At the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York, Chantal Belzberg Co-Founder and Exec Vice Chair and Marc Belzberg Co-Founder and Chairman of OneFamily were honored for 25 years of work supporting victims of terror and war, bereaved families, and wounded Israelis through OneFamily.
The award was presented by Inbar Ashkenazi, CEO of the Jerusalem Post during a conference session focused on Israel’s growing trauma and resilience crisis. A short tribute film traced the organization’s origins back to the 2001 Sbarro bombing in Jerusalem, the attack that led the Belzbergs to build what would become Israel’s leading support network for victims of terror and war.
Underlying the discussion was a philosophy that has guided OneFamily since its founding: trauma does not end when shiva is over, and healing requires long term human connection, community, and ongoing support.
Speaking during the panel, Chantal warned about the danger of people disappearing inside overwhelming national tragedy.
“When the numbers are so big and loss is on such a large scale, people tend to be forgotten within all the numbers,” she said.
The conversation reflected how dramatically the nature of trauma in Israel has changed since October 7. The Belzbergs spoke about growing numbers of children left without parents, twins grieving the loss of their “other half,” and families carrying multiple layers of bereavement, displacement, injury, and emotional trauma.
Marc Belzberg noted that more than 2,100 soldiers and civilians have been killed over the past two years, a number equivalent to the losses Israel experienced from terror over the previous 25 years combined.
“Trauma is a mass problem in Israel,” he said. “The emotional needs are far greater than any one organization can carry alone.”
To confront the scale of need while still preserving deeply personal care, the couple described OneFamily’s model of connecting bereaved and wounded individuals with peers who understand their pain firsthand.
“We surround them with people like them, who understand what loss is, who speak their language,” Chantal explained.
Today, OneFamily has become a lifeline for virtually every family in Israel affected by terror and war, providing emotional, rehabilitative, and financial assistance long after public attention fades.
The panel also introduced a major new initiative, presented by Marc Belzberg, focused on children of soldiers suffering from severe PTSD. Inspired by OneFamily’s long running youth movement for bereaved children, the program aims to create Israel’s first national peer community for children living with the invisible trauma of a parent wounded emotionally by war. More than 500 people registered for the opening event alone.
“What gives me hope,” Chantal concluded, “is knowing that we can make a difference.”