In past issues, we’ve taken you to Israel’s periphery, up north and down south. Today, we focus on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Yet even here are hidden gems.

Many people have heard of Shamir Medical Center, for example, but did you know a small but mighty Yad Sarah branch is tucked inside?

Tirat Yehuda is a town right near Ben Gurion International Airport, but its population hovers at only 1,000 residents. But we have a branch there, since Yad Sarah’s goal is to “bring help and hope to the people of Israel,” and that means ALL the people of Israel.

Out of a tiny office in Yad Sarah House, we run a program with huge impact: supporting family caregivers. According to the National Institute of Health, “Caregiving fits the formula for chronic stress so well that it is used as a model for studying the health effects” of that condition. To mitigate stress, Yad Sarah works with family caregivers to share their burdens and remind them they are not alone.

We’re also moving into new territory with our Stillbirth Center in Jerusalem — a first-of-its-kind healing environment for women who have experienced perinatal and stillbirth trauma.

I know what we are doing at Yad Sarah is special. To me, the people of Israel are the most remarkable in the world. Yad Sarah is proof of it. And I am endlessly proud that together, as the Friends of Yad Sarah, we are a part of it.

- Adele Goldberg