Between each song, laughter and jokes flow. Then the music stops and everyone receives a pencil and a piece of paper on which psychologist Vered Atzmon Meshulam asks them to write down their dark thoughts, a thought that weighs on them, before throwing them into the fire.
This ceremonial, a tradition generally observed before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, is part of a two-day therapeutic retreat for volunteers from Zaka, a unique organization of its kind, responsible for rescuing but also collecting the remains of the dead.
Everything, including blood, must be collected for a burial to conform to Jewish religious rites.
On October 7, 2023, these men, most of them ultra-Orthodox Jews, were among the first to arrive at the scene of attacks perpetrated by commandos of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israel.
The scale of the massacre and its unprecedented brutality left lasting scars. Today, it's their turn to be helped.
Although their lives continue, the scenes of horror are etched in their minds.
“I was in a very bad mental state, I couldn't sleep at night, I was lying on the floor and I had all kinds of weird symptoms,” Oz Avizov, a Zaka volunteer for over 15 years old.
After several days spent in southern Israel in the wake of October 7, it took him months to realize that his behavior was not normal.
A visit to the psychologist to discuss his experiences, including the agonizing hours hiding in a sewer pipe while Hamas men spread terror nearby, “helped me wake up and come out of torpor.”
That's when the 48-year-old realized other volunteers might also need help. And he pushed for the first therapeutic program to be created within the organization.
Specializing in trauma, Ms. Atzmon Meshulam leads these cathartic sessions for both body and mind, using, for example, vocal exercises and ice baths to lower stress levels and build resilience.
In simple swimsuits, the volunteers immerse themselves in metal bathtubs filled with cold water and blocks of ice, grimacing with pain. Good Samaritans hold their hands and whisper in their ears.
Created in 1995, in the wake of the first Palestinian suicide attacks in Israel, Zaka – Hebrew acronym for “identification of disaster victims” – relies on donations and has more than 3,000 civilian volunteers ready to intervene throughout the country in the event of disaster or accident.
For more than 30 years, explains its leader Dubi Weissenstern, the question of helping volunteers, witnesses to the most horrible scenes, has largely remained under the radar.
“Before, I was opposed to these workshops, I thought they hurt souls,” he says.
But he says he himself finds comfort in the camaraderie of these sessions that began at the beginning of the year.
Others will follow in 2025, according to him.
“I can’t explain what happened here, but when I come, I leave and I’m a different person,” he confides. “I’m glad I came, it healed my soul.”
– Souvenirs ineffaçables –
Head of a new unit focused on resilience, Atzmon Meshulam admits that dealing with such trauma is a long-term process.
“The events that (the volunteers) were exposed to were on an unprecedented scale. I don't think it was possible to prepare for such mass cruelty,” she said.
They “were exposed to abused and sexually assaulted bodies,” she adds. “There are memories that can never be erased.”
Zaka perceives his task as one of the most beautiful “mitzvot” (Jewish religious prescriptions) there is because his beneficiaries will never be able to reciprocate.
For Ms. Atzmon Meshulam, who came into contact with Zaka while working with families bereaved by October 7, this therapeutic retreat is a form of thanks.
It “tells them: +you can watch over the people of Israel, and we will watch over you so that you can continue this important and sacred work+”.
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