By Ariel Grossman, NoCamels -
Tonight is Yom HaZikaron, the day Israel remembers and honors the soldiers who fought and fell to protect it.
The national remembrance day commemorates the 24,068 IDF soldiers, police officers, prison wardens, victims of terrorism, and Israeli intelligence agents who have been killed since 1860.
But there are nearly 60,000 wounded and disabled veterans who continue to grapple with mental and emotional trauma on a daily basis, and often feel forgotten.
Many nonprofits are dedicated to helping them. Among them is a small program at a farm in Beit Yitzhak, central Israel, where veterans have been given a new purpose: training dogs.
They learn to train their pups by professional dog trainers – who are wounded veterans themselves – through the Dogs 4 Soldiers program.
At the weekly meetings, veterans not only strengthen their bond with their dogs, but are given a sense of community, meeting and connecting with others whose experiences mirror their own. They can even become certified professional dog trainers themselves.
Dorel Ben Haim, 30, was suffering from PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). He served in the IDF’s Givati Brigade, stationed at Israel’s borders and in the West Bank, and was forced to shoot two gas grenades at close-range, after they were thrown at him while he was in a jeep. He emerged from the incident with a collapsed lung.
“I was a very closed off person,” he says. “My life just didn’t work. A regular person goes to sleep at night and wakes up in the morning – but I wasn’t able to sleep at night, or wake up in the morning. I wasn’t able to hold onto a job. I had nervous breakdowns.
“I didn’t go through any kind of rehabilitation. It’s not like a physical injury, where your leg has been amputated and you need to undergo physical rehabilitation for a year or two. There wasn’t an obvious solution out there for me.”
He heard of the Dogs 4 Soldiers program through a friend, who suggested he go there to train his dog, Charlie.
Ben Haim was drawn to the farm from his very first visit. He got to know other veterans who have been through similar experiences, and they let their dogs roam free together. That was in 2020, and he’s been attending every week since.
“When I first got in contact with them I was in a bad state mentally. I was depressed, and didn’t leave the house. I was in the middle of my degree and was really struggling.
“I can’t say that my life is all roses now, or that I’m perfectly healthy. But I can say that there has been an improvement. I have stability now, and I know that no matter what happens, I have a place to turn.
A veteran training his dog at the Beit Yitzhak farm. Courtesy Dorel Ben Haim
“It’s like I underwent my rehabilitation through the program. That’s how I feel.”
Dogs 4 Soldiers is a rolling program. Veterans can attend as often or as few times as they’d like. They can stick with basic commands (sit, shake) or advance their dogs’ training through obstacle courses.
Dozens of veterans have already participated in the program, and around 10 to 20 bring their dogs to Beit Yitzhak every week – including Ben Haim, and of course, Charlie.
“For those who sign up for it, the program becomes a camaraderie, a group who are struggling with similar types of situations, and they become a crew where they get closer to one another,” says Shevy Vigler.
She and her husband, Rabbi Uriel Vigler, jointly founded Belev Echad (Hebrew for “With one heart”), the international organization behind the program.
“The dogs really give them some enhancement to their lives – they’re something to take care of, something to live for, something to transform themselves through,” she says.
Belev Echad is dedicated to ensuring that the wounded men and women of the IDF receive the support they need to live productive and well-adjusted lives after their injuries.
“The idea is to really see what each soldier individually needs, whether it’s getting married, whether it’s help buying an apartment, whether they need a job – it’s very individualized in that respect.”
Like its other programs, which include educational scholarships and legal and medical advocacy, Dogs 4 Soldiers was inspired by the needs of an individual soldier. Belev Echad brought him a dog from a shelter as a form of therapy.
“It was so incredible to see the change within him that it grew into a program,” says Vigler. “And that’s the case with most of our programs – we did it for a specific, individual soldier, we saw the benefits, and expanded it to help others.”
Today, Ben Haim is completing his MBA (Master of Business Administration) specializing in corporate strategy and consulting. His dog, Charlie, has also picked up a thing or two from the farm.
“He can sit, lie down, roll over, ‘pew pew’ (roll onto his back when someone points finger guns at him), and spin,” says Ben Haim.
