When hearing of a terror attack people tends to focus on the number of fatalities. An organization established in Israel by former Southern Africans, focuses on the injured.
“For every person killed in a terror attack, there are on average 8-10 injured,” reveals Rocky Muravitz, who together with Vic Essakow co-founded TIKVOT (Hebrew for ‘Hope’), a non-profit, volunteer-based organisation, which rehabilitates Israel’s victims of terror and casualties of war through sport.
Sporting Souls. Sports gives the soul strength,” says Rocky Muravitz (right) who together with Vic Essakow (left) founded TIKVOT in Israel. Both are immigrants from South Africa.
“What most people do not know is what happens to these injured; what they go through,” Rocky told Israel Link. “TIKVOT believes that the best way to rehabilitate is by making them feel winners again through sport. We want to help bring the smiles back on the faces of every terror victim and injured soldier.”
From Crying to Smiling
Since TIKVOT was establish during the Second Intifada that began in 2000, it has helped over 3,000 casualties restore their lives “by getting them out of their homes and getting them onto the track, field, gymnasium, swimming pool, mountain, sky, or sea,” says Rocky.
One is fifteen-year-old Asael Shabo.
Back in June 20th, 2002 Asael was watching TV with his five-year-old brother Avishai on the Samarian settlement of Itamar, when a terrorist gunman burst into their family living room, spraying bullets in every direction.
His mother Rachel, and three brothers, were brutally gunned down.
“I was badly hurt, but played dead behind the couch and waited for our soldiers to rescue me. I knew when Avishai died, because he stopped crying.”
For Asael, the crying did not stop – his own.
Thanks to TIKVOT, there came a time when Asael could not stop smiling as he made Israel’s Olympic paraplegic swimming team.
Team TIKVOT
“This is primarily a South African-Israel project, although there are uitlanders (Afrikaans: outsiders), on board,” jokes Rocky, who immigrated to Israel from Durban, South Africa with his family in 1977, the same year he led a march down Durban’s West Street against the 1976 UN resolution declaring “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination”. This was before the ‘settlements’ became an issue, exposing that the UN’s attitude to Israel was not about the West Bank or Gaza but all of Israel.
An inspiring leader, Rocky will take on those who besmirch the name of Israel as well as help his fellow Israelis who have suffered “the slings and arrows” of its enemies. His name aptly conveys the grit and determination of the cinematic boxing icon that battled against the odds to take the heavyweight title.
Rocky is a “heavyweight” – not one that batters others but saves those that have been battered!
The idea for TIKVOT came from a fellow former Durbanite Geoff Essakow, who had founded earlier, the ‘Challenged Athletes Federation’ in San Diego. Geoff today is Tikvot’s International Vice President. Other former South Africans in “Team TIKVOT” in Israel are: fellow co-founder Vic Essakow, originally from Krugersdorp, and a former South African Javelin champion; Bennie Penzik, one of the organisation’s comptrollers; Mike Solomon, the organisation’s voluntary auditor, and Durban-born Simone Farbstein, Rocky’s daughter and TIKVOT’s tireless director, who visits the injured while in hospital, and when they are ready to move on, helps them choose the most suitable sport and the best place to do it. “She is today the driving force of TIKVOT,” says her proud father.
While not a former South African, the last remaining co-founder, Ehud Edelman, “is SA-connected. He is the GM of Beck Teck, a South African company in Israel that supports TIKVOT projects.”
Music Plays On
In 2013, I attended a gala dinner in Jerusalem, honouring TIKVOT’s donors and volunteers, and particularly “our heroes” – the thousands of war- wounded and terror-injured who through TIKVOT, have sought rehabilitation through sport. As we sat around tables, enjoying the cuisine and wine, the music began. It had an exciting, pulsating beat that brought me to my feet, and then, my jaw dropped when I saw that the lead singer was not standing on his!!!
This fiery 25-year-old rock star, who two years previously had reached the ‘top seven’ in Kochav Nolad (Israel’s ‘Star is Born’) was singing from a wheel chair.
It was while serving as a commander of a Merkava Mk. 4 Tank during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, that Ron Weinreich was severely injured, suffering a spinal cord injury. Despite having gone through tough rehabilitation, he completed his B.A. in Business Management and formed a “startup” like many other entrepreneurial Israelis; only his ‘startup’ was a Rock band called “SIREN.” With a zest for life and an attitude reminiscent of some of the greatest Rock legends, this wheelchair rocker believes he can impact on millions of people all around the world.
“I believe I come across differently to politicians and professional orators.”
Marathon Man. With the encouragement of TIKVOT, Eitan Hermon, who lost a leg in war and was an avid competitive racer before being wounded, is back running marathons.
No kidding!
Amongst the many TIKVOT participants present at the gala dinner were Matan Berman, who lost a leg during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, and Shira Mervis who was wounded at Mike’s Place Tel Aviv in the terror attack in 2003. A participant in TIKVOT’s sailing programme, Shira reveals that while she cannot control nature – “not the wind, the waves or swells,” she can however control her yacht. “That is entirely up to me. It’s the same in life. I cannot change my injuries but I can change how I deal with them.”
Skiing is Believing
Gold Medalist Who Came Back from the Dead. Noam Gershony (centre) who few thought would survive, won tennis gold for Israel at the 2012 London Paralympic Games
An emotional highpoint of the evening was when a message was read from TIKVOT water and snow skier Noam Gershony who was out the country at the time. On July the 20th 2006, Noam, an IDF helicopter pilot, crashed leaving him critically wounded and destined for a wheelchair. Today he can walk using a device that fits his leg, but still requires a wheelchair for tennis. It was from his chair that this brave Israeli led to Hatikva being heard by the entire world when he took gold in tennis at the London 2012 Paralympics.
Among the thousands who watched Noam win Israel’s first gold medal of the 2012 Paralympic Games was a group wearing white T-shirts with hand-drawn blue Israeli flags on them. They were friends from his previous career as an Apache helicopter pilot for the Israeli Air Force.
“I never thought I’d represent the state in anything,” Noam told reporters on the court after his win, a blue-and-white flag draped over his shoulders. “You can’t explain the feeling that runs through you when the anthem is played in front of so many people.”
If you think life after injury is “all downhill”, Noam and Ofer Vertel will tell you that for them, “downhill” has another meaning. Ofer is confined to a wheel chair due to a bullet that went through his back, while serving in the elite Navy Seals brigade. Despite his injury, he continued to fight and was later awarded a “commendation” from the head of the Central command. As a tribute to his commander Moran, who was killed in the battle, he decided that after rehabilitation, he wanted to return to participate in different sport activities in spite of his physical disability.
Pose before Pleasure. Supported by their guides in red, Israeli amputees are ready to ski.
With the help of TIKVOT, Ofer teamed up with Noam to participate in a challenging and adventurous ski trip to the Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe through the Assis Association in France.
The list of heroes goes on and on.
In the winter of 2013, three TIKVOT participants went skiing in Pinzolo, Italy.
There was Tzippi Blumberg, who while driving home with her parents, their car was ambushed. Her mother was killed, while Tzippi and her father were both paralyzed and bound to wheelchairs.
“No Limitations”. On one leg, this IDF veteran sets off down an Alpine slope.
This did not stop Tzippi skiing!
Then there was Nadav Sicsic from the Golani Brigade, who while pursuing terrorists in 2007 was hit by a RPG missile and had to have a leg amputated.
This did not stop Nadav skiing!
The third participant was Avraham – surname withheld – as he still serves in the Special services of Intelligence. Avraham was injured three times during his active service, suffering multiple injuries including the loss of sight in one eye.
This did not stop Avraham skiing!
2017 marks the 6th year of TIKVOTS SKIING PROJECT. In March 2017, 60 wounded soldiers and terror victims took on the slopes of France – fueling their adrenaline and filling their hearts.
As TIKVOT’s CEO Simone Farbstein says, “For our heroes, no mountain – literally and figuratively – is too high. They have the will; TIKVOT will provide the way.”
TIKVOT will get them to the top of the mountain, whether it’s in Switzerland, Italy, France, or Mount Hermon in the north of Israel, “but they come down by themselves. We are so proud of them.”
Wounded Warriors
On the Beach. Determined to recover from war wounds, “and get on with my life” Noam Dadon (left), praises the “warmth and love from the entire nation that gave me strength.”
‘Back to Life’ is one of TIKVOT’s many projects. For the over six hundred soldiers, the Second Lebanese War in 2006 never ended. These are the soldiers that were wounded during the hard battles of Bint Gbeil, Randuria and other villages in Lebanon. One such is 23-year-old Victor Kianitza, who in 2006, was with his parachute brigade when “we were hit by a katyusha rocket that fell out of nowhere.” Victor was one of the lucky ones who survived, but for a period, he himself felt – he was “nowhere.”
Victor was hospitalised for months and underwent numerous operations. He faced a long regimen of treatments and medications for severe burns and shattered bones. Victor enrolled in the ‘Back to Life’ project and with his fellow combat soldiers whom he “met at rehab,” are now sailing, hiking and fishing together with specially adapted equipment and instruction provided by TIKVOT. “When I’m sailing,” says Victor, “I forget the horrors of the war and my injuries. I feel normal again; and it’s great to do it with others who have been through similar experiences.”
A Star Is Made
“The amazing thing,” says Rocky, “are the journeys from despair to aspiration.” He cites the example of Oran Almog, who, as a nine-year-old in 2003, was with his family at Maxim Restaurant in Haifa, when a female terrorist blew herself up killing Oran’s father Moshe, his younger brother Tomer, his grandfather, grandmother, and his cousin Assaf.
Oran survived the tragedy but lost his sight. “Today,” says Rocky, “he’s well-positioned to take medals at future World Blind Sailing Championships.”
Oran, whose ambition is “to become a gold medal winner for Israel,” has TIKVOT role models to follow. Dror Cohen, a former F-16 pilot who was injured in the line of duty and confined to a wheelchair, won a gold medal for Israel in sailing in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.
Marathon Man
Competitive runner since the age of ten, Eitan Hermon lived on Kfar Blum – a kibbutz in the north of Israel, settled by many pioneering South Africans before the State of Israel was established in 1948. Wounded in 2006 during the second Lebanon War when his tank was hit by a road side bomb, he said repeatedly while lying on a stretcher while being evacuated:
“I will still run a marathon!”
Doctors tried valiantly to save his leg for one year, during which time he was honorably discharged from his elite unit and ‘running’ everyone thought was “part of his past” especially following his right leg being amputated below the knee.
Not so!
One year after the amputation and fitted with a special prosthetic leg, “I started training through TIKVOT for national and international competitions.” A year later, he completed a 42km marathon in Tiberias with a time of 3:46. Since then, he has participated in many marathons. His record stands at 3:02:12, where he took second place in his category as an amputee.
“My goal is to break the world record.”
“Our vision, says Rocky, “is to enable our wounded warriors and challenged athletes to participate in competitive sports utilizing the most advanced technologies of prosthetic care.” By so doing “they are already winning” and they “will inspire others similarly challenged, to live their lives without limitations.”
Adds Rocky’s CEO daughter Simone Farbstein:
“TIKVOT is about unleashing the winner within.”
Solace at Sea. Wounded soldiers Matan Shamir, Ran Eliya and Yogev Meushar take on new challenges in TIKVOT’s sea sports.
‘Stirrup’ the Emotions. Horse-riding proves to be an outstanding therapy as horses respond to a rider’s action and are able to mirror the rider’s emotion.
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To For further information visit Tikvot website: www.tikvot.org.za or call Simone Farbstein 054-6456581
