Bella was born in Poland and survived the Holocaust with her family after they escaped to a forest and slipped into another country. She later came to Israel where she chose to live in one of the kibbutzim in the south, close to the borders of both Egypt and Gaza.
But after many decades of raising a family of her own in relative security, the Hamas invasion of October 7 brought back all the childhood traumas of the Holocaust.
“I said it right away: This is the Holocaust. I screamed, ‘Why? Why? Why do people who endured the Holocaust have to go through the same thing in a country we founded and where we were so happy? How did the Holocaust happen again right in from of our eyes?”
One of the 250 people kidnapped was Bella’s grandson, Yotam Haim.
Yotam, 28, was taken from his home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Hamas’s own videos show him being led shirtless and surrounded by a hoard of terrorists, to a vehicle in a field. Bella, 86, became an active advocate and appeared at the Knesset several times to lobby for a deal that would bring the hostages’ release.
Sadly, though Yotam managed to escape his captors in December 2023 along with two other hostages, but they were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in a tragic case of mistaken identity.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the staff of CBN Israel honored the 6 million victims of the Holocaust and we continue to stand with survivors, visiting with those who live in Israel, supporting this vulnerable population and helping them through the challenges of poverty and hunger.
The Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, an umbrella group representing 50 organizations that assist Holocaust survivors, said that around one-third of Israel’s approximately 147,000 Holocaust survivors live in poverty.
This week, CBN Israel sponsored two memorial services in Israel in conjunction with The Association of Concentration Camps and Ghetto Survivors in Israel.
CBN Israel also supports Bella through the Neve Eshkol day center where Bella receives ongoing group activities, art therapy, hot meals, and the strength she needs to carry on.
“I said to myself (after Yotam’s death), ‘What am I going to do now? How will I get up tomorrow morning? What am I going to do tomorrow? Where will I go? And here (at Neve Eshkol), I find the answer. I go to train with Michal, I exercise with Laura. I am keeping my brain active.”
“We will return, all the people who are refugees in our own country will return. And here in Neve Eshkol we will hear music again and we will dance again,” she said. “I am Bella Haim, and I choose life.”
Through CBN Israel, you can give help and hope to Holocaust survivors throughout the Holy Land. You can also reach out to many other people in need with food, finances, and essentials, and letting them know they are not alone.
Please join us in extending a hand to others!
Post a comment