"The flashbacks are very severe. I am holding a rope in my hand and want to hang myself in the shower. What I feel right now is that there is no place for me in the world. There is no framework prepared to help me cope with my post-trauma. That this state, which I love so much, has established hundreds of frameworks – hostels, hospitals, open and closed wards, daytime care centers. Wow. But there is no place for me, no place with the right conditions to help me cope with my post-trauma."
Efrat Gil of blessed memory
Ohela's Vision
In a perfect world we will no longer know gender-based violence and will no more study the war of daily survival that accompanies life in the wake of sexual violence. But as long as within our society there are phenomena such as rape and incest, the little we can do is to ensure that places and resources exist to enable those women (and men) who have experienced injury to rehabilitate and heal themselves from the trauma in an environment of support and of faith.
Our vision is to establish a village of healing, where women (and eventually, men as well) can reside throughout the difficult period during their process of rehabilitation. This period is often characterized by a need for support beyond a few weekly hours of therapy, because of emotional conditions such as dissociative states, self harm, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse or eating disorders.
Ohela's purpose
To create communal spaces for women's wisdom and healing, that will enable every girl and woman to experience her own self as a source of knowing what she needs in order to midwife and heal herself, with an emphasis on healing from rape and sexual violence.
To educate, train and disseminate knowledge among professionals, policymakers, family members and society as a whole.
The Ohela Team
Founder and CEO: Marva Zohar
Board members:
Orly Benjamin- Chairwoman
Lihi Amitzur-Lobel
Moria Shalvi
Maya Hanoch
Oversight committee:
Naama Shaked
Danielle Vardi
Members:
Adi Arnon
Noam Zohar
Hadas Lachman
Emuna Chen Klein Bar-Noy
Executive administrator: Yocheved Simon
Ohela NGO Advisory Board
Mr. Avraham Burg, former Speaker of the Knesset; Chair, Mifalot Education and Society Enterprises
Ms. Yael Burg, Psychologist and Management Consultant. Deputy Director, JDC Israel, Institute for Leadership and Governance
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Rosh Yeshivah, Orot Shaul
Ms. Ayelet Cohen-Vider, Clinical Psychologist
Rabbi Yehuda Forman, Ordained for Dayyanut and criminologist
Dr. Yali Hashash, Chair, Department of gender Studies, Beit Berl College
Prof. Hannah Kehat, Lecturer in Jewish Studies and Gender, Feminist activist
Mr. Avraham Pinchover, Engineer, M.A. Jewish Studies, Owner & CEO of Engineering consulting company
Ms. Sarah Sahalo-Elbaz, Multi-disciplinary emotional therapist
Dr. Muna Shaheen, Veterinary doctor, works in the community to empower women and to protect the environment
Dr Effi Ziv, Psychotherapist and Lecturer in Gender Studies, Tel Aviv University