“Do you remember the fields,
the daffodils on Saturdays,
everything passed so quickly
and it’s a bit hard to remember
how once it was simple
to sing, to live, and not to die.”
(“Do You Remember the Songs”, the late Yehonatan Geffen)
Last September, just before the Saturday that changed our lives, a unique and special meeting took place between discharged combat soldiers and senior members of our team, and Aviv Geffen.
Lior Levi, the organization’s Chair, met Aviv after a performance and told him about the organization and its activities. Geffen showed interest and shared that his father, the late Yehonatan Geffen, was a combat trauma survivor, and that after returning from reserve duty in the Yom Kippur War, his life changed.
Geffen asked Lior to give free tickets to his show to those he found appropriate (which were indeed donated), and agreed to join a shared meeting — to connect, share, and get to know our work more closely, becoming a meaningful part of it.
A group of discharged combat soldiers — most of them from a Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit team supported by the organization over a long period, alongside soldiers from other units — came to meet Aviv Geffen at the end of September.
Representing the organization at the meeting were Aharon Ifreimov — a discharged combat soldier and Community Relations Manager (who was recently called back to reserve duty, and we await his safe return along with our other volunteers now back in uniform), Amit Faikovsky — a clinical psychologist with 25 years of experience who has accompanied the organization since its founding (also recently called up as commander of the Home Front Rehabilitation Center at Hospital 10), Lior Levi — Chair of the organization, and others.
During the event, professional discussion circles were held — separately with Amit and the team, and then together with all participants including Aviv Geffen, who shared about his father and thanked the organization for the opportunity to be part of this work.
Lior sums up the experience: “From the moment I met Aviv, there was an immediate connection. His father’s story really brought us closer. We are deeply grateful for everything he has done for us and for the incredibly meaningful evening we shared. Thank you, Aviv!”
