“ZAKA does deeply sacred and incredibly difficult work,” says Yifat Godiner, a strategic adviser in cybersecurity and AI. “As an Israeli, I see them as a symbol of compassion, resilience, and unwavering dedication… They bring dignity and humanity where it’s needed most.”
This powerful sentiment is embodied by Vered Atzmon Meshulam, clinical psychologist and head of ZAKA’s Resilience Division. In the wake of Hamas’ devastating October 7 attacks—the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—Vered found her life’s mission transformed. “We’re in a situation that we, in this generation, have never felt or dealt with,” she recalls. “I understood that we are in a new generation.”
Responding with urgency, she created a trauma-informed national recovery system that fuses psychological therapy with Jewish spiritual tools. “Healing resilience grows not despite the pain, but through it,” she told a recent Jerusalem Post conference.
From accompanying grieving families at IDF’s Shura base to leading over 1,000 first responders through her ‘Lens of the Spirit’ model, Vered’s work is redefining how a nation processes collective trauma. “In every Jewish story, there is an ember of eternity,” she says. “If we learn to tend that fire—even through our pain—it can illuminate the path for others.”
