning days in dignity. A wealthy Holocaust survivor in his 80s has pledged to donate $50,000.  Please consider a generous gift yourself to this incredible work.

To make a donation toward Yad Ezer, please go to https://www.icej.org/donate.php and make sure to mark the box for "Home for Holocaust Survivors."

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