Hadassah Reopens Key Spaces - At Its Youth Villages In Israel Following Extensive Renovations

The psychological therapy center at Hadassah’s Meir Shfeyah youth village, near Haifa, will now be known as the Ellen Hershkin Therapeutic Center in honor of Hadassah’s 26th national president, who led the organization from 2016 to 2019. At the Hadassah Neurim youth village, near Netanya, the spacious, redesigned emergency shelter will serve as a secure space and command center during emergencies and a leisure and activity space year-round.

The renovations were made possible by more than $500,000 from Hadassah’s crisis-response fundraising efforts following the October 7 attacks.

The youth villages, which are home to almost 700 students and 200 staff members, are supported by Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah program.

Ellen Hershkin Therapeutic Center at Meir Shfeyah Youth Village

The Ellen Hershkin Therapeutic Center offers Meir Shfeyah’s residents a welcoming environment where they can meet with social workers and therapists. The renovation is especially timely given the increasing number of residents experiencing trauma due to the October 7th invasion and the subsequent war.

While the Center is located on the first floor of the Meir Shfeyah administration building, the renovation encompassed the building’s entire exterior and interior.

“I’m humbled to see my name on an edifice that exists solely to be a safe haven for our young residents,” said past Hershkin. “Children are a country’s greatest resource and nurturing them, which Hadassah does in partnership with many, many talented and dedicated professionals, donors and volunteers, is more than a mitzvah. It is holy work.”

As part of the ceremony, Hershkin and Inessa Shlomov, the mother of Meir Shfeyah graduate Simon Shlomov, who was killed in February while serving with the IDF, affixed a mezuzah to the entrance to the Center.

Emergency Shelter at Hadassah Neurim Youth Village

The almost 4,000-square-foot shelter on the campus of Hadassah Neurim has been upgraded and outfitted to protect students and faculty from attack while providing a year-round leisure and activity space. The shelter now offers four large rooms – a Yoga-Pilates-dance studio, a movie theater, a student leadership room and a staff room – as well as two kitchens and two bathrooms. A nurse’s station is available for emergencies and the staff room has been set up to function as a command center in a crisis.

During the dedication ceremony, which honored Hadassah Neurim graduates and family members killed on or since October 7th, those assembled lit memorial candles and recited a prayer for fallen IDF soldiers.