OneFamily distributed $90,000 to the bereaved families attending the event.
“This is a wound that cannot be healed – the loss of a child, a spouse, a parent, a sibling. It is not a healing process, it is a coping process,” Fuhrman explained.
Dr. Zieva Konvisser, author of the 2014 book Living Beyond Terrorism: Israeli Stories of Hope and Healing, expressed the same sentiment. She said “coping” is the correct word to describe the aftermath of losing a loved one to war or terror. For her book as well as her 2006 doctoral dissertation, Konvisser interviewed dozens of people who managed to transform personal tragedy into triumph.
Konvisser told the story of Dina Kit, who lost one son to cancer and then a second son to a Palestinian suicide bombing in 2001. Kit and her husband, Omer, went through counseling through OneFamily and then began volunteering with the group. Dina Kit ultimately became the full-time office manager at OneFamily’s main office in Jerusalem. Konvisser quoted her as saying, “They see that I lost two sons and I am productive and strong, and they get encouragement from this. They see that when the body begins to strengthen, the spirit begins to work with and take care of the body.”
Omer Kit is a member of OneFamily’s male choir along with 11 other fathers who lost children to terror or war. He sings to remember his son, but also to make others like him happy. Konvisser told JNS the Kit family’s story proves how “alongside the pain and horror and grief, there is a possibility to move forward.”
Chava Noach is just beginning this renewal process. She is working with Oren’s friends to commemorate her late son, who loved camping and hiking, through the construction of an observation point not far from the family’s home in Mitzpe Hoshaya.
“Oren’s Observation Point” will be located in the Tzipori Mountain Range, feature spectacular views of the Galilee valleys, and be a part of the Israel National Trail.
Still, Noach says that for her, the best kind of support she can receive is “a big hug.”
(JNS)
