By Eric Nusbaum , Assistant Editor, JTNews
Israel’s export economy is known for high-tech products, artisan foods, and advanced military equipment. If a notable group of Washingtonians who recently returned from Israel has its way, that list will also soon include something less tangible: A new model for helping disabled combat veterans recover from their wounds.
State Attorney General Rob McKenna, Washington State Department of Veteran Affairs director John Lee, and First Husband Mike Gregoire joined soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord to tour Israel and get a first hand look at the work of Hope for Heroism, a nonprofit aimed at giving disabled Israeli combat veterans the means to help one another cope with their injuries.
Known in Israel as Brothers for Life and administered by the soldiers it once assisted, the weeklong trip was led by Hope for Heroism founder Rabbi Chaim Levine and funded by local real estate developer Martin Selig. The delegation blended tourism, visiting sites like Jerusalem’s old city, Yad Vashem, and the Valley of Tears, with Hope for Heroism activities such as meetings with wounded Israeli veterans and a tour of an Israeli special-forces base.
“It was just story after story after story of these men who were wounded in combat,” said McKenna in an interview with JTNews. “But then equally important were the stories about how they reached out to each other.”
The Hope for Heroism model of soldiers helping soldiers has been successful in Israel because of the empathy bred by common experiences. Lee, who heads the state’s VA, said he could see the same connections being made between the Israeli and American soldiers on the trip.
“To my great joy, watching those young warriors from the U.S. interact with and create a forever-loving, lasting relationship with those wounded warriors, it was just marvelous,” Lee said. “The youth, camaraderie, and compatibility — there were no cultural barriers, there were no ethnic barriers. It was soldier to soldier and it was remarkable what we saw take place.”
Levine echoed Lee’s sentiments. He explained that the bond between wounded combat veterans crosses all cultures. An unofficial motto of Hope for Heroism is “same bullets, same blood, same tears,” he said.
“What that means is strip away everything else,” Levine said. “No one can understand what they’ve been through like they can. What they discovered was this underlying brotherhood.”
To help bring what he has learned from his soldiers since founding Hope for Heroiesm, Levine has sought to create links between Israel and Washington lawmakers and leaders. He first connected with McKenna two years ago at a Shabbat dinner at the Sephardic Bikur Holim synagogue. He met Lee after his efforts to pitch a Hope for Heroism-style program to the Department of Defense and national VA stalled.
The trip to Israel materialized after Seattle supporters of Hope for Heroism spent a day with the warrior transition battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Selig was there that day and immediately suggested a trip to Israel. According to Levine, the trip took on two purposes: Teaching the delegation about Hope for Heroism, and deepening the connection between Washington and Israel.
By all accounts it appears to have been a success. Members of the delegation, both soldiers and political leaders, are enthusiastic about the prospects for a similar program to catch on in Washington State.
“What I took away from the trip in terms of policy is that to help veterans, as we try to do through the state VA program and the federal VA program, we need to find more ways to empower veterans to help each other,” McKenna said. “They relate to each other so well, and that peer-to-peer contact is so valuable.”
Such an organization would be, like Hope for Heroism, run by the combat veterans themselves. But McKenna expressed an interest in serving on an advisory board and recruiting other community leaders to get involved. Lee is also eager to further develop a partnership between Washington’s and Israel’s veterans.
“The rabbi and I have both committed that we need to work together to make happen in Washington — and perhaps throughout the country — what they have going in the state of Israel,” he said. “It’s quite special.”
In May, a group of Hope for Heroism soldiers will land in Seattle, as they have done each year since Levine founded the organization in 2007. Aside from speaking to community members about their program and taking in the local sites, they will meet with soldiers based in this state to help get a local program off the ground. After that, anything is possible, according to Levine.
“I think it can go beyond Washington State to other parts of the country, and even potentially London,” he said.