“Since my injury in ’82—including the entire rehabilitation process—I haven’t experienced anything like this journey. I had already lost the will to live, and you brought it back. For the first time, I feel like I have a family. This journey made me feel that I belong. I will carry this journey with me for a long time.”
— David, participant in the Journey for wounded IDF veterans and an employee of CAL
Challenging to Inspire — integrated journeys for wounded IDF veterans and business-sector employees — are a joint initiative of the Association of Friends of IDF Disabled Veterans and I Belong. Israel (Masa Israeli). They also take place as part of companies’ community giving and/or corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. Veterans and employees set out together on a focused, intensive, carefully planned two-day journey at high intensity. It is a journey of confronting new physical and emotional challenges, reflecting on one’s life journey in the face of reality, and deepening a sense of belonging to the State of Israel and its values—through personal and group empowerment.
Join us for a powerful, inspiring experience that can become a defining moment in your organization’s life.
“After the journey, I reconsidered the definition of my identity and who I belong to… In conversations with friends on the journey, I said that I don’t see my identity as part of the group of IDF disabled veterans (it’s natural to think so, if only because we were partners on this journey due to being IDF disabled veterans), but rather as my ‘self’ and ‘family’ identity. The more I think about it, the more I tend to place myself in the group of the ‘fortunate’! I am fortunate that I was able to return home, to my family, and continue my life. I am fortunate to have received such tremendous support from my family, and I am fortunate to have built a wonderful family of my own. This is the identity I must adopt—an uplifting, empowering identity—one that elevates the solution (rehabilitation) over an identity that perpetuates the problem. We were asked to tell the story of our injury. Today I say I prefer to focus on telling the story of rehabilitation rather than the story of injury. The deep thoughts since we returned from the journey helped a seed of insight grow in me: an injury is momentary and unplanned, while rehabilitation is long, planned, and requires great physical effort—and that is the true heroism. Thank you all for this profound experience.”
— Itzik Becher, participant, Challenging to Inspire Journey
“The amazing circles managed to draw a voice and meaningful words out of even the most silent among us, and helped us discover new things about our colleagues at work—things that only a high-quality, enriching, and empowering circle like the one we experienced on the journey could bring out. The journey—an enriching, formative, and deeply moving experience—is a must for every human being. It awakens thought, identity, and consciousness.”
— Keren Sakharov, The International Bank
“I got onto the Ayalon Highway and simply started crying… the sudden disconnect and return to a routine that feels so different. Those were 36 hours of an unforgettable experience and an incredible human connection.”
— Miri, The International Bank
