Together in Healing

June 2025

At the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Hospital, healing is more than physical—it’s personal, emotional, and profoundly human. We invite you into the story of Levi* a young Israeli hero—and the therapist who walked beside him on his journey. We are sharing this story in four parts.

PART ONE – TWO VOICES, ONE JOURNEY

The Collapse After Courage – A Therapists Point of View

Levi came to us not just with bandages and scars, but with a silence that spoke volumes. He was a seasoned commander, a father, and a man whose instinct had always been to protect those around him.
On October 7, Levi’s kibbutz came under attack. Without hesitation, he rushed into gunfire to pull others to safety. Even after taking multiple bullets, Levi didn’t stop—until his body physically gave out. He spent five harrowing hours bleeding and alone before finally being rescued.

When he arrived at the Gandel Rehabilitation Center, the immediate focus was on survival. But it quickly became clear: the wounds that weren’t visible—the emotional devastation—would require just as much care, and perhaps even more time to heal.

 

 Losing My Ground – Levi’s Point of View

That morning, everything I thought I knew about strength was tested. As a commander in the IDF, I was used to running toward threats, not away. And on October 7, when terrorists invaded my community, I didn’t think—I acted. I ran to help.
I managed to evacuate several families, even as bullets tore through me. Eventually, I collapsed, unable to move, hiding in the dirt with no idea if I’d live to see another hour.

I survived—but not unchanged. The physical pain was intense, but it was the loss of control that haunted me. I had gone from being the one others leaned on to someone who couldn’t stand on his own.

That shift shook me more than anything else.

 

PART TWO – MEETING THE PAIN WHERE IT LIVES

Healing the Unseen Wounds – A Therapists Point of View

Levi arrived with injuries that were visible to the eye—but it was the invisible burden he carried that required the most delicate care.

He struggled not just with pain, but with questions that haunt many trauma survivors: Why me? Why did I survive? What does it mean to be strong now, when I need help to stand?
These aren’t questions with quick answers. But in our trauma work—especially using approaches like EMDR—we help patients live with the questions in a new way.

With time, Levi began to unearth the emotions he had tucked away to get through the worst moments. In place of silence, he found space to speak. And in those first brave steps, real healing began.

 

Learning to Accept Help – Levi’s Point of View

When I first came to the Gandel Rehab Center at Hadassah, everything hurt—my body, my pride, my sense of self. I had been someone others counted on. Suddenly, I was the one who needed help just to get out of bed.

That was a hard shift. I fought it. I didn’t want pity—I wanted to feel like me again.
But the therapists at the GRC didn’t treat me like I was broken. They treated me like a man going through something hard, and capable of coming through it.

The hardest part wasn’t the physical therapy. It was letting someone see the emotional pain I had hidden so deeply. But once I did, I started to feel less alone—and more like myself again.

 

PART THREE – A BREAKTHROUGH IN HEALING

Reframing the Moment of Powerlessness- A Therapist Point of View

After putting it off during all of sessions so far, Levi finally returned to the most terrifying moment of his life: shot, alone, standing before an IDF tank, sure that he wouldn’t make it.

What he said in our session seemed simple: “I felt so small.” But for us, this was a major breakthrough in Levi’s healing journey.

Working through trauma is often about perspective. Yes, that moment held fear—but also immense courage. That “small” man had saved three families under fire. That “small” man refused to give up.

As we revisited that memory, Levi began to see not just what happened to him, but what he had done for others. That shift—from victim to survivor, from guilt to meaning—was a pivotal turning point in his recovery.

 

The Moment that Shifted Everything – Levi’s Point of View

There was one memory I kept avoiding during my therapy sessions—because it felt like the lowest point of my life.

In my last session, it finally surfaced: I saw myself standing there, injured, afraid, certain I was about to die. I told my therapist, “I felt so small.” And I meant it. That was the moment I thought it was all over.

Something changed when we finally talked about what really happened to me. Slowly, I began to look at the moment differently. It was like I was looking at the situation from more than one angle. I wasn’t just powerless—I had saved lives. I kept fighting. That wasn’t small. That was everything.

Realizing that gave me a strength I didn’t know I still had.

 

PART FOUR coming next week.

Our 2025 annual campaign is supporting hydrotherapy, physical rehabilitation and trauma recovery at Hadassah Hospital and hyperbaric oxygen therapy for severe PTSD at Shamir Medical Center. If you would like to donate to the campaign and support patients like Levi on their journey to recovery, please click here.

*name changed for confidentiality purposes