International Holocaust Memorial Day has shone the spotlight on the plight of elderly Holocaust Survivors during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in Israel. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, as of December 2020, there are 192,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, and 15% of them are over 90 years old. Many of them live alone and are haunted by their memories, and afflicted what we now recognize as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Several psychological studies into long-term traumatization have demonstrated that aging Holocaust survivors are susceptible to re–traumatization in old age, particularly if they experience stress and lack social support. Long periods of social isolation during the pandemic have been particularly hard for this emotionally fragile elderly population. Support groups try to reach them in their homes to check on their physical health and psychological wellbeing, but the fear of infecting them with COVID compels volunteers to keep their distance.
Beit Tovei Ha’ir is just one of Israel’s senior facilities which includes a number of Holocaust survivors among their residents. They are perhaps among the most fortunate of their peers because they have the support and companionship of their residential community. Even during the lockdown, they have continued to enjoy communal tefillot and meals with social distancing.
“The COVID pandemic has not only taken many lives but has also impacted our mental health,” says Emanuel Globerman, CEO of Beit Tovei Ha’ir in Jerusalem. “The medical staff at Beit Tovei Ha’ir have been screening residents for signs of tiredness and mood swings. Our Brain Care Center team has been helping to recognize signals of accelerating dementia, and to treat any deterioration with mental exercises and other mitigating activities. Seniors who have been living alone over the past year without family visits may be concealing symptoms of anxiety and mental deterioration that should be addressed.”
The Magen David Adom organization was given responsibility for administering the Pfizer vaccinations in Israel’s senior homes. Yaffa Balban (pictured) is one of several Holocaust Survivors living at Beit Tovei Ha’ir who were delighted to receive their second COVID vaccination on Holocaust Memorial Day. Now 95 years old, Yaffa was born in Czechoslovakia and was sent to Auschwitz. She lost almost all of her family in the Shoah and moved to Israel, where she became a teacher and was blessed with a large family.
“We treasure all of our residents and are doing everything in our power to keep them safe”, says Globerman. “It was particularly poignant that the Magen David Adom team came to vaccinate us on International Holocaust Memorial Day, on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Yaffa was among those liberated then, and is among those vaccinated today. We look forward to the new liberation that this miraculous vaccine will bring to the world, with G-d’s help.”