A couple from Chicago who hosted Israeli teenagers traumatized by the October 7 terrorist attacks have described their relief at being taken in by friends of the youngsters while stranded in Israel due to the conflict with Iran.

Erin Kerpel and her husband David had hosted a group of teenagers from World ORT Kadima Mada (WOKM) at their home in Illinois last October.

That respite program, for students affected by October 7, was organized by WOKM and ORT America and offered mental-health support and therapeutic activities, with the teenagers enjoying a range of activities including a boat tour, a basketball game, hikes, and yoga.

Erin said: “We really enjoyed our experience of having the teens with us and formed great relationships with them, so we planned to visit them in Israel.”

The Kerpels were due to begin their trip in the north of Israel and then visit the south to meet up with the teenagers from WOKM. They were initially confined to their hotel in Haifa when the Iran conflict began. They later decided to travel to the south of Israel, where it seemed safer, and where they would have the chance to reunite with the ORT teenagers.

They stopped off to visit a friend in Modi’in, where Dr. Moshe Leiba, Chief Pedagogical Officer of WOKM, met them and drove them in convoy to Kfar Silver Youth Village, which is located near Ashkelon in the south and only eight miles from Gaza. They were then invited to stay in Sderot with the family of one of the 18-year-olds they met in Chicago.

“It was really nice and generous of them, especially since it was unexpected,” Erin said. “They took us in like we were part of their family, and they made us feel very welcome.

“When we hosted the teens, we signed up for it and we knew it was happening. But this happened unexpectedly. We had planned on staying at a hotel and maybe at Kfar Silver, but we had a couple of teens who offered their homes to us.

“We were staying with one of the boys, with whom we spent a good amount of time last year. We took him out with the girls we were hosting to do some fun things around Chicago. We have stayed in touch with him since and his parents were very grateful for the experience he had in Chicago and wanted to pay it back.”

The couple were supposed to be in Israel for just nine days but ended up staying 17. Making the best of a bad situation, the couple said they enjoyed seeing Kfar Silver and the WOKM facilities. “We loved it. We’re big animal lovers, so we loved going to see all the animals there and we got to meet one of the boarding students. It’s very impressive,” said David.

“Everyone is so friendly – the animals and the people,” he laughed. “And then it was really just by coincidence that we ended up staying at the home of the student we spent time with in Chicago. We met him at Kfar Silver and gave him a lift home. We met his family, and he invited us for dinner and then asked us to stay.

“They told us, ‘You’re staying because it’s war. And during times of war it’s a special occasion. You need to stay with us’. They’re very warm people, their family is around all the time, and they all help out, whether it’s cooking, cleaning or playing board games. It was really nice.”

Meanwhile, a World ORT Kadima Mada educator from Israel, who had travelled to Genoa in Italy to accompany her 20-year-old son on a fencing trip, was also stranded when her flight home was cancelled.

Dana Dahan, Director of WOKM’s Western Galilee Center of Excellence, contacted a teacher who works for the ORT-affiliated Scuola della Comunità Ebraica in Milan, who she had met at World ORT’s Jewish Educators’ Seminar in Barcelona in January, and asked for help in finding accommodation.

Thanks to the extensive ORT network, another teacher invited Dana to stay with her in her home. What should have been a week-long trip turned into a stay of 14 days.

“They welcomed me, and I felt at home even though I was worried about the situation and my family in Israel,” she said.
“It was good to be there.”